It is an end of an era with US Airways' last flight scheduled today. Flight 1939 from San Francisco to Philadelphia, a red-eye, will signal the end of the line. Saturday morning, all the US Airlines check-in booths and gates will go dark slowly switching to American Airlines signage. You might still get an occasional glimpse of a US Airways tail on a plane, but most have already been repainted.
With this merger,
the number of flights we used to enjoy have been drastically cut. Some routes
which had multiple nonstop choices now might only have one or two. Of course
the fares have been impacted as well. Other than having more choice of flights
and nonstop routes, the airlines, now having less competition are able to set
rates and ancillary costs at will.
At this point, many
travelers have noticed the new cost of flying with less freedom of choice.
Seats are harder to come by if you don't want to pay an additional cost for
that coveted aisle or window. Add to that, luggage fees and less complimentary
services inflight. Now we resort to either buying packaged boxed of meals and
snacks on domestic flights or bring our own, like brown-bagging it to school.
My heart goes out to
the crew members and ground staff of US Airways. Thank you for your service and
safe flights over the years. For many, this is the end of the line for them as
well.
To see some of the
changes over the years, watch the attached video, courtesy of CNN and the
Golden Age of flying.
