US Airways Versus Delta Airlines

I just flew back to the United States with US Airways. Generally in the past I have flown with Delta. In Italy, Delta Airlines works as a partner of Alitalia (Italy's state-run airline) and because Alitalia has for years been the only game in town for flights out of Italy I was forced to fly Delta.

But Italy's new free-market system has changed all that. Now it's all about low prices baby. Alitalia (and its partner-affiliations) no longer corner the market for direct flights out of Italy. There are several airlines that offer direct flights out of the country. For starters, US Airways saved me nearly $150 on a round-trip ticket to Ft. Lauderdale. But that's not what I REALLY enjoyed about US Airways.

The savings on my ticket were appreciated. But compared to Delta Airlines, what US Airways really impressed me with were the in-flight MOVIES!

US Airways has a most way-cool thing by mounting an individual viewing screen into the back of each passenger seat. So everyone who travels literally has the best seat in the house (or plane in this case). And what's even better: instead of being force-fed two movies and a handful of sit-coms like they do on Delta -- on viewing screens that are always too far away and in the worst of locations -- US Airways gives you a whopping 8 movies to choose from, plus several other viewing categories like one for kids and another that offers travel and documentaries.

You do have to pay for your earphones however. But I'll make that concession. If US Airways is going to offer me enough movies to make it through a ten-hour flight, that I will pay them five dollars for a set of earphones.

I gotta tell you: that ten-hour flight from Brindisi to Philadelphia went a lot quicker and a lot smoother thanks to the viewing selection offered by US Airways.

The movie selection was pretty good too: Rocky Balboa, Dream Girls, Ms. Potter plus some great documentaries on Egypt courtesy of the History channel. The only thing missing was the popcorn.