US Airways And The Cruise That Never Sailed The flight from h**l! Phoenix Arizona

My wife and step-son and his wife were seated on our 8:45 a.m. US Air flight by 8:15 a.m., departing from Baltimore to Charlotte, then connecting in Charlotte to New Orleans for what was a 7-day cruise.

At 8:30, the pilot announced the people from the other US Air flight would join us since their 7:00 a.m. flight crew did not show. We waited for them, their luggage and also waited for the plane to be de-iced (which only would have required an ice scraper had it been on a vehicle).

Instead of departing at 8:45 a.m., we left at 9:40 a.m. but were told the other connecting flights were aware that we were late but would be landing shortly. As we descended into Charlotte at 11:10, our flight from Charlotte to New Orleans departed ON TIME (unlike ours) before we could make the connection.

As we checked the board, the four of us AND seven individuals also on our flight who were also going on the cruise, saw the flight was gone and removed from the board. We then saw the next flight would leave for New Orleans at 3:50, that the eleven of us would be put on stand-by and maybe we had a shot. Within the hour, we were informed that flight would not leave until 5:00; there was NO CHANCE of making the cruise since the flight was departing at 5:00 p.m. EST.

I won't even get into the rudeness of the clerk when we got to the counter FOUR hours after waiting in line. We were TOLD we would not be issued any food vouchers, hotel vouchers and maybe the RED CROSS would come and set up cots. Nice!! We were also TOLD we can't get our luggage, that it will be shipped to New Orleans even though we aren't going with it, and we can fly you to Reagan International (not Baltimore where we originally started). So, our "journey" started at 6:30 a.m., ended in Reagan International at 7:15 p.m. and we had traveled nowhere, saw no ship, and had nothing given to us from US Air.

Ending my saga, we just got our luggage at midnight last night; we were given the frequent flyer miles back (so what, since our destination was never reached), and four $300 vouchers (one for each of us), to use on a future flight within the next year. Do they really think I'll use the airline again????

I'm waiting to hear from the President/Chairman of the Board, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Customer Service and the Customer Relations area. I have also sent a letter to the Arizona Attorney General's office as well as the Aviation Consumer Protection Division.

William
Annapolis, Maryland
U.S.A.