One High Yield/VFFer's Spend, 1st Half

[vantheman63]

I thought these numbers were intresting enough to share....we track our spend and yields thoroughly...these are for myself only...and they don't take into account employees or family members.

There are some pretty interesting things here...for example, look at the yields on WN as compared to other airlines. Why is that? (Rhetorical question...I understand why.)

I was actually suprised how low the yields for CO were until I thought about it....I've scored at least a couple of inexpensive flights and upgraded them with miles, long hauls...I did one trip, PVD-SFO-PVD for $300.40....$0.044/mile...and upgraded one way with miles, road in the bone crushing back the other way. I've used miles several times this year...in order to work at managing my expenses.

Interesting stuff, none-the-less.....and I think the numbers bear out exactly how my thought process for purchasing works. I would guess, by the time I'm all said and done this year, my spend will be ~$25,000...just for myself. Employees and familly will easily pile on to that.


TOTAL FIRST 6 MONTH SPEND & MILES FLOWN
Miles Flown = 70,816
TOTAL Spend = $15,773.30
TOTAL Air Fare = $13,777.28
TOTAL Taxes = $1,996.02
Average Yield = $0.195/mile

US Airways
Miles Flown = 3,325
TOTAL Spend = $247.40
TOTAL Air Fare = $193.50
TOTAL Taxes = $53.90
Average Yield = $0.058/mile
% Of TOTAL Dollars = 1.4%, MILES = 4.7%
Currently Chairman's Preferred, MIGHT make Silver via UA Flying...but doubtful.


Continental Airlines
Miles Flown = 33,730
TOTAL Spend = $5,915.13
TOTAL Air Fare = $5,240.27
TOTAL Taxes = $647.86
Average Yield = $0.155/mile
% Of TOTAL Dollars = 38%, MILES = 47.6%
STATUS = Requalified For Platinum Through February 2011

Icelandair
Miles Flown = 11,301
TOTAL Spend = $4,043.15
TOTAL Air Fare = $3,487.90
TOTAL Taxes = $555.25
Average Yield = $0.309/mile
% Of TOTAL Dollars = 25.3%, MILES = 16.0%
One More Trip I'll Be "Slver Saga" For 2010

Delta/Northwest
Miles Flown = 9,533
TOTAL Spend = $2,472.41
TOTAL Air Fare = $2,240.47
TOTAL Taxes = $231.94
Average Yield = $0.235/mile
% Of TOTAL Dollars = 16.3%, MILES = 13.5%
Currently Gold, Will Re-Qual for Gold, Platinum Is Possible

Southwest Airlines
Miles Flown = 5,271
TOTAL Spend = $1,426.70
TOTAL Air Fare = $1,199.07
TOTAL Taxes = $227.63
Average Yield = $0.227/mile
% Of TOTAL Dollars = 8.7%, MILES = 7.4%
"A List" Is Possible This Year

United Airlines
Miles Flown = 4,976
TOTAL Spend = $1,069.37
TOTAL Air Fare = $905.22
TOTAL Taxes = $164.15
Average Yield = $0.182/mile
% Of TOTAL Dollars = 6.6%, MILES = 7.0%
No Status, None Intended, Credited To US For Now, CO Once CO Joins *A


Midwest Airlines
Miles Flown = 1,499
TOTAL Spend = $219.60
TOTAL Air Fare = $197.91
TOTAL Taxes = $21.69
Average Yield = $0.132/mile
% Of TOTAL Dollars = 1.4%, MILES = 2.1%

ALL OTHERS (Sansa, Alaska/Horizon & British Airways)
Miles Flown = 1,181
TOTAL Spend = $379.54
TOTAL Air Fare = $312.94
TOTAL Taxes = $66.60
Average Yield = $1.865/mile
% Of TOTAL Dollars = 2.3%, MILES = 1.7%
(Flying Sansa From SJO to XQP was INSANELY expensive on a "per mile" basis.)

 

[vantheman63]

Just curious Van but what would the percentage of travel been on US Airways prior to 2008 and 2009?

That would provide even more insight.

Well, I actually have that information on another computer at home...it was 2006 when I started noticing just a total degredation of the US product...and started flying CO more.

