Calling ALL Cockroaches - Customers Only

[elixir]

My .02 sounds like this: Parker and Co. had it relatively easy with AWA...just eeking out an existence against SWA by offering just a little bit more panache' than SWA.

Now, roll in the FF and extreme business class traveler's from the NE...whole new banana for Parker to chew on.

He can't do it. Someone needs to sit him down, and show him the revenue streams by market. Then, he needs to observe the business class customers, and what their expectations are...as several have said: they'll pay, but they want to get something "of a special touch" for their $$$.

Instead of lowering the bar to meet the masses...a-la SWA...hire a g@^$#*^& expert to reach out to the high-end travelers with "product"...while running their precious "RCA"...agenda.

Someone is telling Parker the wrong things to do, and he's doing them...why? he doesn't know his new customers...at all.

 

[tea42]

What would call the actions of an airline that charges $678.00 to fly you one-way on a dash8 or a saab 340. MHT-LGA and that is 290 miles. Then charges you $15.00 to check one bag, and then $2.00 for a coke. And to top it off they will only award you 290 FF miles and no bonus for being a CP.

I call that raping the customer, let me know what you call it.

i call it it your not getting anything/everything for free anymore---welcome to the 2000's....

 

[Singleflyer]

i call it it your not getting anything/everything for free anymore---welcome to the 2000's....

I am not looking for something for free, I am looking for VALUE! and US is not offering me value anymore when my RASM is approx $0.90 per mile, and they want to charge me extra to check a bag. They made a fine profit from my business in past years, but not giving the full fare customer a 'break' on these extra fees will drive them away like it did for me.

In previous posts I agree on some of the new fees, like an extra charge for a 2nd bag, you are not a freight company. Changes to a non-refundable ticket. Special services, special meals, etc.

So it is value with me not freebees.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

Instead of lowering the bar to meet the masses...a-la SWA...hire a g@^$#*^& expert to reach out to the high-end travelers with "product"...while running their precious "RCA"...agenda.

With all due respect, in this high fare high cost east market, why was the old U unable to compete even with a more FF friendly product?

Isn't returning to a model that was unable to survive then, much less now, wishful thinking.

I'm no fan of DP but looking back at a "real airline" that could not compete is not much of an answer.

 

[KCFlyer]

My .02 sounds like this: Parker and Co. had it relatively easy with AWA...just eeking out an existence against SWA by offering just a little bit more panache' than SWA.

Yet they carried fewer passengers between PHX and Southern California...how come?

Instead of lowering the bar to meet the masses...a-la SWA...hire a g@^$#*^& expert to reach out to the high-end travelers with "product"...while running their precious "RCA"...agenda.

The solution is to get rid of the riff raff "low end" masses that would have flown SWA? Do that and pretty soon Southwest will own PHL. As I said earlier - most corporate travel departments have learned how to game the system...the tickets they are buying are not the "high end" anymore. Quite often, they are low end...just like the masses can buy. What "product" should they reach out with...and more importantly, how much is your company willing to pay for said product? They've tried airlines that catered solely to the leisure traveler....they've failed. They've tried airlines that catered to the "full fare" traveler...they too have failed.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

Wanna bet?

I guarantee it on my flight.

If you are that disrespectful I can only reciprocate. Oh, I forgot, it's all about control.

"Kettels" don't even do that.

You may have a beef with DP but don't take it out on me.

It's the same old theme- "Your airline did(fill in the blank) to me".

Sorry, I have NO say in what DP did to you. I can only contribute to what's in front of me.

 

[SolidCactus]

But Art - Southwest has had "Fair" fares for the past 35 years...they've increased prices to cover increasing costs (not too long ago the highest one way fare was $300..today it's $461). This is the fare structure you claim you are fighting for, yet the one airline that offers them is the one airline you yourself have said you'll never set foot on. I am at a loss to understand why...and can only assume that it is the lack of a first class cabin - although most of the other airlines that are flying into ISP also lack a first class cabin.

So how does anybody win? Implement "reasonable" fares...and severely limit or eliminate first class upgrades...is this acceptable to you? Or do they need to implement fair fares" and still provide the VFF's with the perks and upgrades - after all - the perk was originally intended to reward those who paid "full" fare - which indeed WAS highway robbery in the day. But if your fare..the person who travels frequently, is the same as MY fare..a 'drearie normal kettle' flyer - why should you be comped?

Im a cockroach, and a US CP. I fly WN whenever I can. Unfortunately, I'm an "eastie" and I usually can't get to where I need to go on WN. I too want "Fair" fares.

WN has a great solution for a first class cabin. it's called "buy two seats". you buy two seats, you get to preboard, even before the A group, and if the plane doesnt SELL OUT, they automatically REFUND you for the extra seat. Two seats on WN are a lot more comfortable than a FC seat on US. A COACH customer on WN gets the same as a FC customer on US on any flight less than 3 hours. Unlimited snacks and unlimited drinks (non alcoholic). (I'm a "husky" guy. I think you're supposed to be heavy, but I dont know if it's enforced)...

KC, have you looked at what it takes to be a US CP? 100,000 miles and 120 segments in one year. Thats a flight average every three days. Don't you think we deserve an upgrade? You may think we all travel on the company dime, many of us do. I don't. I live in Florida and Pennsylvania, that's my choice. I will probably only be a Platinum in 2009 because I have given Airtran and Southwest a TON of my business this past year. If US management didn't constantly remind me how they don't want my business, they would have seen all of it...

US Airways management does not want my business. They do everything they can to constantly remind me of that. And I just don't get it. That southwest ad from the wall street journal that says "Dont ^#%# Me Over" couldn't be more right.

