Trip report on America West as I promised in a previous thread:

Arrived at O’Hare Terminal 2 at 9AM for a 10:50 AM departure. There was no line at the check-in counter, and so was processed through and given my boarding pass quickly. Then a vigorous walk to gate F-12 all the way at the end of the concourse. Boarding commenced about 10:20. The boarding process was slow but efficient, with people actually waiting for their row to be called. Continental does the ground handling for America West at O’Hare, and the staff were friendly and eager to help.

The interior of the A-320 looked a little shabby with slightly frayed seat covers and carpet that was coming loose from the floor. There appeared to be PTV’s at one time, but one of the flight attendants told me the company that supplied them went bankrupt and so could no be repaired or made operational. Legroom at my seat, 7C, was tight but adequate, and the seat cushions were very hard. My hopes of having the middle seat free were dashed at the last minute by a late boarding passenger; indeed the aircraft was completely full.

We pushed back on time, but there my luck ended. Because of thunderstorms coming through the Chicago area everything was being delayed and re-routed, so we went to the back of a line of at least 10 aircraft and waited our turn. The captain kept us informed as to our progress and said there would be a 25-30 minute delay. The delay turned out to be nearly an hour before we were finally given re-routing and clearance for departure on runway 32L. Climbout was bumpy with a significant amount of turbulence as we made our way through the weather system but finally leveled out at 33,000 feet. Once the seatbelt sign was turned off, headsets were offered for the film, called Hanging Up, as well as drinks and lunch. Lunch consisted of a hot Calzone (a foccacia filled with sausage, tomato, onion and cheese), a slightly bigger than average Caesar salad, and a smallish gourmet snickerdoodle cookie. It was tasty, and the portions were just about the right size, particularly as I had breakfast right before departing. Cabin crew were friendly and very chatty throughout the flight.

Our decent into Phoenix was bumpy, landing on 26R nearly an hour late and just missing my connection to Seattle. The America West service counter rebooked me on the next flight departing at 4:09PM. The agent refused to entertain my request to be booked to another airline as the delay was weather related and they only rebook on other carriers if the delay is their fault (it wasn’t my fault either… ). Thus I was left to spend an unplanned 2 ½ hour sit in Phoenix Sky Harbor airport.

Boarding commenced for the flight to Seattle once again 30 minutes before departure on another nearly-full A-320. We pushed back on schedule at 4:09 PM and taxied out to runway 26R. Once we leveled off, headsets were offered for a brief video program consisting of the comedy program Suddenly Susan, plus a handful of short subjects and music videos. Incredibly, HP charges $2.00 for headsets for this program which consists basically of so much fluff.

Drinks were offered, and the snack they served proved to be a very pleasant surprise. Cold, breaded chicken, potato salad and coleslaw, a small bunch of grapes, imported chocolate wafers and bottle of water, served on an actual tray, not a box or a little bag. Once more it was actually very good, and seemed slightly more substantial than the lunch served on the previous leg. Again, the cabin crew was very friendly and helpful throughout the flight.

We made our approach into Seattle from the north landing on runway 16R and arrived at the gate about 10 minutes late.

Impressions:

Pretty good. America West staff were generally friendly and helpful and the food was definitely above average. I would willingly fly them again. 7 out of 10.

Charles