The flight to Philly was terrible, but at least there was a flight. On that one, though having booked in advance and having selected a seat in the isle near the front, I found when I checked in at Boston that my seat had been taken away and I was forced to take a last minute back row non-reclining one. Then, this airline actually took the time -- mid flight -- to get on the PA System and give a minute long scripted pitch for their credit card, including walking down the isle with the brochures. This is inexcusable behavior. I paid for that ticket, not them. The forced interruption of my time when I had no choice by to sit there and listen makes me want to vomit. Again, at least that one got there.

When I arrived at 5pm for my 6:15 flight out of Philly home yesterday, I put my card in the machine to get a boarding pass and the screen said simply "Flight Cancelled, see reservation agent." I looked at that line, and could see it was going to be at least an hour.

I gave up. I've learned with that crappy airline that if you get messed up at all, it's going to take days to fix. Instead, I called Avis and got a car and drove the 7+ hours home. I'm glad I decided to do that instead of waiting. Judging from what I see on the news sites, I'd still be waiting otherwise.

There had been some brief heavy rain in Philly earlier in the day -- about an hour of rain about 3 hours prior. Otherwise, the weather wasn't actually bad. US Air, however, cancelled hundreds of flights and left thousands of people stranded. When JetBlue had their problems (caused by an actual blizzard, not a one hour rain storm) news media were calling for resignations.

After the last horrible experience I'd sworn off US Air, but gave in and tried one last time for this trip because the schedule was so tempting. This will teach me that lesson for good. From now on, I will drive as far as Philly rather than board a US Airways flight.