US Airways: Polite, Still Not Helpful

by Sierra on February 17, 2010 · 43 comments

I had a long talk with a very nice woman from US Airways customer relations today. Cynthia offered me a Very Nice Apology, and empathized with my situation. She’s a mom too, and appreciates how scary and stressful it can be to have someone try to separate you from your kids. She said that having a toddler fly alone was not something the airline considered acceptable. Great. We’re on the same page.

Here’s what Cynthia told me about US Airways seating policies:

They are in fact first come first served, with no preference given to parents traveling with young children
When parents are not assigned seats with their children, they are expected to deal with it by getting on the plane with the unacceptable seating and asking other passengers to swap with them.
Flight attendants are supposed to help persuade other passengers to swap seats, but are not allowed to require anyone to move.
Gate agents and customer service personnel are not allowed to change seat assignments; it has to be handled by a flight attendant on the plane.
If satisfactory seating can’t be worked out, they will accommodate families on a later flight.
In my case, the gate agents and flight attendants I spoke with probably declined my offer to go out on a later flight because they were confident they could resolve my problem – and they did, in the end, by getting other passengers to swap seats.

“The majority of the time, passengers are able to be seated,” Cynthia said.”We do rely on the cooperation of the other passengers.”

I asked the obvious question: What if they don’t cooperate? Would US Airways really let a two-year-old fly by herself, sandwiched between two strangers on a long flight?

“It’s not a situation that would normally happen because nobody wants to sit next to that child,” Cynthia told me.

Wait a minute! People reserve a seat online, and think that is the seat they will have. But when they get on the plane, they’re confronted with a Bad Choice: give up their cushy aisle/window seat and cram their butt into a center seat for the ride, or spend the next few hours babysitting a distraught toddler. Leaving aside the needs of the child or parent involved, that’s a crappy way to treat your other customers.

“Isn’t the airline just pushing the problem off on other passengers?” I asked.

Cynthia didn’t see it that way. “We would hope everyone would be willing to do a favor for a fellow passenger,” she said. She told me she has a child herself, and has always been able to sit next to her own kid when flying, because someone has always been willing to trade seats with her.

Look, I said. If my kid were 20, and had a habit of peeing in her pants, screaming and flailing for no apparent reason, and biting people near her, she’d be a person with special needs and you would bend over backwards to ensure she was seated with a caregiver on your flight.

“It’s the law,” Cynthia said. “We’re required to.”

Uh…does that mean you wouldn’t accomodate people with special rights/needs on your planes if federal law didn’t mandate that you do so? You guys rock!

I asked Cynthia why US Airways doesn’t use the birthdate information they collect about each passenger to flag children under 12 and ensure that they are seated with their parents. They could a) not let parents buy seats on flights that don’t have sufficient adjacent seating available, and b) automatically seat kids with an adult traveling in their party.

They don’t collect that information to help passengers with seating issues. It’s for security.”It’s not because US Airways is interested in saying ‘this is a family with young children and we’re going to make sure they’re seated together,” she said.

Right. Let’s just move on.

Why couldn’t the supervisor I spoke with in Boston fix this for me before we started our trip?

Well, they can’t just go moving people around willy-nilly. Those other passengers selected the seats they did for a reason, and they have just as much right to get their preferred seating as I do.

Now let’s be clear: my preferred seating is at home in my rocking chair while someone else throws themselves on the grenade of flying alone with my kids to visit their grandfather.

But I see her point. Or I would, except that on that second flight, where we had four center seats and the stewardess was so rude:

my sister was seated between a couple who were traveling together and immediately asked her to move so that they could sit together.
My baby was seated between a business traveler and a young teenage girl who had been separated from her mom.
My daughter was seated beside an older woman who was separated from her family, and a young boy whose mom was seated several rows back.

NONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WANTED THEIR ASSIGNED SEATS. They all moved once I did. What was going on there? No real answer on that one.

