Should I use USAIR?

[tracyg13]

I haven't been able to find affordable flights to Orlando from Hartford. My mother-in-law has offered me her MBNA points to get flights. Here's the catch...the credit card company will only let me book a USAIR flight (because it is the cheapest).

 

The cruise is April 16th, and of course I am worried about whether or not USAIR will be still operating. Is this too risky of a situation? What will happen if they do go belly up?

 

What to do?

[halos]

I wouldn't...but that's just me.

Too many things can go wrong when there are no obvious issues/problems. Why would you take a chance with an airline that is currently a disaster????

 

Your decision depends on how much of a risk taker you are.

[steveaaaa]

Take the risk and you could make out.If they go under,then expect to pay double what the others are charging now.

Steve...Do you feel lucky?

[tracyg13]

This is a tough one. The flights through USAIR are free versus paying $2100 (the cheapest I can find right now). When I called USAIR they told me that they have been going bankrupt for three years now.

 

I need to decide today.

[Rescue156]

Personally I wouldn't have any part of it. Perhaps because I HATE to fly anyway?

[hdawson]

Many if not most watchers of airlines expect USAir to liquidate in Jan or Feb. Suggest you consider one of the low cost carriers that are making money consistantly. Southwest, JetBlue and AirTran. They are not going out of business for the foreseeable future. Actually they are expanding. And their prices are usually very good and even better when they are in sales.

[halos]

Tracy...how many tickets are you buying?

 

Have you checked Expedia?

Can you fly out of a different airport to save a few $$$ I know that when we fly, it costs a fortune to fly out of Portland ME, so we sometimes drive to Manchester NH, (1hour 45 minute drive) park the car for $8 a day and save about $200 per ticket on the flight...just a thought.

[GoinCruisin]

I agree with Halos... You can fly out of NYC for $170PP, which is a savings of over $200PP.... Longer drive, but if you are talking 4 people, that is close to $1000 in savings...

 

I would not book a US Air flight if they sold it for $5, if I had somewhere I had to be... just MHO. I'd take the drive to another airport.

[tracyg13]

I have checked JFK and haven't found any cheap flights. I did find one that flew into FLL. But then that would mean adding 5 hours of driving time and renting a car. From the sound of it, booking through USAIR is a bad gamble. Boy, this is not an easy decision.

 

Thanks for all the advice...I need it.

 

I need four tickets.

[GoinCruisin]

Go to Expedia... I checked the flights from LGA 4/15-4/23 (not sure your specifics, but assumed you would be going down the day before)... flights are $171, plenty of airlines to choose from. They each have 1 stop, but they are not bad flights. Good luck!

[bahalter]

They fly out of Hartfod about 10 times a day and flights run about 109 each way. I know there are some issues with them as well but who knows? They are not yet in bankruptcy at all. Good luck!

[GoinCruisin]

Independence might be a good choice... for me, No. Too much speculation and they have been toying with this "reorg" for months now... Since your flight is 4 months off, I personally, wouldn't chance it, but that is me....Cheapest Independence flight I found for your dates was $288... Still worth saving an extra $100pp in my opinion to fly out of LGA... but then again, that is just me....:D

[tracyg13]

GoinCruisin-- you sound knowledgeable on the subject of airlines. Remember, I am getting the USAIR flights for free versus paying $1000 and having to travel to New York City and leaving my car there for a week.

 

I was hoping there would be a few people in favor of USAIR, but it sounds like it is a very bad risk.

[GoinCruisin]

Tracy, one thing you COULD do... take the free USAIR flights (I don't blame you for doing this... but my main problem is, if something DOES happen and you can't get a flight... you are going to lose alot more than $1000 in the cost of the cruise)... find some refundable flights and go ahead and purchase them... If April starts to come around and things look okay, you can cancel the flights you bought... if not, you are not stuck in Hartford without a cruise. Perhaps you could find an introductory credit card that offers 6 mos 0% and put the flights on there, so really it won't cost you much extra to do this, and it can serve as your backup plan. Good luck!