I don't have the exact information here with me on the road, but I can tell you this...

I was CP from 1996, when they invented it, until 2009. I wouldn't have CP this year, but our Travel Manager called them and they extended it one more year...which hasn't meant much to me...I've flown 4 segments on US...

But in prior years, I'd estimate 80%+ of my flying went to US...minimum. Then when US and UA hooked up, that probably went down a little as I did fly UA on transcons a fair bit.

When last I studied, the real big losers in how I travel are US and UA, by way of me leaving for greener patures. I've spent a TON of $$$ over the years with US...

The even bigger better question is how many "Van the Man" level elites packed up and split? The anecdotal evidence suggests quite a few.

PURELY annectdotal...but lots. I have a customer flying to Napa with us on July 22...I was told, specifically, without any provocation, "not on US please." It was not CLOSE to the first time I heard that.

Van spent just under $14,000 on airfare in 6 months. If he in prior years gave US $12,500 his spend would be $25,000 per year. Now take his numbers and multiply it by the number of CP's who defected.

If the DM program has 20,000 CP's which I think is pretty accurate and only 10% defected you're talking about a loss of $50 MILLION in annual revenue.

IMO somebody in Tempe looked at this number or otherwise we wouldn't have the new and improved meals in F, Better Customer Satisfaction from several perspectives. The new Envoy seating, etc. All of that is geared to the elites who Doug Parker and Scott Kirby were so quick to discard.

Now those chickens are coming home to roost and some people have long memories and like Van are keeping their money in their pocket or putting in another carriers pocket. With cash dwindling I'm betting that 50 million they pizzed away getting rid of elites is looking real good to them about now. Oh well

"Oh well" is right....and 10% is a VERY low estimate.

The challenge is, "new and improved meals in F, the new Envoy seats," etc...are still not up to the same level of the competition.

Again...if I was happy...I wouldn't have gone looking for another T/A carrier...in this case, FI. I mean, for crying out loud, it's a ZILLION times easier to go to LHR or MAN or AMS from PVD than for me to haul up to BOS....but the product just wasn't worth the $$$ in my opinion...so, for grins and giggles, I tried FI...and guess what? I'm a convert. THAT is an airline I will fly until they demonstrate they no longer care about my business.

And guess who loses in that deal???

 

[freedom]

it would be interesting to me to see what the ticket prices were in 2007 , 2008 and 2009 on one of the larger routes , say LAX - CLT or PHL-LAX .... if we could find the ticket price history of these given routes we could come up with a control group .

i have a theory .... i "hear " that ticket prices have come down alot , but because i work in the industry , i have NO idea what a normal plane ticket costs or has ever cost ... but i suspect that if one could look at the historical price of tickets and then start comparing the declining ticket prices from 2009 ( when I believe that unemployment began to affect ticket prices ), we could come up with an equation that would explain the cost of ticket prices relative to unemployment thus allowing us to figure out our rate of cash burn if things remain at a constant rate ..

I feel that there is a correlation between unemployment and the downward prices on airline tickets .... so X amount unemployment means that in order to fill the planes ,tickets must be priced Y percent off ....now i also bet that there are other factors such as, the higher the unemployment rate goes the more seats become available on the other airlines as a whole , thus requiring percentage Y to be increased relative to an exponential unemployment number .. ( What I’m trying to say here is that percentage Y is not linked 1:1 with price X … umm Y has multipliers based on the fact that the higher the number of X the more you’ll have to adjust the Y amount )

I suck at math I hope I explained it right

 

[freedom]

Just thought of another thing to chalk up under "Oh Well"


{so on and so forth }

Scott & Doug made it just another seat on a plane which was their stated goal. So now to most it's just another airline and if it fails it will be just another failed airline. People will shrug and say Oh Well!

Apart from my math ramblings , I wanted to address this mentality about our company closing it’s doors …..

First I want to praise Parker and crew for talented leadership and ingenious solutions during difficult times .. Next I want to praise our unions and workers at US airways for having sacrificed time and time again to keep this airline flying …. (and going above and beyond on a daily basis )

With all of that said …. I believe that you are correct PB and that us airways will close it’s door completely , no second chances in BK this time .. Liquidation awaits ….