Cynthia would like to chalk all of this up to lousy customer service on the part of our flight attendant. I agree with her that if the flight attendant on our second flight had been polite, calm and helpful instead of cold, rude and confusing, this problem might never have escalated. A reassuring professional can go a long way in a stressful situation.

BUT.

I don’t think this was the flight attendant’s fault. Everyone has a bad day at work sometimes. Maybe that flight attendant was the best there ever was 99% of the time and I caught her on an off day. Maybe she’s a jerk who deserves to be reprimanded by her manager, as Cynthia assured me she would be. I don’t know.

I do know that, as commenter Amadea put it so succinctly, systems that rely on everyone behaving optimally are systems that don’t work. The airlines’ seating policy has to work whether or not the flight attendant is having a crappy day. It has to work whether or not I am, as one commenter assumed, “not the easiest person in the world to deal with.”

Even if I wanted to leave my 2-yr-old in row 26 while I kicked back with a paperback up in row 5, I kind of think I shouldn’t be allowed to. Doesn’t the airline have a responsibility, for the safety of all its passengers, to keep young kids with their caregivers?

“We do not have a policy that states this is what we require of all our passengers,” she said.

Might they develop one? Well, she couldn’t promise me they wouldn’t. It’s not in the works now, but apparently some dissatisfied customer has been blogging about this issue and wants to see it changed, so they might look into it.

Good to know.

Then we got to the real subject of her call: my return trip. Seems there are no adjacent seats available on those flights, and she wanted to give me a heads up about it.

Could she fix it for me? Not exactly. She could assign me two window seats and an aisle seat for the first leg of our trip. Aisle seats, Cynthia assured me, are very easy to trade. I am bound to find some single passenger traveling alone who will be happy to swap their aisle seat next to my toddler for my non-toddler-adjacent aisle. Awesome. Then I can sit next to one of the kids. Maybe.

For the longer leg of the trip she had better news: she can sit me and one of my kids together in the very last row of the plane, and she can assign my sister and my other kid to the front of the plane. I’m sure my sister won’t mind babysitting my bored child for seven hours on an airplane while she also manages her own lap baby.

The caveat there: the seats at the front of the plane are reserved for persons with disabilities. If someone with special needs requests that seat, my sister and/or my kid can be moved elsewhere, and there’s no guarantee they will be moved together. It’s up the discretion of the flight attendant.

I accepted this band-aid solution because by that point in the conversation she’d made it clear that this is the best they are doing for anybody. I don’t want to be given Special Treatment because I have a bigger soapbox than the other unhappy mommies on the plane. I want them to fix their dumb policy.

In the meantime, dear passengers on US Airways flying from Tucson to Phoenix to Boston next Tuesday, I apologize in advance. I will be asking some of you to swap seats with me. I’m counting on your understanding and cooperation, because US Airways is.

Don’t like it? Take it up with them at customer.relations@usairways.com

[I want to stress that Cynthia was actually extremely nice, personable, polite and gracious throughout our conversation. She wasn't able to offer much in the way of a satisfactory explanation or assurance that this kind of thing won't happen in the future. Most of this post is focused on that, and I just want to be clear that it is Not Her Fault. Like a good actress in a bad movie, she made the best of terrible material.]

Tagged as: parenting, travel

Pingback: US AIRWAYS HATES FAMILIES AND KIDS — ChildWild
http://meandwee.blogspot.com/ megan

Your issues make me seriously consider never using U.S. Airways. It’s a matter of simple coding for a software developer to create something in the seating program that sorts/scouts age and flags the issue for the agent or customer.

[Reply]
http://jasra.livejournal.com/ Jasra

Wow. They’re called “preferred” seats. Not guaranteed seats. I’ve gotten to a flight after having picked my preferred seats and been assigned different seats. It happens.

I’m just stunned. I’m sorry that your flights back look like they’ll be stressful too.