I love the employees of US. I'll be honest, there are TWO things that keep me still flying US Airways. The staff at the CP desk, who are PHENOMINAL, and the tenured flight attendants, many of which I see on a regular basis, and look forward to seeing them. Once this trainwreck of a company gets rid of these employees, either set - I will positively be gone forever. If the CP line rings to India or Central America, I WILL NEVER set foot on another US plane.

And BTW, Southwest is now full of business flyers. They even gave us new soft cushy chairs in the gate area with power. Southwest is successful because it does just what art says... Employees FIRST, customers SECOND, shareholders LAST.

 

[elixir]

Perfectly said, sir.

To the respondents of my posts...it's all there, in this post. I don't know how AWA did against SWA pre-merger..I just know it was just the two of them wrangling over folks from the Southwestern US..generally more laid back than the NE.

The addage that "perception IS reality" comes to mind. Our most valued and "spendy" customers feel like we don't give a $h*t if they fly us or not...because the management is sending the message through policy changes that disregard them entirely....and we are left to do the face-to-face with them.

 

[Pacemaker]

With all due respect, in this high fare high cost east market, why was the old U unable to compete even with a more FF friendly product?

Isn't returning to a model that was unable to survive then, much less now, wishful thinking.

I'm no fan of DP but looking back at a "real airline" that could not compete is not much of an answer.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

As I am an east employee who has enjoyed the pleasures of downsizing, pay cuts etc. ..so what parts of the failed administrations from the past am I supposed to ignore?

Rose colored glasses are just as bad as psychedelic koolaid-not that I partake.

Another "oldie but a goody" with fond memories from the past when a "rising tide floats ALL boats".

Ignore the changes if you want, but at $139 oil you tell me how doing things the "old way" works. it led to two BKs before.

What can you tell me that is anything different from the past?

Quotes from The Wizard Of OZ are appropriate because of the denial that some choose to live in. Follow the SYR road, follow the SYR road.

I am not a DP supporter, I am a "you've got to be kidding me - everything is OK on the East"
debunker.

You show me how reverting to the the old U will improve the employees situation.

I've been waiting for this magical East solution to all our problems for over 20 years.

After base closings, pay cuts, insurance premiums rising, commuting and 2 F****** BKs, really what can you defend?

 

[Pacemaker]

"Quotes from The Wizard Of OZ are appropriate because of the denial that some choose to live in."

My point exactly, and "shrinking to profitability" and "focusing on our high-yield core" was a proven loser from the late 80's through 2004 and will land this company in Ch. 7 - land.

High yield/high cost doesn't work. Airways lost 5 billion trying to prove different.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

"Quotes from The Wizard Of OZ are appropriate because of the denial that some choose to live in."

My point exactly, and "shrinking to profitability" and "focusing on our high-yield core" was a proven loser from the late 80's through 2004 and will land this company in Ch. 7 - land.

High yield/high cost doesn't work. Airways lost 5 billion trying to prove different.

I guess we agree.

This board becomes more civil every day.

 

[KCFlyer]

KC, have you looked at what it takes to be a US CP? 100,000 miles and 120 segments in one year. Thats a flight average every three days. Don't you think we deserve an upgrade?

Not if that ticket was bought with a "gamed" fare that was intended for the "kettles". The FF programs were geared to the business flyer who typically paid the high yield full fare ticket. That was 20 years ago. When that business flyer is buying the same ticket that the once a year to grandma's passenger is buying, then no, I don't think they deserve an upgrade. I can imagine the outcry if an airline upgraded based on ticket price...if a CP had a "gamed" ticket, and a "kettle" who had to get to a funeral has a full fare ticket, then the kettle ought to get the upgrade.

 

[longing4piedmont]

Not if that ticket was bought with a "gamed" fare that was intended for the "kettles". The FF programs were geared to the business flyer who typically paid the high yield full fare ticket. That was 20 years ago. When that business flyer is buying the same ticket that the once a year to grandma's passenger is buying, then no, I don't think they deserve an upgrade. I can imagine the outcry if an airline upgraded based on ticket price...if a CP had a "gamed" ticket, and a "kettle" who had to get to a funeral has a full fare ticket, then the kettle ought to get the upgrade.

Maybe you should spend time educating yourself before you continue to make statements in which you have no idea of what you are talking about. You truly appear to have a severe case of class envoy directed at VFF. You seldom fly these days so you have no status and you resent it, plain and simple.

Now as to your education. This one is a freebie on me. DL's program works exactly the way you describe above.

 

[KCFlyer]

Maybe you should spend time educating yourself before you continue to make statements in which you have no idea of what you are talking about. You truly appear to have a severe case of class envoy directed at VFF. You seldom fly these days so you have no status and you resent it, plain and simple.

Now as to your education. This one is a freebie on me. DL's program works exactly the way you describe above.

And I notice that you aren't flying DL either. I seem to recall when US proposed a similar program a few years ago a cry went up among the cockroaches...if you were truly high yield, there wouldn't have been a need for an outcry (since it would have had zero impact on you)...but there was....why is that? I had no problem with VFF's 20 years ago...heck, I WAS one...and even though I was on a plane out every Sunday and a plane home every Friday, 52 weeks a year, I never really felt that I was "owed" anything by the airline - even though the bulk of my tickets were those high yield, full fare tickets. Back then - yes - if you really were paying top dollar, then sure - take the upgrade. But too many VFF's today are NOT the high yield passenger - they are flying on deeply discounted tickets. But they still want things to be like they were when they were paying top dollar.

Oh, by they way...there's no "class envy"...heck, anybody who would punish the front line worker by paying any fee in pennies is lacking a bit of class themselves...