Mechanical Difficulties
Written: Oct 08 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Despite all the mechanical difficulties, the planes did not crash.
Cons: Mechanical difficulties, delays, mechanical difficulties, delays, mechanical difficulties, delays...
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| Kessar's Full Review: America West |
Mechanical Difficulties... That about sums up my experience on America West. I recently took this airline for a trip to Las Vegas from New York. On the way there, we had to one-hour layover in Phoenix and the return leg of the trip was direct. For the trip there, my companion and I happily boarded the plane on time. Unfortunately, this uncharacteristic timeliness did not last. After more that half an hour of just sitting on the plane, we were told that the plane was experiencing mechanical difficulties and that we would be facing a short delay. I guess different people define short in different ways. A couple of minutes after that, someone came back on the loud speaker and told us that we would have to get off the plane while the mechanics work on it. We spent the next hour in the terminal trying to find out what was going on from America West personnel who seemed to know less than we did. We boarded shortly thereafter and the plane finally took off about two hours later than scheduled. We arrived in Phoenix, having missed our connecting flight (It turns out that we had only missed the connection by a couple of minutes, since that plane too had been delayed).
At Phoenix, we were rescheduled on a later flight and given an eight buck coupon to apply towards dinner at that airport as we waited. We were given a second one after pointing out that there were two of us. We ended up using the coupons to grab dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (which was good, but that would be another review) at the airport while we waited. And wait, we did. Boarding was late, as expected, and when the scheduled takeoff time arrived, we were notified that the plane was having mechanical difficulties and we would have to wait some longer. A collective groan enveloped the terminal, since many of the people waiting had been on the same flight from New York that we were on. Half an hour later, we were told we would be using another plane (I guess they ran out of duct tape to fix the first one). We boarded a plane which had just arrived and sat there as it was being cleaned. It took off shortly after that and we finally arrived in Las Vegas a little over three hours after we were scheduled to arrive.
Las Vegas was fun and three days later, we were back at the airport ready to go home. You can probably guess what happened at this point. That's right, mechanical difficulties. Luckily, we were only delayed an hour and we had no connections so it wasn't as big a deal. We eventually took off, were charged five dollars a piece for headphones and spent the next several hours in a rather uneventful flight.
Oh, a piece of advice if your traveling on America West, bring your own food. I've traveled a fair amount and have never been a fan of airline food, but at least it has been somewhat edible until this point. On the way there, we were served pizza. Despite the odor, we took a couple of bites (all the waiting had made us hungry). We definitely regretted those moments of weakness. I think pizza sitting out overnight is fresher than what we were served. Maybe, I am spoiled by New York and Chicago pizza places, but I could not make myself eat more than a bite or two. I've had better pizza in an Amtrak dining car. the return flight's food was no better. Cheeseburgers that make fast-food places seem like gourmet restaurants. But then again, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. It was airline food afterall.
One good thing to say about America West is that at least our luggage did not get lost. Then again, that's not saying much since all we brought along were carryons.
I would like to point out that this epinion is based on one round-trip experience on America West and for all I know, it was a fluke. However, it is a big enough fluke to keep me wanting to ride on America West in the future.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
Kessar
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 1 member
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