America West, got us there and back without a problem and that's enough for me.
Written: Aug 26 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Flight went fine
Cons: I'm was still in an airplane!
The Bottom Line: I fly a lot and in reality, most flights are pretty much the same ~ America West came through without a hitch!
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| 2buzy's Full Review: America West |
Within the last few months I have been gone a lot more than I have been home! In that time I have been on too many planes, in too many hotels and eaten way too many fast food meals! Although most of my flights were on airlines i have flown a lot on (and written reviews on) I did fly two airlines for the first time ~ one being America West
RESERVATIONS
I made the reservations on their website after checking prices and schedules on a couple of the bigger travel sites. Even though I fly a lot, I am NOT a fan of flying and so non stop flights are a must for me! America West offered the most convenient non-stop flight times to and from Phoenix and they actually were the second lowest in price.
I got an extra 500 frequent flyer miles for booking online which were transfered to my British Airways account which was nice since I am close to a free ticket with them.
It was easy to make the reservations and I was sent a detailed confirmation email within minutes minutes of completing the booking.
CHECKING IN
Since we were flying out of Seattle I knew the best way was to check ALL of our bags so we could get through the l*o*n*g security lines quickly! In Seattle, if you have just a purse (not a carry on) you can go through the "express" line and be through in minutes. So, as much as I hate too, we now check our bags when flying out of Seattle.
We went up to the America West counter and stood in line for just under 10 minutes. I gave the representative all of our passports and she checked us in without a problem. I had the confirmation email but she never asked for it. They weighed the bags, tagged them and gave me the boarding passes after telling us what gate we'd be at.
Not only was checking in PROBLEM FREE but we had the same experience when coming out of Phoenix! We were processed quickly, not tagged for extra security and sent on our way.
Since we checked everything, we got through security quickly and the only thing we hitch we had was in Phoenix my daughter had to take the lid off and take a sip of her Starbucks drink. The rest of us were already finished so that wasn't a problem but Little Miss sip, talk, talk, sip, talk, talk wasn't even 1/2 done with hers!
THE FLIGHTS
On both of the flights they loaded the coach passengers from the back to the front which would be the perfect plan if people would load when their rows were called! This became obvious(again)in Phoenix when a family of 5 comes on with all their carry on and supplies and preceded to hit EVERY aisle passenger on the right side in the head with all their crap! I see this coming and get my daughter to duck and the Mom sees this and stops and says "sorry but you can't imagine what it is like getting a family on in time." I smile and say "that may be true but MY family of 7 made it on time" at which time she gives me a dirty look and hits a few more heads before sitting down!
Other than that little thing, the flights were non-eventful. Both flights were on an Airbus A320 which has 3 seats on each side and an aisle down the middle. Both of the planes and their bathrooms were clean.
We were given drinks and pretzels and on both flights my kids were asked if they wanted extra snacks.
All of the flights took off and landed within five minutes of the scheduled times, hard to beat that!
BAGGAGE
When you have seven people traveling, lost baggage is a real fear. We have lost luggage in Mexico, New York and Chicago which is what started us to carry on everything we packed! So, every time I head to the baggage claim, I worry! I am glad to report that all 10 pieces followed us on and off our flights. We had a wait of about 10 minutes at both airports.
All in all, our flights with America West went off without a single problem from check-in to baggage pick up. No complaints here!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
2buzy
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 - Top 200 |
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Location: In front of the computer!
Reviews written: 381
Trusted by: 294 members
About Me:
"I'm for a stronger death penalty." - President George Bush
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