[Reply]
http://ceo.livejournal.com/ Chip

I can't believe they don't have a rule in the reservation system to prevent this. I mean, it's two lines of (highly speculative) code:

if(reservation.num_pax_under_12 > (flight.max_adjacent_seats() + 1) {
fail(“Cannot seat all children with adult”);
}

[Reply]
Liv

The airlines ALREADY reserve certain rows for passengers with disabilities. I see absolutely no reason why they can’t include passengers with small children in this and maybe instead of reserving two rows, reserve four. Those seats are simply released 24 hrs prior to departure if they haven’t been used.

It would cost the airlines NOTHING to do this but would go a long, long way towards acconmodating families.

[Reply]
geohawk Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 5:35 am
Except, of course, it would cost them something because they wouldn’t have those tickets available for sale. People interested in those seats would be turned away and would purchase their tickets from another airline. They won’t be hanging around to buy the tickets at the last minute, when they cost a lot more.

Not that they shouldn’t attempt your idea. In fact, given the numbers of families, they should reserve more. But it would cost the airlines money, which would then get passed on to the customers.

[Reply]
http://childwild.com Sierra

It'll be less stressful since I know what to expect, and I can manage my kids' expectations as well. I think “get on the plane, ask the other passengers to switch seats with you, then get off and take a later flight if no one will” is a lousy option, but it's better than, “get on the plane, get no information about the expected procedure, and wonder if getting off the plane rather than sit apart from your toddler means giving up your flight altogether.”

*************
Sierra Black
781-367-1277
sierralblack@gmail.com
Embracing the wild heart of parenting at http://childwild.com
*************

[Reply]
autumndrussell

Sierra, as the mother of an 18-month old son, I was absolutely appalled by what you went through on US Airways! So much so I just visited their site and left them a lengthy comment (see below). So far my son has been of “lap seat” age so I haven't had to endure being separated just yet, but I can tell you that thanks to your blog, I will be extra careful and diligent when selecting an airline for future travel. I will be asking for their family seating policies and practices and hopefully there is a carrier out there with some common sense. The good thing about us as consumers is that we have the power of choice. And I definitely won't be choosing US Airways until they get their act together! I am a journalist in the Madison, WI area and am seriously thinking about writing a piece on this topic for our family magazine. Thank you for writing about this and opening our eyes as parents (and hopefully those of the airline industry) regarding family travel.
Autumn Drussell
(PS, Below is what I wrote to US Airways, for your perusal).

To whom it may concern: I actually do not have an upcoming flight, but was required to submit a travel date, so just disregard that piece of information. I am actually writing in support of the woman who, along with her family, we treated poorly by her flight crew, and it appears, a poor US Airways seating policy. (I have attached her blog as reference). I do not know this woman, but I also have a young child, 18 mos. old. Me or my family fly at least 2-3 times per year to various destinations regularly to visit family and vacation. I can promise you, that as a mother of an 18-month old – or a soon to be 2-year old (the age at which we are required to pay for his seat) I will NEVER agree for ANY length of time to leave my toddler in a seat, assigned or otherwise, that is not next to me. What a truly, poor and downright horrible policy, to leave seating reassignments in the hands of complete strangers! As consumers on airlines we are asked to not leave our bags unattended, but your company can justify leaving a baby unattended?! Shame on you all! If you don't have a policy for reassigning families who are separated (especially toddlers!) you ought to get one, and fast. We consumers are TIRED of the way the airline industry is treating us. We might not be able to change your policies, but we CAN and WILL shop for flights and airlines that have better service, crews and intelligence when it comes to separating families with young children. Rest assured I will be checking into seating policies once my son reaches age 2, and I will NOT be flying with US Airways unless you have updated your policy. I will also be checking other carriers to ensure they have proper policies as well. Of note: I am a journalist and write for a family magazine. This is a topic I am seriously considering writing about, and it will look at family travel and the airline industry. Here's to hoping senior management gets a clue about families, our rights, and WHAT is RIGHT. Thank you.

