Employee Suggestions Part 2

[Dea Certe]

The other suggestion thread got a little cluttered with not necessarily suggestions, but more of commentary.
Let''s have another go at it here. Please try to keep the suggestions constructive and creative. We all know we should get our war deferral pay back and the sick policy needs defining. That said, let''s move on. I know we have some bright ideas, let''s post them here and perhaps they can be copied to The Palace.

I''ve suggested we start rationalizing fares. It''s not good business to gouge the business travelers just because we can.

Fix the Website to make it more user friendly and have it work as it should.

Marketing is clearly not doing its job. Perhaps some sweeping changes need to be made. Try to think out of the box. What will make people want to fly on US Airways?

I think we need to hook up with some cities who are also hurting due the downturn in travel. What about getting in touch with the Chambers of Commerce in those cities? See if they are will to help pull together some tours. I''d bet they''d love to join up with us and might not be adverse to doing a little advertizing.

On another thread, someone suggested giving the agents and flight attendants coupons to give to our FF''s as a sign of appreciation. Reward their loyalty for sticking with US. Reward the good behavior, like if someone moves to accommodate a family that needs to sit together.

Make use of travel agents. They can get butts in seats by putting together fun trips to places people might not have considered before. As I mentioned previously, places like the Football Hall of Fame, Baseball hall of Fame and the like.

Bring back the AARP fares. These retired people won''t mind traveling during off peak and would be inclined to fly more if the fare is reasonable.

Those are my ideas. Let''s hear some of yours for getting bodies on planes.

Dea

 

[Pacemaker]

Dea Certe, I'm not sure the problem is "getting bodies on planes". I think we are under-pricing our product. I wonder if maybe the revenue-management system is fundamentally broken. Every time we go out with a full airplane, like last week many time over, I tell the agent "we didn't charge enough for these seats" and they are always in total agreement. The whole thing needs an overhaul.

 

[AIRMAIL]

We could sell advertising space on the overhead bins. For the aircraft that fly into and out of Florida we could contact different areas of Florida promote them. Rental cars , hotels , the list is endless. We could also sell overnight insurance that would apply to pax`s that get stranded due to weather , atc or anything that we would not cover. The charge could be an additional $5.00 each way. This would have to be purchased when the reservation is made. Also we would provide a meal voucher to go along with the hotel voucher. I figure half the pax`s might purchase this to protect themselves from paying for a hotel room. If it was within U`s control then of course we would provide everything that we do now. The insurance would cover everything we do not cover. At worse I think we would break even some weeks. Anyway here are a couple of ideas maybe someone could make them better.

 

[4merresrat]

Please.........No ARP fares! It was a give away and everyone and their brother cheated, they knew we did not check and half the time agents sold them without even bothering to take the ARP no. in the initial booking and when they called back to purchase they became upset if you told them you could not sell tkt. with out it. I had psgrs who admitted they made up a 10 digit no. This was one of those very abused perks............

 

[Phoenix]

[SIZE= 10pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 10pt]For answers in Spanish call:[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 10pt]1-800-VAMONOS[/SIZE][sup][SIZE= 7.5pt]â„¢[/SIZE][/sup][SIZE= 10pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE= 10pt](1-800-826-6667)[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 10pt] [/SIZE]
For answers in English call:
[SIZE= 10pt]1-800-I-FLY-SWA[/SIZE][sup][SIZE= 7.5pt]®[/SIZE][/sup][SIZE= 10pt]
(1-800-435-9792)[/SIZE]


Seriously though, the fact is that US Air has (at last count) at least 12 different companies flying US Air passengers. And I will give you eleven guesses as to which of those 12 companies has the lowest profit margin due to “high employee costs.â€￾

You have to realize, Mgt does not have the same goal that you do. You want to see mainline prosper; they want to see Express contract carriers replace as much of mainline as possible.

[SIZE= 12pt]In other words, they don’t want your answers (good as they may be). [/SIZE]They consider you to have answers to the wrong question.

