USAir = Perpetual junk

[glasspilot1]

Usair was the place to work in the mid eighties.

I agree. In the mid 80's I was with Comair and sending out resumes as fast as I could. I really hammered USAir, but got nothing out of them. You never know why.

Then interviews with United, Delta, American and finally hired on at TWA. Who'da thunk it? (Hey I just invented 2 new words!)

 

[glasspilot1]

In their heyday, the USAir employees (for the anal-retentive, no, not ALL of them...) looked down their noses at we lowly TWA people trying to bum jumpseats

Actually, I had used USAir an awful lot in my years commuting and had very good luck with them. In 2002(?) when AA made STL into a RJ base I often relied on USAir to get home when the Am. Connection RJ would "zero fuel wt" out and leave me, and a couple rev pax behind.

I did have one instance I was JSing on United in the early 90's. We (TWA) were in our first bankruptcy and the Capt was very nice in welcoming me on board. But he had to make one comment: "Hey, when are you guys going to get out of bankruptcy and start paying your bills again?"

When United spent over 3 years in BR later I always wished I could write a letter to that Capt and ask him the same thing!

 

[reepicheep]

As one who chose USAir in the 80's for some of the same reasons mentioned (making money, industry leading contract etc.), I would have to disagree. There were signs even then of the coming train wreck though it's always much easier to see them in retrospect.

In the mid-80's, USAir was a regional airline that essentially ran unopposed in the high cost - high yield northeast. If you wanted to fly to Albany, Rochester, Erie, Pittsburgh or Elmira etc. there was only one way to go and they sure socked it to you on price. Their costs were the highest in the industry. When they decided to expand into a national carrier, they had never effectively competed with anyone and were ill-equipped to compete with American, United and Delta. They were also loaded with hubris. When I joined, a representative from the company came to talk to our class and he was so full of B.S. about how we couldn't fail, how American wasn't going to know what hit them, and basically how Ed Colodny's ....... didn't stink that I should have known better. Well, about the minute that USAir started to compete with the established majors, they started to lose money and it wasn't until American West bought them that they didn't have the highest costs in the industry.

1. I was being charitable....the signs were there, even in the mid 80's, but mainly in retrospect.

2. They merged with America West who had one of the lowest costs structures in the industry and the result is - still the highest costs in the industry! Within a few more years they will basically cease to exist out west.

 

[Deadalus]

1. I was being charitable....the signs were there, even in the mid 80's, but mainly in retrospect.

2. They merged with America West who had one of the lowest costs structures in the industry and the result is - still the highest costs in the industry! Within a few more years they will basically cease to exist out west.

Then a couple years after that liquadation. Hopefully next time someone won't be stupid enough to tie a line to the Titanic and they'll just let the F$%@$% go down!

 

[jmreii]

USAir was a great place in the mid 80's - unfortunately while the visonaries in the rest of the industry were placing their bets on international expansion and high O & D hubs (Delta, United) or fueling expansion via low costss (Piedmont, Southwest) USAir made exactly the wrong strategic moves at exactly the wrong times. Bet the Farm on the PIT hub. Bought F100's. Business as usual circa 1976. Acquired PSA and Piedmont and immediately set about dismantling whatever it was that made those airlines work. And spread the high-cost USAir brand of "cool northern efficiency" throughout the decades-old route networks they'd just bought, essentially rendering them non-competitive and dead.

Too bad; with a progressive and proactive upper management USAir could be Delta today, or Southwest.

The real Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) out of San Diego was built on low fares and excellent passenger/customer service. USair was unable to duplicate that product and ended up losing the California market first to United and eventually to Southwest basically forever.

I had a good friend that was a PSA Captain at the time who went over to USair during the merger and hated USair until his retirement.

 

[retired guy]

Has any airline furloughed or went backrupt more times than US Air... Seriously as long as I've been in aviation thats really all they've been good for. So do they hold the distinguished title?

One word....Zantop