A good choice for flying to America (US Airways)

Member Name: nakmeister

Product:	US Airways
Date:	01/03/09 (190 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free food and drinks, good baggage allowance

Disadvantages: On board entertainment varies according to aircraft

I've flown to and from America twice in the last year and both times I've used US Airways, economy. The first time I flew to Boston, the second time to Washington D.C. I flew from Manchester, but they also fly from London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Dublin and Shannon. As a guide, we got return flights to Boston for about £260 including taxes, and return flight to Washington D.C. for about £330 including taxes. At the time of writing the exchange rate isn't as good as it was however, so it's probably a bit more expensive. I will say however that US Airways do change their prices periodcally so keep an eye out for a good price.

The price is all in, with no hidden extras. Hand luggage is restricted by size (this is a legal restriction I think) but is still quite big - some people had small suitcases as hand luggage - and unlimited weight within reason. Hold luggage, you are allowed one bag of upto 23kg without charge. You can take extra but there is a charge.

There is no charge for checking in, you can either do this online before hand or at the airport on the day. If checking in online before hand you can choose your own seat - in fact I think you can do this upto several weeks in advance.

All flights from the UK to America require you to change at Philadelphia as this is US Airways hub airport. When booking your flight you can choose exactly which flights you want for each leg of your trip which is quite useful. Since I last flew with them they've introduced usairways.co.uk, which allows you to book in pounds rather than dollars which is quite useful.

We found the service on the flight to be very good - all of the cabin crew were very friendly and helpful. The food was good too - on the transatlantic leg of our journey we were served with a main meal and also a sandwich or similar snack, both complimentary - useful as 7 hours is a long time to go without meals! Soft drinks are complimentary too.

The onboard entertainment varies depending which aircraft you are on. For a couple of the transatlantic journeys, we were in an Airbus A330 - these have individual screens in front of each seat with a wide choice of movies, tv shows, music etc. Other times we had the old fashioned tv overhead, and probably a good few feet away.

Catching connecting flights is very straightforward and the US airways staff will give helpful directions and advice if you ask. Flights going to America you will have to pick up your luggage in Philadelphia to go through customs, but on the return journey you don't have to pick up your luggage between flights as it gets automatically transferred between planes.

Legroom was good, didn't have any complaints. Oh and the US airways magazine is quite a good read!

Overall a good, cheap airline but you get good service too. Would definitely recommend.

Summary: Good prices, good service