Sorry for your troubles.

Did you file a claim for the damaged luggage? Not sure what USAir will do but on my recent return from SXM on Delta I had a zipper punctured (not noticed until I got home) and the bag basically being useless. I filed a claim online with Delta, got a response via email 10 days later. About 10 days after that I got a phone call and a check arrived about 2 weeks later. Worth a try on the luggage. I was surprised how easy Delta was to deal with in this case.