What is going on with USAir's customer service? It's now 11:45. I've literally been on the phone trying to book tickets since before 9am.

At 8:50 I called and reached an agent (sounded very new, Asian accent, very hard to understand and very soft-spoken). That person took my request, asked me to hold, I held for 15 minutes (no music, I could hear the background noise, but I was working on something so I didn't mind holding). When I finally said "Hello, are you there?" she didn't answer. She was gone...but I would still hear other agents talking. I hung up.

I called right back, reached a man (again, Asian accent...VERY hard to understand). He was kind of "short" with me. I didn't even get into the prior call because he was too hard to understand and I just wanted to get to the point, get my tickets and go. He asked me to hold, put on real hold (with music and female voice giving information). I was on hold for about 10 minutes, he came back, couldn't find what I was asking for, so I told him that I would go upstairs to get my travel voucher to help him located the details I needed. He agreed to hold. I went up, came right back, and he had hung up.

I called AGAIN (now I'm frustrated) I called and reached an American sounding agent (nothing against Int'l agents, but they are hard to undersatnd and don't understand me well). She was quick and helpful, but told me that I had to call another number. She gave me what I needed and the number to call.

I called the other toll free number, reached someone (again, American), who told me that she needed to transfer me to the International desk. She transferred me.

Another English speaking person answered the International desk. She took my info and asked me to hold. I held for more than 20 minutes and was listening to music/commentary. Finally, when I heard her pick up again I thought she was coming back, I suddenly heard clicks, beeps and a recording telling me I had reached the International reservation desk (press 1 for ....). I was back where I started!!!

I hung up and called back to the toll free number for consumer affairs. This time I expalined to the woman what had happened. She promised not to hang up on me and she helped me (I had to have my unused tickets "released" for reissue). But, in the end, she said I needed to call back to the reservation desk to book the actual flight.

I called the reservation desk, armed with my ticket numbers. Again I reached a woman wtih a heavy Asian accent. I told her what I wanted. It took a while for her to check with whomever to see if she could do what I wanted. Evertime I asked her a question, she had to check with someone while I held. She as nice....but this was 2.5 hrs after my initial call....so while I was trying to be nice, I wanted to be done. I told her exactly what I needed, gave her my unused ticket numbers, the details of the flight I wanted to book, and, eventually, my credit card # to cover the difference. After being on the phone and hoold with her for more than 30 minutes, she came back and said she couldn't book my ticket because her system was slow and wouldn't take the reservation. BUT, she could book my flight for a different time! What??? I explained that my travel; day was not flexible because it included meeting up with other people at the airport....she then said she couldn't book the flight because of her system. Then she asked me to hold again - 17 minutes on hold. Then she came back and said "Unfortunately, I can't book your flight because the flight is invalid". Huh? When I asked her to explain, she said "I'm still checking"......

As of now, I'm still on with her.....in 5 minutes I will ahve been on with USAir for 3 hours! and I still don't have a ticket!

Where am I going? ORLANDO! from Philadelphia!