NO IFE on domestic A/C

[US1YFARE]

I still remember how excited I was the first time I flew transcon (PHL-SFO), and "I got a movie!" It was The Karate Kid: Part II.......and the audio was broken in my section of the plane, so I could not watch it. I was devastated!!!

You are young. My first movie on a plane was Chariots of Fire on a UA 747.

 

[UPNAWAY]

The current IFE is chronically INOP and outdated anyway. This should also help with OTP as we take many delays for IFEs. And a big new expensive IFE doesn't make sense at this time. A few years back DP said (When Frontier and JBlue had the direct TV) that he thought that was one of the few areas people will actually pay a premium for. He was wrong, as JBlue has learned, they will not. Also technology moves way to fast for airlines by the time you get something bought and installed it is already obsolete. With everything getting smaller and smaller we are soon approaching the point when everyone will have their own handheld device. Possible the only thing airlines need to provide is a power supply and wireless Internet connectivity. So if you decide to kill the movies to save that cost and these IFEs are never going to be used again why not remove them and get the fuel savings also. Seems like more sound reasoned business decision making that are keeping us employed and flying!

 

[Garfield]

UPNAWAY, I tend to agree a 110V supply and internet service would be of more use to to pax than some old movie that 2/3rds of them are not watching anyway. plus these things do not go out of date

 

[US1YFARE]

This should also help with OTP as we take many delays for IFEs.

I cannot tell you one flight, NOT one domestic flight, that took a delay for IFE. That is such a crock. It doesn't work, they do the demo...now, I have been nearly on the runway when the F/A's decide that they have to do a live demo, but never ever have I been on a delayed flight. Do you fly? Or do you sit in some cubicle counting grains of sand?

Seems like more sound reasoned business decision making that are keeping us employed and flying!

if $10M is what is between operating and shutting down, your company is in serious trouble. US is getting themselves in a terrible mess with these cutbacks. WN is making you look like fools that you are and since you now cater to the same crowd, you should be afraid, you should be very afraid.

 

[Garfield]

I cannot tell you one flight, NOT one domestic flight, that took a delay for IFE. That is such a crock. It doesn't work, they do the demo...now, I have been nearly on the runway when the F/A's decide that they have to do a live demo, but never ever have I been on a delayed flight. Do you fly? Or do you sit in some cubicle counting grains of sand?




if $10M is what is between operating and shutting down, your company is in serious trouble. US is getting themselves in a terrible mess with these cutbacks. WN is making you look like fools that you are and since you now cater to the same crowd, you should be afraid, you should be very afraid.

I am sure you would be thrilled if the Sandcastle burns and all of us are out on the street, but then maybe not as then you would have no where to spew your venom and maybe you would have to get a life

 

[US1YFARE]

I am sure you would be thrilled if the Sandcastle burns and all of us are out on the street, but then maybe not as then you would have no where to spew your venom and maybe you would have to get a life

Oh, ok. It's summer nad there are nothing but reruns on TV. I don't see how pointing out your company's incompetence equates to hoping that people lose their jobs. That would be sick. Other posters may want to pi$$ on US's grave, but that's not me. I think each and every employee at US should hold Tempe responsible for the situation the company is in due to the contempt that it has for its employees and customers. You being naive and fragile is not my problem. You need to face facts. Your company is getting ready to enter into a nosedive and oil is just the catalyst, not the culprit.

 

[Chicken or Beef??]

Ew! No thank you! Been there, done that and won't ever do it again unless it's a crew ... Or I could get everyone to ask for three drinks a piece or ask for strange combinations like cranapple with a splash of sprite, splash of seltzer, two limes, and three ice cubes. Oh, and I can have lots of pax ask for their monitor to be reset since it doesn't work. I could go on and on. Wow! I like the idea of having inflight "games"!

You don't have to coordinate this effort. This is reality... that is, until we start charging by the drink. (domestically)

 

[Garfield]

Oh, ok. It's summer nad there are nothing but reruns on TV. I don't see how pointing out your company's incompetence equates to hoping that people lose their jobs. That would be sick. Other posters may want to pi$$ on US's grave, but that's not me. I think each and every employee at US should hold Tempe responsible for the situation the company is in due to the contempt that it has for its employees and customers. You being naive and fragile is not my problem. You need to face facts. Your company is getting ready to enter into a nosedive and oil is just the catalyst, not the culprit.

I am hardly naive or fragile, I think the management of this place sux but you're no better you're on here 24/7 are you going to be in your beloved AA forum spewing when they are grounding MD-80's again? sorry your act is old and tiresome and sounds like a broken record

 

[BoeingBoy]

Right. 300 MD80's flying long routes from ORD/DFW is just a drop in the IFE bucket.

