My expectations for airline travel are quite low. Here's my own personal passenger bill of rights:
I must make my connection when I have one.
I should never have to sit in a middle seat.
I should reach my destination no later than 2 hours after the promised arrival time.
US Airways consistently challenges those three requirements.
Let's start with connections; the connections are quite compressed, like 30 minutes. That is unreasonable and leaves no room for error. If you miss the connecting flight then it is nearly impossible to get on the next flight because it is booked, in fact overbooked. I have missed my connection multiple times due tight scheduling by US Airways.
As for the middle seat, let's just say that is pure torture to me. US Airways charges you for an aisle or a window, even in economy. Lame. I am now trained to pay for exit row or the 'plus' sections on other carriers, but US Airways has taken this to a whole new level of stinginess and revenue generation. Booh!
Usually if I am within 2 hours of my expected arrival time I can recover. Whether it is catching up on rest, rescheduling a meeting, grabbing a late dinner, 2 hours seems to be a reasonable delay - I told you my expectations are low! US Airways has only achieved a 50% success rate and that is an F in absolute terms and at best a D if you grade on the generous airline curve.
US Airways is definitely not my first choice.