[Reply]
http://childwild.com Sierra

AWESOME

*************
Sierra Black
781-367-1277
sierralblack@gmail.com
Embracing the wild heart of parenting at http://childwild.com
*************

[Reply]
jmagnus

I can't believe these wankers are going to let this happen again on your return trip. Crikey.

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http://childwild.com Sierra

I'm feeling pretty OK about it because a) I know what to expect and b) this is just how they operate. It doesn't exactly make me want to do business with them again, but I'll get home and look forward to doing more business with JetBlue, Southwest and Amtrak.

[Reply]
John

If airline software's past performance is at all predictive, that code would probably get the plane decommissioned and sent to the aircraft boneyard (maybe with passengers on board).

[Reply]
b-girl

Good luck with your return trip. Really hope that your going public with your horrible encounter with their absurd policy makes them change it.

[Reply]
tibbetts

Definitely sounds like a mess, and US Airways is not being helpful or accommodating.

Have you confirmed that other airlines do better? Maybe this just of shabby treatment is the standard of care.

[Reply]
http://childwild.com Sierra

The commenters on these posts and my article over at Strollerderby (http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2010/02/1…) have had pretty consistently great things to say about Jet Blue and Southwest. Also, judging from some of the comments employees at other airlines made, US Airways policy of making flight attendants deal with these snafus on the plane is unusual – several people have said they expect airlines to work it out beforehand when they're aware of these problems.

[Reply]
airjer

I am a US Airways frequent flyer. I have a 12 year old son who has flown with me and my wife since he was 3 months old. I have NEVER had a problem of not ultimately one of us being seated next to him. But, you have to be patient and work the system! And this goes for ALL major airlines. They all have the same policies, the exception being Soutwest. They do allow famlies with kids under 5 to preboard. But if it is a thru flight, like many of them are, you end up in the same prediciment. And SW doesn't fly out of Boston. I think Manchester NH or Providence RI might be the closest they go to BOS. And you probably would have had to make 3 or 4 stops to get to TUS.

I would suggest you purchase your tickets early (30+ days in advance if at all possible) and use your record locator (the 6 digit alpha-numeric code) they give you to get on their website and get your seats. Grab aisles and windows hopefully near each other. Non-emergency exit windows and aisles are EASY to trade. And check the website daily. Seat availability comes and goes. What might be occupied today is vacant tomorrow. Also, US Airways allows you to purchase “upgraded” window and aisle seats in the forward part of the coach cabin ahead of time. Do that too. And again, all the airlines except SW do the same thing and allow you to change your seat assignments on their websites. Use the tools they give you!

I also wonder about your attitude. I suspect you either panicked or expected intantaneous gratification. Or maybe both? In today's world, that just isn't realistic. There was/is a recession. The airlines have dumped about 10 to 15 percent of their capacity. That means some employees got layed off. Others are not getting as good a schedule as they did 2-3 years ago. No, they aren't happy. You weren't either. And the final result is, planes ARE running much fuller. That is the only way airlines can stay in business with the reletively low fares being charged. All of this is the reality you have to deal with, no matter what arline you travel on.

Actually, I would suspect that you picked US Airways becasue they were somewhat cheaper than United or American or Delta. I know, it is NOT cheap to fly a family across the country. And Jet Blue doesn't go to TUS. So you paid your money and took your chances. But learn to play the game. In case you and every one else out there doen't know, the airlines computer syustems are antiques. But they can't spend the money to upgrade them. Partly because what they do is sooooo complex that no company wants the problem. So they chug on with old mainframe technology. It is NOT as easy as just adding some code as some here suggested.

And finally, NO ONE is going to want sit next to your toddler or 5 year old for any length of time. Even if you are in the next seat! Get real. Learn to play the travel game. It will help you relax. Then amybe your kids won't cry themselves to sleep when they see mommy daling with the world in an OK manner.