We will of course go down fighting , wage freezes , furloughs , voluntary wage cuts , etc … but the fact is there are too many airlines and too few pax these days …. (pax that can pay ticket prices high enough to keep planes in the sky that is )

Some believe that mergers are the solution to avoiding our fate … I highly doubt it … throw two drowning people together and you still just have two people drowning .. (our situation AWA and US air was far different when it took place in yesteryears economic environment , factors have radically changed to make pairings like that far more difficult or profitable )

As far as I’m concerned it’s simply a matter of time ..

Odds are that nationalization is our only hope of survival … It’s dicey if we’d be able to get the government to take us up in it’s arms , but I think it’s within the realm of possibility if the right levers are pulled …( I’ve got further ideas on that subject )

Ah well , it’s all speculation on my part , hope I’m wrong and that the money train continues! CHOO CHOO!!! :mf_boff:

 

[US1YFARE]

i also remember eating the boxed meals in first and saying, it's ok, times are tough. But, that was when they still treated their VFF's with appreciation. Now, they treat the VFF with disdain and provide crappy service up front. Who needs that crap? Let's face it....it's not about ice cream sundaes...for as much as I spend on airfare, I can buy a lot of ice cream sundaes--better than they serve on an airplane--it's about appreciating your best customers and giving them service in line with the fares that they pay. US does neither.

 

[Itestwell]

PURELY annectdotal...but

See, that's the problem. Everyone talks about the defection from US, but I have yet to see a wildly profitable CO, even after the drop in gas prices. Even though F (at CO) is mainly full fare purchased, as most claim.

Is CO spending too much on their product, even with all the former US elites now onboard? Are we blaming the economy?

 

[Itestwell]

.for as much as I spend on airfare, I can buy a lot of ice cream sundaes--better than they serve on an airplane--it's about appreciating your best customers and giving them service in line with the fares that they pay. US does neither.

Well, if you don't so much care about the "sundaes" , are you instead focusing on an airline with an improving on time arrival/ bag ratio? Just buy your sundae, and carry it on board! We're much more on time than EWR.....

Welcome back!

 

[700UW]

Lets see CO's FAs are one of the highest paid in the industry, represented by the IAM.

CO still gives its employees a pension plan and it current in its payments.

CO still offers free meal in coach.

CO values its employees, I know I was involved in one of the contract negotiations for the FAs back in 2005.

I was a US employee not a CO, but I was working with the IAM and their VP of inflight overheard me saying the next US flight for me to catch back to CLT was at 8pm and I was all ready gone for 8 days away from home and wanted to get back to see my son, the next thing I know he comes in and hands me a positive space ticket to catch the next CO flight which was COEX to get home and was back in CLT at 4pm.

My whole time at US for the M&R Negotiations in 2004/05 US' management never treated us with respect but with disdain.

That is why CO is way better company and offers a better product than US.

 

[john john]

the next thing I know he comes in and hands me a positive space ticket to catch the next CO flight which was COEX to get home and was back in CLT at 4pm.

My whole time at US for the M&R Negotiations in 2004/05 US' management never treated us with respect but with disdain.

That is why CO is way better company and offers a better product than US.

Jerry G & AL didn’t hook a brother up

 

[700UW]

Heck no,

Doug McKeen was running negotiations at US for the M&R during the 2nd BK, he was the former VP of Labor Relations turned consultant, he looks like jughead for archie comics, he and I about came to a fight and Hemenway had to step in between us after McKeen gave me the false fact filled press release about the final offer they gave us after Judge Mitchell AKA Rubber Stamp abrogated our CBA.

Jerry was busy with the AFA and had his hands full dealing with Teddy and Hemenway and I did not like each other either, we nicknamed him No Value Al as everything we came up with to save money and not really hurt the membership he said had "no value"

 

[700UW]

DL just gave their FF free miles I been reading anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 free miles, to encourage their FFs to fly since their is a recession.

 

[Singleflyer]

Like Van I was a CP @ US until feb 09. I stopped flying them in Mar 08 after the 500 mile minimum was taken away. I do not have detail records like Van, however with flight memory and my expense reports I can estimate the spend US lost from me for the last six months.


