Reply #8: USAir is the worst of the US airlines IMHO [View All]

[Mandate My Ass]

Almost a year ago today my sis and I flew to Puerto Rico. Despite it being just a 3 1/2 hour flight, we packed all kinds of sandwiches and snacks as a precaution. Our flight was leaving from a gate in a new part of Philly Int'l that was just being built and had no snack bars or restaurants nearby. Our flight was delayed (of COURSE!) and they kept coming over the loudspeaker and saying "It'll only be 15 more minutes to boarding, do NOT leave the gate area or we will leave without you." This went on for hours.

We finally took off about 1:30 PM -- more than 6 hours later than the scheduled take off time -- and they served us a bagel and some dried fruit. The flight was over 5 1/2 hours long and although we had planned to be on the beach by noon, we didn't land until after sunset and didn't get to our hotel until after 8:00 PM, and I feel we were cheated out of an entire vacation day.

Anyway, during the flight from hell, a young mom with a starving 3-year-old went back to the galley to ask if they had anything besides a bagel for her starving and screaming toddler since it was now late afternoon and we'd been at the airport since the crack of dawn. To my great shock, the attendant began berating her very loudly so that half of coach class could hear him yelling at her. "What do you think this is? A restaurant? Our job is to get you from point A to point B and nothing else. You should have planned better. It's not my problem, it's yours."

My sister and I looked at each other and the mom who was now practically in tears and we laid into the attendant about his attitude. We gave the mom our bagels plus some of the food we had packed and not eaten. The worst part was, we could smell something hot and delicious coming from first class and we all knew there was extra up there but they wouldn't give this woman the time of day let alone a first class meal. We gave her our names, addresses and phone numbers and told her to call the airlines when she got to her destination to complain about the ignorant and rude attendant and that we would back her up 100% and we made sure he heard us.

We never heard from her but I still regret not calling the airline myself and complaining on her behalf.

/end of rant.


PS: My son is 6'5" also, it's almost impossible for him to fit in a coach seat unless it's the bulkhead or he puts his knees in his mouth.