[Reply]
Pingback: Airlines to Parents: No, You Can’t Sit With Your Kids | Strollerderby
jojo2857

Southwest has actually flown out of Boston for quite awhile now.

[Reply]
http://theborrowedabode.wordpress.com/ Jane @ The Borrowed Abode

While I don't have kids, I have flown as a frequent flier with US Air for several years now. And I am SICK of their customer service. I have had more problems with them than any other airline. As soon as I use my last batch of free miles, I'm done. And your experience is just another reason why.

I love Air Tran. And Southwest. Thanks for taking the time to go public with your experience.

[Reply]
stellaO

I have had this problem once (different airline), but no-one wanted to swop their seats, so that I could sit with my 5 and 3 year olds. So I asked the flight attendent (rather loudly) if she could please let me have a pile of sick bags, as the children suffered from travel sickness and they would be stressed, sitting on their own, which would make it worse. I gave each child a few bags, explained briefly that they should try not to throw up on the other people and aim to be sick in the bag, and which button to press for the nice flight attendent, who would be more than happy to take the filled bags away. Suddenly, I found that two people moved and we could all sit together.
But it shouldn't have to be like that!
Another suggestion is to ask them to register the children as unaccompanies minors (lots more paperwork for them) if you are unable to sit with them! Outrageous!! Good luck with your return flight.

[Reply]
Daniel

why did you not get seat assignments before departure? if it was so important to sit next to your kids, why did you not invest the extra time to call the toll-free US Airways hotline and have your seats next to each other assigned free of charge before departure?
Sounds to me like you are trying to put the blame for sth you forgot to do on the airline…

[Reply]
http://childwild.com Sierra

Well, as this post explains, they don't allow you to sort it out on their toll-free hotline before departure, or on the ground at the airport. I didn't do it on the first flight because – mea culpa – I honestly just didn't know this might be an issue. I've never before been seated apart from the other people I was traveling with. I guess I just don't travel much and had gotten lucky.

When I talked to them a full week in advance of our return flight, they told me there's nothing they can do to seat us together going home and I have to sort it out on the plane when I go home. Their policy is to ask me to ask another passenger to trade seats with me.

[Reply]
Steven Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Just read through both of your posts on this topic, and most of the comments. I agree with you that the lack of a policy about seating babies with their parents is just not humane.

So I wonder what kind of productive action we can take here. Have you seen the new Aviation Consumer Protection website (http://airconsumer.dot.gov/)? It has detailed monthly reports that break down consumer complaints by carrier. Not surprisingly, US Airways had the most complaints about reservations/ticketing/boarding last month.

Perhaps we could use the hive here to suss out the child-friendly (or not) policies of all the major US airlines, and you could post that information to your blog. Perhaps also we could contact the DOT to suggest that they include information on such policies in their monthly reports.

What do you think?

[Reply]
http://twitter.com/ja3 John Avelis

Southwest changed their policy several years ago, now families with small children board between A group and B group: http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/checkin….

When I told a Southwest rep several years ago that this made me feel unwelcome as a family, the rep immediately said “Well, we're not for everyone, you should just fly another airline.”

While US Air's behavior is atrocious, after hearing this I decided that every airline must have an unstated policy of “be rude to everyone we don't want on the plane,” and I've spent a lot more money with car rental companies and hotels as a result.

[Reply]
markntravis

Why didn't you get seats together when you made the reservations?

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http://childwild.com Sierra

I think this is a great idea, and I'm so glad you took the time to do
some preliminary research and write it up. Contacting the DOT and
using that site seem like great ideas.

I'll have to think about how best to use this site as a resource. It's
not exactly a travel blog – we rarely travel – but I can probably
create a dedicated page with travel resources for families.

[Reply]
http://hawke.myopenid.com/ Sandro Hawke

Airline travel stands out in modern American society as one of the places where we're basically not treated with the respect and autonomy with which we are normally treated. It's a whole lot more like spending the night in jail (I imagine) than it is like shopping.