Total airfare all In $25,893.88
Number of legs flown 106
Total BIS miles 48,469
Average Leg Miles 457 Miles.
Average revenue per mile $0.5342
Average cost per leg $244.28

My business went to:

DL 66 Legs
US 15
NW 12
UA 4
AA 4
CO 4

All of my DL legs could have gone to US, they were CHS-MSY-CHS CHS-MOB-CHS CHS-JAN-CHS. The 4 CO legs probably could have gone to US as well as 6 of the NW Legs.


if you take the 66 DL legs X 244.28 per leg = $16,122.60 in lost revenue for 6 months or $32,000.00 per year since I will still fly every week, and hopefully longer lengths.

While DL is only 'OK' in my book, it will take allot for US to gain my business back. I do have to admit the planes are much cleaner than a year ago. Also I will have 15 more segments this year to maintain my silver for my CHS-PVD-CHS flights.

This was business they chased away!

Plus I just received 10,000 miles from DL and another 10,000 miles from NW

 

[SS255]

I'm a small fry compared to some of you big spenders, but my spend so far on airfare this year has been $4,200:

$3,900 - CO
$300 - NW

All of this would have gone to US had they not thumbed their nose at me a year ago.

I still have about $3,000 worth of expected travel to book for the remainder of the year.

 

[DrBeth]

Greetings! It has been a while since I visited this forum!

I am very, very small fry this year as I have cut my travel, but below are my numbers. All of my travel has been personal and out of my own pocket.

As you can see, my primary airline is Delta and I will earn Gold Medallion by the end of the year. I could have flown US, but elected to fly Delta instead.

Please note that my one United ticket purchase was flown on US metal and credited to US Airways.

With regard to my US Airways purchases, I redeemed my last E-TUVs on two itineraries, $100 and $50 respectively.

OVERALL
Total BIS Miles Flown for 2009 22,675
Total Elite Qualifying Miles for 2009 33,086
Total Segments Flown for 2009 43
Total Amount Paid in 2009 $2,734.45
Total AIRFARE Paid in 2009 $2,151.41
Total Taxes & Fees Paid in 2009 $583.04
Overall % of Ticket Price for 2009 21.32%
Overall Yield for 2009 per mile $0.09

DELTA AIR LINES
Total BIS Miles Flown for 2009 18,989
Total Elite Qualifying Miles for 2009 25,434
Total Segments Flown for 2009 35
Total Amount Paid in 2009 $2,359.40
Total AIRFARE Paid in 2009 $1,860.47
Total Taxes & Fees Paid in 2009 $498.93
Overall % of Ticket Price for 2009 21.15%
Overall Yield for 2009 per mile $0.10

UNITED AIRLINES
Total BIS Miles Flown for 2009 2,066 credited to US
Total Elite Qualifying Miles for 2009 5,652 credited to US
Total Segments Flown for 2009 4 credited to US
Total Amount Paid in 2009 $235.90
Total AIRFARE Paid in 2009 $184.18
Total Taxes & Fees Paid in 2009 $51.72
Overall % of Ticket Price for 2009 21.92%
Overall Yield for 2009 per mile $0.09

US AIRWAYS
Total BIS Miles Flown for 2009 1,620
Total Elite Qualifying Miles for 2009 2,000
Total Segments Flown for 2009 4
Total Amount Paid in 2009 $139.15
Total AIRFARE Paid in 2009 $106.76
Total Taxes & Fees Paid in 2009 $32.39
Overall % of Ticket Price for 2009 23.28%
Overall Yield for 2009 per mile $0.07

 

[SS255]

Not such a small fry actually. $7000.00 is not peanuts and more money in one year then most spend on air travel in a lifetime.

I am hoping to go to Israel in early 2010, so that could actually increase my airfare spend this year to closer to $10K, if I book prior to January. If US would have a good Envoy fare sale (i.e. under $3K from LAX), I would seriously consider flying them to TLV......assuming I don't read about recurring problems with this flight. Otherwise, it will be CO with a mileage upgrade + co-pay.