By definition anything from ORD or DFW is a mid-con since both airports are in the middle of the country east/west-wise. How many movies does US currently show on mid-cons?

Jim

 

[SolidCactus]

Internet would be SO worth it. For everyone. I would happily pay $10 for internet access.

On Jet Blue, the TV is free. Once I flew on Frontier, and if I remember correctly, you had to pay $5 to watch TV. I gladly paid it, but I took note that hardly anyone else would even pay for it?

I did a few transcons on Virgin America, both in coach and first, and their IFE is the bomb. In coach, I managed to buy $50 worth of snacks and movies from JFK to SFO. In First, it was all free. what an awesome IFE they have.

 

[USFlyer]

Is that the goal, to be like NW. Well, you better start cleaning up your planes because NW's DC-9's are even cleaner than anything US flies. And, I guess you are bringing back glassware to FC? And better FC service than what US offers? People booked on Y and B fares don't pay the baggage fees. Oh, and let's not forget the 500-mile minimum. Oh, no, you just copy the "bad parts" of other airlines and expect you to stay competitive.

And, the 1,000 mile Platinum (top tier on NW) Upgrade Guarantee Bonus. We get 1,000 bonus miles for each domestic leg where we do not get upgraded. And, 16 seats in domestic FC on A319s, A320s and DC-9s. And, meals on flights 2.5 hours or longer. When I fly SEA-MSP-DCA, departing SEA around noon, I get two meals: Lunch on SEA-MSP and dinner on MSP-DCA.

 

[Art at ISP]

It's really amazing when you think of it how short sighted and poorly thought out some of these decisions are.

So they think they will save $10M? Is that in fuel due to weight or savings on film rentals?
Would 500 lb save enough fuel to justify the labor time and down time to remove the systems? Or will they add yet more seats?

What I think they fail to realize is that they will lose far more than $10M in REVENUE. They still have WN in their sights as the main competition. It's not, at least in the east. Another symptom of the severe identity crisis that is US.

Also, I wonder how much ad/marketing revenue they will lose by cutting the promo videos.

Fuel will come down a bit after the summer, then what??????? They just can't see beyond next week.

 

[phillyguy]

Greyhound does not have movies -why should USAirways?

 

[Singleflyer]

Greyhound does not have movies -why should USAirways?

Greyhound may not, but other bus lines do. The bus I take to BOS has video for the passengers, just bring your own headsets.

 

[PA18]

It's really amazing when you think of it how short sighted and poorly thought out some of these decisions are.

So they think they will save $10M? Is that in fuel due to weight or savings on film rentals?
Would 500 lb save enough fuel to justify the labor time and down time to remove the systems? Or will they add yet more seats?

The US Airways management continues to nickel-and-dime customers, and remove amenities from aircraft, allegedly in the interest of offsetting high fuel costs.

Then, they try to intimidate their most experienced captains who won't accept a fuel load with which they are less than comfortable flying across the Atlantic Ocean. At night. Again, in the interest of saving fuel costs.

So, allow me to ask this question of this suddenly fuel conscious management:

Who is the Rhodes Scholar who decided to run a complete, full Shuttle schedule on the Fourth of July holiday, when practically nobody -- especially high-yield business travelers -- were flying?

That's right; BOS-LGA-DCA on the hour, every hour, with a full-sized A319, all day. (The only ones that didn't operate were due to mechanical problems; an almost daily occurrence lately on the Shuttle.)

Did you not look at the bookings for that day? Did you not look at the bookings for July 4th last year? And the year before that? Did you bother to ask anybody at the Shuttle stations how that holiday usually runs as far as number of passengers? Why would you not run a reduced schedule, like you do on Saturdays?

Sources close to the operation reported that agents at one station didn't board enough Shuttle passengers in an entire shift to even fill one airplane.

One flight departed a Shuttle station with one revenue passenger, and two air marshals. Another departed with one revenue passenger, and an off-line jumpseater.

Let's just take those two above-mentioned flights: The average Shuttle flight burns around 5,000 pounds of fuel. That's about 735 gallons. At the July 3 US Daily reported jet fuel price of $4.23, that's $3110. So, US Airways spent $6220 in fuel alone to move two revenue passengers (who probably paid $69 on the Internet for their tickets).

And that doesn't even take into account the dozens of other Shuttle flights that day that carried 11, 15, or 30 passengers.

The only consolation is, those US Airways flights didn't burn a lot of fuel getting in and out of the Shuttle cities that day, even on a Friday afternoon when there are usually huge delays, and 45-minute taxi times.

Why?

Because there were hardly any other airplanes operating at those airports that day. Every other airline had the foresight to run a reduced schedule as a result of the light holiday travel demand.