Us Airways Announces 'gofares,'

[tadjr]

I'm not sure what it is that is simpler. Ok, the Sat night stay isn't required for these fares but are there still 30 fares being offered in each market? What about the rest of the rules & restrictions boilerplate? It's going to take some time to figure out...

From what I have seen (TPA-PHL) goes down to 13 Fare offerings in May.
There were 2 special one way fares (advance purchase I believe) to match WN and they are only valid until OCT I think. There is the First Class, Full Y and about 5 GOFares (One ways), there was also about 4 round trip excursion fares in the market. I havent looked at every fare rule, but it is much simpler than it is now. It appears that the GOFares will just be capacity controlled until they're sold out, then it goes to the next higher fare.

Dont quote me on any of this since I just glanced over it tonight and didnt have a chance to verify fare rules, etc, but the quick checking I did appears this is how they plan on doing it.

 

[Dizel8]

"In addition, this news will send shock waves throughout the industry."

I think it was expected!

 

[whlinder]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that US will change it's transatlantic pricing.

Frankly, I don't think there's much wrong with it.

Well it has been mentioned "these changes won't matter unless they are across the board" and since transatlantic is part of the "board" I figured I would include those markets in my post. And I don't think there is much wrong with their TATL pricing either, aside from maybe they need to raise their low-end fares a bit, given the anecdotal evidence on their board that flights to Europe are being oversold left and right....

 

[marco90821]

Just did a search from PIT to BHM on the Go Fares section of the UAIR website...$1178 +. That is not what I would call a cheap seat. Maybe the customers need to speak louder.

 

[MarkMyWords]

PIT-BHM was not a market that GoFares were offere in - yet.

 

[bofie]

I have the perfect ad campaign.

Get Bill Murray (as Carl from Caddyshack)...the tag-line would be...

"au revoir, Go-Fare"


catchy, no?

 

[tadjr]

I think that would be an excellent marketing plan Bofie. You could get Bill to do other commercials for us too much like the ones Mclean Stevenson did for PI. With their goofy characters already known, the commercials could be fun and entertaining without coming off as someone "trying" to be funny or cute.

Imagine a "What About Bob" campaign, with the fish wearing Bob showing up all the places US flies following some family on vacation!

As they get into their rental car in Orlando, Bob pops out of the trunk.
In New York as they are getting into their Limo, Bob opens the door and hands them a glass of champagne.
As they are getting ready for their massage at the all inclusive in Antigua, Bob is the towel boy.
In London as they are heading into the Tower of London, Bob is dressed as a tour leading Beefeater.
The possibilities are endless.

Those would be the knid of commercials that would get someones attention and make them remember the name and places we fly.

 

[FWAAA]

Great Ideas,
Now let me tell you why you won't see them anytime soon.

#1 - Slightly LESS than 3% of the US Population has ever set foot or hiney on a plane

#2 - A little over 6% have valid passports.

So the overwhelming majority of the public are not effected by what happens. Right now it is to expensive for US Airways to advertise to 100% of the US population to influence the 2% who fly of which maybe 50% live in the areas US Airways serves.

Piney: There are 295 million people in the USA. You don't seriously mean that less than 3% of those people have EVER been on a plane, do you? Maybe in 1946 the percentage was less than 3%.

Total USA passenger traffic last year was about 700 million pax. Granted, frequent flyers like us accounted for the bulk of that count, but something like 25% of the population flies each year. The number of people who have never flown is shrinking each year and I'd be surprised if it exceeds 10% of the population.

More like less than 3% have NEVER been on a plane, right? Or did you mean that less than 3% have ever been on a US Air plane?

 

[MarkMyWords]

Bob-

Which end of the horse did that come out of?

 

[TheLarkAscending]

I'm not doubting what you'd heard, Bob, but I am in complete doubt about the accuracy of that statistic. I'd love to know the source from which your source was quoting. This appears to be the kind of thing that develops from that kid's game: "Pass It On", it changes each time someone quotes it and becomes larger than life and a documented urban legend.
----------
Because I was so curious about the numbers, I contacted the US Department of Transportation, Aviation Division and was told that they do not keep statistics that way. They can tell you the number of passengers per month/year/carrier. However, not percentage of entire US population. I'm looking further and contacting someone within the travel industry to seek a possible percentage, if it actually exists.

-------------

Okay, here's an update: I've contacted the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA.org) and they do not collect or maintain that type of statistic. That led me to the Air Transport Association -- I'm awaiting a return telephone call. I must mention that no one I've spoken with today has agree with that percentage.

 

[FWAAA]

No, I meant 3% ON ANY PLANE.

I got this from "The Big Guy Hisself, BBB" So if he don't know then we all is SOL. So I have no direct stats just an airline exec's comments.

Ben is an idiot.

Here's one example. An October 2001 survey by ABC of over 1000 Americans found that about 14% had never flown. Ever. Not 97%, just 14%.

More than 85 percent of the public flies infrequently if at all: More than seven in 10 can be described as infrequent fliers, flying once or twice a year or less; and 14 percent have never flown. Another 14 percent fly at least once every few months.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/poll011009.html

 

[tadjr]

No, I meant 3% ON ANY PLANE.

I got this from "The Big Guy Hisself, BBB" So if he don't know then we all is SOL. So I have no direct stats just an airline exec's comments.

No wonder all of the numbers coming out of CCY are met with skepticism.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

Could he have meant that about 9 million people fly in any given day? That seems high. But a little less than 9 million people would be about 3% of the population.

How about 3% of the adult population flies in any given day?

 

[sfb]

B. Ben is clearly incorrect on this one, read the third-to-last paragraph of Air Travel: Its Impact on the Way We Live and the Way We See Ourselves. Also see The Plane Truth.

From the former, more adult Americans had flown than owned a car by 1990; From the latter, 25% had flown by 1978, but 80% had flown on a commercial airliner by 1997.

In this particular instance, he's just way, way, way off target. Maybe he means only 3% of Americans fly every week or more often?

 

[funguy2]

Ok... 3% of population has ever flown = 295mil x0.03 = 9mil people Sorry, don't buy it.

Per the US Airways website, US Airways boarded 47mil passengers in 2003. And US Airways is only about 10-15% of the domestic aviation market... So I am thiking somwhere around 500mil pax/year...

Maybe 3% of the population is flying on any given day... (500mil x 0.03 = 15mil people).

That makes more sense to me anyway...

My numbers are "guestimates" based on available data...

<Edit> Hehe... looks like we are all sharing a brain today...