How good or bad is America West Airlines? I seem to remember the last time I was out there that there were long check-in lines at their desks. It was near the Continental check-in if I remember right.

Pros/Cons Please.

Marc,
I'm not a big fan of the airline, but that was after a philly to LV & back, direct flights where we had row 9 in both directions, in which the seats have no leg room and the chairs don't recline. We where traveling coach and it was our first & last time with the airline.
While it is partners with CO, I won't use them even to cash in frequent flyer miles. On my last atempt to use some FFmiles, I stated I won't go with American West.....his reply?...."I understand".
I felt it was a cattle car! First Class might be better, but I'd rather pay a little more and know what I'm getting. M2C

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Lee-PA
Moderator, What's New Forum
lee@talkvegas.com

Marc: I have never booked America West, but those lines are always so long every time I walk by their LV check-in area that it discourages me from ever trying them out.

I use America West almost exclusively from Columbus OH to Phoenix and Vegas. My flights have almost always been on time.

You're right about the long lines at McCarren. Two ways to avoid that. If you can carry your bags, just check in at the gate. Or, check your bags with the skycap and then check in at the gate.

Fortunately I can fly first calss most of the time and that eliminates the long lines.
They still have a few old 737's in their fleet with no A/V equipment and no ovens for hot meals. A big plus is that they stock Glenlevits [img]http://www.talkvegas.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img].



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Jeff, Gambling Moderator
senatorjm@talkvegas.com

Marc:
I have also used AmericaWest a few times from Columbus. A couple times by choice, and a couple times Northwest put us on them when a flight was cancelled. I really haven't had any bad experiences with them. A big plus from Columbus is that they do have some non-stop flights into Vegas. Most of the other airlines don't. Don't expect a hot meal. Usually a bag with a few things in it. We usually try to get emergency row seats for the extra leg room. You're right about the long lines at McCarren. In September, we walked into the airport at 6:15 am. Expected there to be no lines at that time of the morning. Silly me .... there must have been 200 people in line. Luckily we had only brought carry-on.

Susan

Thanks all, great info. I usually fly with Continental, but was checking out other options for this next trip. AW has some packages and I was looking at that.

Does it have reserved seating or is the free for all that Southwest puts you through?

One of the few good things about American West is that they have always allowed me to reserve exit row seats in advance, unlike most other airlines that hold those rows.
As Jeff mentioned, first class on America West is ok to good, coach is a step above Southwest which IMO is a small step above a “cattle car”.
First class upgrades are only 20,000 FF miles they can be gained fairly quickly by using Flight Fund partners. Using Sprint you get five miles for every dollar of long distance and using the Credit Card for all your transactions the miles add up quickly. Our last three Am-West flights were F/C using FF miles and the next one will be F/C also. After that we will probably be switching to National for our L.V. travel.
John


[This message has been edited by JohnSr (edited November 04, 1999).]