Hands down WORST airline ever. I fly an average of 24 round trip flights a year and never have I experienced such total and complete incompetence. In fact, I'm so incredibly fed up I'm typing all of this on my phone and, thanks to US Airs stranding me on a runway, it looks like I've got time. \n\nLet's start at the beginning. I flew out of LGA to CLT on a 12:59pm flight with a 2.5 hour layover and a connecting flight to Baton Rouge where I hoped to join my family for my grandmothers 90th birthday. It's now 8:40 am the next day and I'm still at CTL. \n\nWhy? The plane to BTR had brake issues and was delayed. Then there were massive storms. Then weather delays. Then air traffic delays (code for your flight isn't important to us, it's not big enough). \n\nNot only was my gate listed differently online than on my ticket, the gate attendant told me to stay put. Said stay at the ticketed E27. The screens were about 1000 yards away down 2 broken moving side walks so I stayed put as instructed and watched for visual clues or announcements. Several calls from my family members later I thought I'd check again and was told 'sit tight.' It was now 6pm, flights were taking off left and right and the website read gate E14 and DELAYED. I hiked to the boards which read the same thing and tracked down to the gate. \n\nAnother 1000 yards and two sidewalks later i arrived at E14. I asked the attendant what was going on and she was clueless. Luckily her partner overheard me and asked my name. Said that flight left at 6:09 where had I been?  I said I'd been at E27 where was the announcement? He then said that I must have gotten to that gate too early they'd changed it awhile ago. So my gettin there early and 'staying put,' screwed me over. \n\nThey were nice enough to get me standby on a 9:30 flight that night. Even upgraded my seat to bulkhead. I went to the pub directly by the signs so I couldn't miss a thing this time. I watched as my flight delayed to 10, 11, 11:30 and 12:01 AM. At 11pm I went back to the gate to get a reading on what was next. The new attendant told me it was likely 3am but then the crews would change over and this would delay or cancel the flight further. \n\nI went to customer service and discovered that was the case. The earliest that she could ticket me to even New Orleans or Houston was 6pm the next day. I'd miss the birthday party. I inquired about getting home to the NY area. Sorry grandma, flowers are in order as is a raincheck and a direct flight. \n\nChecking all airports there was just one seat available in 24 hrs, and it was set to head to EWR at 7:45 am. I took that and the preferred hotel slip. \n\nThe hotel they recommended was HORRIBLE. Dirty linens, hair in the bath tub, broken furniture, it was moist and smelled of mildew. At 1:30am I didn't care I took my $20 savings from US Airways and curled up in my $70 armchair. \n\nAt 6am the scheduled shuttle was 10-15 min away. Then at 6:10. This continued till 6:30 and some other guests and I called a cab. It arrived at 6:45 with the shuttle behind it. Keep in mind the airport is just 1.5 miles away and all this thing does is go back and forth. DO NOT stay at the Baymont. \n\nAfter going through security, where my bag was run three times, and my purse was inspected I booked it to the plane. I got a coffee, got on board with group 1, found my nice bulkhead aisle seat and realized my phone didn't make it. Yep somewhere in security's over zealousness, my new iPhone was gone. \n\nI asked the flight attendant if could make a run for it, sprinted down 2 concourses only to have security tell me they didn't have my phone. I must be at the wrong terminal. I asked them to double check and let me see the locked drawer of lost goods, they did... and there was my phone. \n\nI booked it back to the plane thanking God I wore sneakers and got to my seat only to be told to sit further back in a middle seat because a (surprise) assistant dog needed the seat. A surprise dog?! You've got to be kidding me. \n\nWe taxied down the runway only to be stalled. There are three mechanical problems. The first has been remedied. The other two are mysteries that require Detroits involvement whatever that means. It's now after 9am and we are back at the gate, sweating in no AC, all wondering just what the two promlems are, when theyll be fixed and what 'we think we fixed the first one,' means. Online says 11:01 but im tempted to go check those signs.  Oh, and clouds are gathering. It could be worse, the guy next to me is trying to get to a funeral. \n\nI'm not a pilot, but I am the daughter of one. I'm not a meteorologist, but I know the south, and thus I know the south gets storms. Now why on earth an airline based there (CTL is their hub) can't figure out the obvious is beyond me. I will never fly US Airways again. Delta might be snippy, AA might be dated, UA might have labor issues, but all of them get me where Im going.