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On 9/4/2002 11
37 PM geo1004 wrote:
N305AS: The utter insanity of your comments that someone (in this case, Tom) who flies 200,000 miles a year does not warrant US Airways' recognition as a "valued customer" boggles the imagination.
You have been drinking too much Company Kool-Aid. You so readily accept the assumption that $700 (a hypothetical full fare for a short hop on the east coast) is the appropriate fare for a passenger to pay and that all other fares are "discounted" as if the airline was doing us a favor for offering those fares in the first place!!! Perhaps Timothy Leary taught your version of Econ 101 but simply because a price exists for a product in the marketplace does not mean the price is warranted....
Southwest and JetBlue have proven this to be the case... and they make mney! Hmmmmmm.
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On the contrary, N305AS is on to the real world that I too encounter daily as an airline employee: the inordinate cost of providing elite
privileges (note the use of privileges, not rights) to high-maintenance, high-cost, low-yield elite customers.
While many of our elites are a pleasure to serve, there are also many who take on an entitlement mentality that goes way over the line. Almost invariably the latter are the ones who whine and pout and even become abusive because a first class upgrade is not available and/or because they are told there will be a fare difference and service fee to change their 69.00 time/day specific web special fare to a prime time flight. It is those who pay the least who expect--and cost our airline--the most.
To paraphrase a top agent who works our elite desk, it sure gets old working this department; we work hard to try to make money for the company and then turn around and throw it away with what we do for our elites who are as likely as anyone to be paying our lowest fares. He is no more insane than N305AS; he too knows fact from fiction--just happens that the US elites who started this topic don't seem to like hearing the truth.
The only consolation(?) I can offer to the disgruntled US elites who have weighed in on this subject is to say that the decision announced by US is a reaction to their own stupidity. It was US (and othe Cartel members) who created a seriously flawed elite status game and were soundly defeated at their own game by customers traveling at below-cost fares much of the time. At the same time US (and other Cartel members) incurred huge costs to provide preferential treatment to non-profit or break-even customers. So, in predictable Cartel airline fashion, US turned around and gave what is rightfully perceived as a reactionary slap-in-the-face to their elite customers who, by playing the game within the rules made by US, beat US at their own game.
And then there's the issue of the outrageous, irrational, grossly inequitable fare structures of US and the Cartel which compelled frequent travelers (and those who pay their expenses) to seek alternatives to the rapacious unrestricted fares the Cartel was foolish enough to think they could sustain. But that is another topic.
10 AM geo1004 wrote: 
20 PM KCFlyer wrote: 