(except it's a MAGIC jail, where you wake up in a different city!)

[Reply]
http://childwild.com Sierra

I love this! A magic jail!

[Reply]
Rich

Just a quick note – having experienced the same from US Air about 15 years ago when my wife and I were traveling with three children under six *and* my mother over 75. I was/am so angry at USAir that I have put my 300k+ miles of full-fare business travel since on other airlines…

But to my point: The airlines do not want young children on their airplanes. They think it drives the business travelers away (I think their poor service drives business travelers away, but what do I know). So they want your trip with your child(ren) to be so hellish you drive next time…It worked in our case: We didn't take our children on another airplane until our youngest was 15.

[Reply]
MsC

Alas, this is nothing new. 20 years ago I used to fly often with my younger siblings to visit our father, who lived across the country. A teen, a pre-teen, and a toddler flying back in the days when the rules about unattended minors were less strict. Anyway, we once had a horrible return flight nightmare where mechanical difficulty on a flight left us stranded for eight hours until they could find us a flight with three seats available at all. I had assumed that *someone* would be willing to switch with one of the three of us so that either of us older kids could sit with the toddler. Nope. Not a single person was willing to help us out. And none of us had ended up in a center seat! We were offering people in center seats windows and aisles, and still no takers. And indeed, the flight attendants really couldn't do more than ask the people and look amazed that no one would help.

[Reply]
petegast

I think that the policy of boarding families fairly early in the process is exactly the right policy for Southwest since they have open seating. As long as the “A” group passengers aren't more than 1/3 of the plane then there will be empty rows for the family to occupy. It feels to me like a privilege rather than a penalty.

[Reply]
Sara Amis

“I gave each child a few bags, explained briefly that they should try not to throw up on the other people and aim to be sick in the bag, and which button to press for the nice flight attendent, who would be more than happy to take the filled bags away. Suddenly, I found that two people moved and we could all sit together.”

You are my new hero

[Reply]
Cordelia

A friend of mine has recently had a very difficult two-leg flight out to visit her mother with her two children under six and her sister who has a lap-baby. It seems that US Airways does not have a policy of seating parents and their young children (two and five) together, and despite collecting age information, does not use this to give out seat assignments nor to ensure children are grouped with their caregivers.

In the interests of common sense, decency and safety, I hope that US Airways will revise this policy. I can imagine many scenarios under which such a policy could be easy to implemented, for example:

- Do not let parents of very young children book seats on flights where there are not enough seats together.

- Open up seat assignments for such groupings ahead of time, even if the 'assignable' seats have already all been given out.

- Include a caveat on all seat sales that customers may have to be reassigned to accommodate people with disabilities or children flying with parents

I cannot imagine that these measures would cause such pain and suffering as to drive down ticket sales, particularly as I hope other airlines have or will also implement similar policies, and it avoids the other passengers having to bear witness to the pain, confusion and tears often engendered by even temporary separation from a parent on the part of a nervous, flight-shy youngster.

Respectfully,

Cordelia

[Reply]
Cordelia

I see I failed to put in my framing paragraph; I just sent this email to the Customer Service email address for US Airways.

In retrospect I believe the most sensible policy would be to invest the flight attendants with the authority to switch people around by fiat.

[Reply]
http://blog.feefifoto.com/ feefifoto

Huh. I got bumped, unceremoniously and without warning, from seating assignments on an AA flight that I had booked FIVE MONTHS in advance.

[Reply]
http://www.examiner.com/x-20570-Boston-Open-Relationships-Examiner Kamela

Why are there so many morons here and on the other post asking why you didn't reserve seats together in advance? O hai, I can has reading comprehension? Jeeezus.

[Reply]
http://www.examiner.com/x-20570-Boston-Open-Relationships-Examiner Kamela

Why are there so many morons here and on the other post asking why you didn't reserve seats together in advance? O hai, I can has reading comprehension? Jeeezus.