[tracyg13]

I like your idea! I think I am going to give it a try. Thank you for all your advice. Hopefully, it will all work out.

 

Tracy

[jcanino]

They fly out of Hartfod about 10 times a day and flights run about 109 each way. I know there are some issues with them as well but who knows? They are not yet in bankruptcy at all. Good luck!

Indepenedence Air has already filed Chapter 11.

 

My mistake. They have been fighting tooth and nail to avoid it but industry anaylysts say there is a 70% chance that the filing will come this month.

 

GE is one of their biggest creditors if the the largest. They hold the leases on their aircraft. GE is also the biggest creditor of USAirways. Rumor has it that GE will be able to bail one of them out and that financially, USAirways is their best bet. I wouldn't hold my breathe waiting for Independence Air to get any better. GE wants them to back to being a regional carrier for United.

[tef43]

Indepenedence Air has already filed Chapter 11.

Wrong.

[GoinCruisin]

I think it is very up in the air on Independence... word now is that they MIGHT make it, but I have yet to find out if they were able to get new lease terms before their December $83M payment... If not, Flyi was going to seek protection under bankruptcy. Stockholders are not happy and want them to go back to feeder flights (hopefully not for United again!!!)... so I guess anything can happen right now.... just wondering if that payment was made!!!!

[bahalter]

Ok so all that being said about FlyI- I really wnat them to succeed as I live 5 minutes from Dulles- we are flying them on 2/5 to FL for our 3 day Miracle cruise. I imagined we would be okay as it takes awhile for airlines to shut down even after filing- any opinions? I guess worst case scenario, another airline will have to honor our tickets. We have lots of days before and after the cruise so that should not be an issue. The $59 each way was hard to beat and tickets were booked months ago.

[hdawson]

Didn't Southeast Airlines shut down without filing for Chap 11 protection?

[GoinCruisin]

You will probably be okay in Feb.. although anything can happen... If they codeshare with another airline, the other airline will try to place you. Keep in mind that if your airline does cease operations, true another USA based airline offering the exact same flight/date/etc. has to honor your ticket, this could take WEEKS... so don't count on that. To learn more about the airline bankruptcy issues, go here: http://hasbrouck.org/articles/bankruptcy.html

[phlydude]

I would skip heading south to NYC, I would head north to Providence. Get a Southwest flight from PVD to MCO ($187 one way refundable anytime on 4/15). If you don't mind going about 1 hour north of that, go through BOS to MCO on JetBlue or Airtran (or you could always head to JFK for JetBlue as well)

[nosnobunny]

I don't save air miles so this may be a really dumb question. You said that your mom's card only allowed you to book through US Air because it's the least expensive. But if it goes into bankruptcy and you can no longer book through them, what happens to those air miles? At that point, can you not use them for another airline and book last minute? Just a thought.

 

Beth

[phlydude]

I don't know about the credit card that she is referencing, but it appears as though she is not stuck with one airline as a result of having the card, it's just the credit card processor saying they will only book the cheapest flight.

 

I personally have a US Air Credit card (in Philly before SWA moved in, there really was no other choice in airlines) so I figured I might as well get miles for my credit card purchases. Over the years, I have accumulated over 100k miles through flying, credit card and phone services on US Air alone. I cashed in miles a few years ago to get a flight when cash was tight and had over 70k sitting in my miles balance. So I figured, I have a cruise in Dec out of San Juan and airfare to San Juan is a little expensive from Philly so it would be a good deal to use the miles.

 

2 r/t coach tickets for 60k miles. If the airline is still around in Dec., then great - if not I was going to more than likely lose the miles anyway. So If you have miles with US Air, might as well use them before they get lost forever! In any case, plan an alternative with refundable fare just in case...

[jessed]

According to an article I read, a judge ruled in favor of a concession plan in their restructuring and said USAir should be fine at least until June.