 

[drifterreno]

Okay here are my suggestions and I''m leaving the controversial one for last. But hear me out.
1. USVacations used to be inhouse, but they took it to the supplier-Fun Jet- years ago. Bring it back to inhouse and we''d actually make more money. People enjoyed talking to real US agents and if they didn''t do the vacation at least we could book them on the flight.
2. America West has started paying their top travel agents a commission for booking them. It''s only 5% but it works. I know--while working in an agency when HP came in and said you''re selling lots of HP so we''re going to reward you. I know these agencies are tracked because that''s how our old marketing department used to see who to visit. Also, if you offered the agency 1 free round trip ticket for every 10 bookings they''ll sell them like hot cakes.
3. Allow some agents to work from home to take the slack off the inhouse agents. Retirees would love to do this.

 

[tadjr]

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On 4/27/2003 8:29:35 AM Dea Certe wrote:

I think we need to hook up with some cities who are also hurting due the downturn in travel. What about getting in touch with the Chambers of Commerce in those cities? See if they are will to help pull together some tours. I''d bet they''d love to join up with us and might not be adverse to doing a little advertizing.


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I was shocked today while watching BBC America to hear an ad for USAirways Vacations. It was in conjunction with an ad for the US Virgin Islands. I''ve seen the ads for the USVI before, but this was the first time I''ve heard the US Vacations part added to it!
We do offer USAirways Vacations to a lot of cities we serve. I checked the website and we show 41 different vacation areas with many more packages. Check out under products on the website and then click vacation packages.
I see we have brochures printed (I guess to give out to agencies) that would be nice to have scattered in the seatback pockets for people to browse thru or a pullout section in Attache.

 

[4merresrat]

Usairways will never have agents working from home, it''s been discussed ad naseum. It will never happen, on another thread today they are talking about the outdated, jurassic computer in use in res and ato. They will never have the forsight or interest to persue it, eventhough it comes up from time to time.

 

[Dea Certe]

Pacemaker,

You''re right, the flights I work are generally pretty full. As you mentioned, it''s the fares. Once again we are all in agreement the fares need rationalizing.

Who''s department is that? Marketing?

I like the idea of having an inhouse travel agency. How feasible would that be, cost-wise? Also, brouchers in the seat pockets would be good. How about a phone number or the website for the inhouse travel agency printed on the boarding envelopes? I notice lots of folks use the envelopes for bookmarks. Might as well make them do double duty.

 

[tadjr]

Do away with the colorized connection tabs we (sometimes) use for connection bags. Its the ramp agents responsibility to read the tag and most of the guys I''ve talked to say they dont pay attention to the colorized tags anyway. The only ones that I could see keeping might be the Express ones since those planes are usually worked in a separate area and could use the flagging. Otherwise, cut them out unless it can be proven that they actually help cut down on misconx bags.
Someone at work also mentioned changing pay from once every two weeks to monthly would save a lot of money. Just think how much time and supplies go into doing the pay every two weeks. Before someone grumbles about not being able to survive month to month, as long as we knew the change was coming with enough advance warning you could plan and budget for getting paid once a month. If its going to save money and prevent more money coming out of my paycheck, I say have at it. Anyone know of any reason (with the exception of any state that has a law otherwise) that this wouldnt be a good way to save money?

 

[Hope777]

Tadjr, you are right. You would not believe how many incorrect tags are put on bags anyway.

 

[Phoenix]

Personally I think they should only pay employees once a year so they could save lots of money. Plus that way, at the end of the year when the company needs concessions and cannot pay you what you have already earned, they can get you to agree to less. (just like the pilot pension!)

In fact, why not get paid once at the end of your career? As long as they tell you in advance then you could plan ahead for it!

Think of the money you could give to the company to make sure you had a job.

 

[tadjr]

If you''re going to have that attitude, why bother paying the employees at all?

 

[Phoenix]

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On 4/28/2003 8:43:24 PM tadjr wrote:

If you're going to have that attitude, why bother paying the employees at all?

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Welcome aboard tadjr! It is about dang time you saw the light. Austin has been preaching this philosophy ever since he got here! Spread the word and we might be able to keep this ship afloat!

 

[PITbull]

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On 4/28/2003 7:52:24 PM Phoenix wrote:


Personally I think they should only pay employees once a year so they could save lots of money. Plus that way, at the end of the year when the company needs concessions and cannot pay you what you have already earned, they can get you to agree to less. (just like the pilot pension!)

In fact, why not get paid once at the end of your career? As long as they tell you in advance then you could plan ahead for it!

Think of the money you could give to the company to make sure you had a job.

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LOL, thanks for that great chuckle