[Reply]
RM

Hey there Sierra- thanks for blogging this and giving a voice to US Airways ridiculous policies. I've flown nearly every airline in America, and I have to say I've never been more utterly confused at an airline's seating policy. I bought two tickets together, months ago on a flight to Florence from Dallas. Five legs of that trip, and I come to find out I'm not seated to my g/f on any of them. Unacceptable. Not because it's irritating to ask a passenger to swap seats (though it is) and not because it's a pain to go and select seats on a website which works about 50% of the time (though it is), but because it doesn't make any sense. Especially when you come to find out, as you did, that it's just a bunch of other families/couples/friends that were not sat together.

At the ticket counter before my 15 hours worth of flight, I asked the lady to seat us together. I bought two tickets. It's not unreasonable, in my opinion, to expect that we be seated together. Or- that they take on a first come/first serve Southwest-esque system. That's fine. But what they're doing is assigning random seats to everyone. The explanation I received was something about 70% seats assigned at one arbitrary point, the remainder assigned later at the airport. I don't remember exactly what the conversation was. I tried to find the exact process online, but all I found was US Airways process listed as “random” (http://www.seatguru.com/articles/boarding_proce…) which is just wonderful.

Just…no words for US Airways. No words. There is no amount of free miles that will get me to give this atrocious business any of my money ever again.

Fuck US Airways.

[Reply]
RM

Hey there Sierra- thanks for blogging this and giving a voice to US Airways ridiculous policies. I've flown nearly every airline in America, and I have to say I've never been more utterly confused at an airline's seating policy. I bought two tickets together, months ago on a flight to Florence from Dallas. Five legs of that trip, and I come to find out I'm not seated to my g/f on any of them. Unacceptable. Not because it's irritating to ask a passenger to swap seats (though it is) and not because it's a pain to go and select seats on a website which works about 50% of the time (though it is), but because it doesn't make any sense. Especially when you come to find out, as you did, that it's just a bunch of other families/couples/friends that were not sat together.

At the ticket counter before my 15 hours worth of flight, I asked the lady to seat us together. I bought two tickets. It's not unreasonable, in my opinion, to expect that we be seated together. Or- that they take on a first come/first serve Southwest-esque system. That's fine. But what they're doing is assigning random seats to everyone. The explanation I received was something about 70% seats assigned at one arbitrary point, the remainder assigned later at the airport. I don't remember exactly what the conversation was. I tried to find the exact process online, but all I found was US Airways process listed as “random” (http://www.seatguru.com/articles/boarding_proce…) which is just wonderful.

Just…no words for US Airways. No words. There is no amount of free miles that will get me to give this atrocious business any of my money ever again.

Fuck US Airways.

[Reply]
http://www.antiquesrepublic.com/ Buy Antique Chair and Cabinet

I remember when I was with my father playing in the park. We were so happy like the image showed.

[Reply]
madcandylee

I had a terrible experience on US Airways flying solo with my five-month old son. The stewar…I mean flight attendants were so rude to me and actually glared when he cried. It was so bad that a couple of nearby seated passengers intervened, offering to hold the baby while I filled up his bottle or to pick up the toys he dropped. Never again!
I live in Europe now and make a point of only flying European airlines, especially the Spanish carrier Iberia–they are so kind with families and Spanish passengers all seem to love kids. Since I have to make the trek back to visit family in the US a couple times per year, it is really important that I feel comfortable flying with my son. The Europeans seem to get that.

[Reply]
http://blackkitchencabinets.org/Modern-Kitchen-Cabinets-Essential-Modern-Kitchen-Cabinetry-Information-&-Buying-Advice.html modern kitchen cabinets

doesnt surprise me that AA treat there customers like crap, so long as you get top where you want to get they don't really care, and thats pushing it!

[Reply]
http://twitter.com/HollysCrazyLife Holly Rhodes

Unacceptable!

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