Us Airways Implements Service Fees

[KCFlyer]

Maybe the execs left out the key part...hire reservations staff so that someone who is going to be charged for talking with them won't have to be on hold for 30 minutes. Anybody who waits while an understaffed reservations center tries to handle the calls, and is then charged $10 for the service, most likely won't leave the call with the warm fuzzy feeling you were hoping for.

Heck...you might get letters saying something like "my time is worth $50 an hour...I waited on hold for 30 minutes...$25. So instead of me paying you $10, I think you ought to be paying me $15."

 

[TomBascom]

I am totally against this ticketing fee!!!! Like someone else posted Monkey see, Monkey do!!!! Guess what I have always said if other airlines decided to jump off a cliff, we would be right behind them!!!! On the other hand, if OA charges the ticketing fee and we do not IMO that would possibly increase our revenue with more calls from people who think this ticketing fee is just a little out of line.

[post="177047"][/post]​

Exactly.

This move is, at best, ill-conceived and poorly executed. The web site sucks and they want to drive more people to it by starting them off with a kick in the teeth? Yeesh.

This could have been an opportunity to stake out the high ground. Imagine if BBB had decided to do something positive -- perhaps even in the spirit of GoFares and announced to the world that US Airways has looked at the same issues NW & AA has and, recognizing that the internet channel is less expensive, has decided to offer $5 off all tickets booked on the website. People can overlook a lot of crap and feel good about it when they're getting a deal...

 

[jimntx]

I will be very surprised if a group like AARP, seniors or customer doesn't sue the airline for discriminating against them for not buying thier ticket with a computer rather than talking with a person....

Will they charge $5.00 to a sight impared (blind) customer who wants to buy his ticket over the telephone....

[post="177005"][/post]​

Good Point!!! I had thought of that. Charging people who are incapable of using the Internet due to physical/mental disability could be interpreted as violation of the ADA.

 

[jimntx]

I think CO did it right. First, they developed a website that works and is easy to use. THEN, they instituted "Internet Only" fares. They don't charge for talking to reservations or buying a ticket at the ATO, there are just fares that are "available only on the Internet." And, the difference is more than $5 or $10; so, there is an incentive to at least try using the Internet.

They do the same thing with their FF program. They have Internet only redemptions that take 50% fewer points than usual rates. They are not available on all routes at all times, but I went skiing last year during peak ski season for 20,000 points round-trip (40,000 is usual minimum) by hitting the website on the right day at the right time. Sweet!

 

[BoeingBoy]

jimntx,

Ah, the difference between people who seem to want to run a good airline and what we have here.

Jim

 

[Schatzee]

As usual, US is the follower.

Calling CCY: if this is one more angle to push the customers to the website, it's not going to work. The website does not have a few kinks, it is in knots and rusting. Someone should really start reading all the emails that come in from the website and fix all the problems. This is not going to happen so don't worry res agents. CCY is too busy doing test calls to try and catch off-guard res agents that didn't advise express equipment, ticket rules, etc. to get them to a discipline level.

 

[tadjr]

Something no one has mentioned is just what fashion US expects us to use to collect the $fee at the counter. Are we going to be able to do a MISC entry or will be be required to get an SST, validate it and hand write it? How much is it going to cost US to send in and process the $fee collected by the agent and how much MORE time is it going to take us to process a transaction at the counter that could be better used process someone elses problems? Especially with the limited staffing they are giving us. What about RTFCs or Consumer Affairs vouchers that have to be done at the counter? What about International tickets that HAVE to be done at the counter? What about times like this past weekend when people didnt have power here to get things done online and needed to make plans and drove to the airport to get tickets done? Does anyone in CCY have a new and improved thought in their collective heads? Does anyone in CCY ever step out into the real world or is there some type of vacuum that sucks the air out of the building only to be replaced by whatever is being pumped from deep within the bowels of the building resembling the borg chamber?

 

[whlinder]

Looks like UA, and CO have followed suit.

 

[KCFlyer]

Looks like UA, and CO have followed suit.

[post="177334"][/post]​

Hell, I might buy back in to Southwest. PRetty soon, the customers will resent being "nickle and dimed" and they'll go over to an airline that *gasp* wants to do business with them

 

[EyeInTheSky]

You have NO IDEA how this action just cooks my goose. I am madder than a boiled owl!

[post="177388"][/post]​

I live in Pennsyltucky so I have no idea what the the term "boiled owl" before. Mad hooters yes, boiled owl, no.

 

[SpinDoc]

You have NO IDEA how this action just cooks my goose. I am madder than a boiled owl!

This type of activity is exactly the reason that LCC's got there foot in the door in the first place. While I DO NOT like SWA's product per se, I Do like the more customer friendly approach when it comes to fare rules and fees.

Seems to me that this latest customer unfriendly "Gotcha" is proof positive that the legacy carrier should be called "Dinosaur Carriers". We all know what happened to the Dinosaurs?

[post="177388"][/post]​

Bob:

This is not designed to be punitive to customers, it is
designed to direct customers to the web site to purchase
tickets which is the least expensive means of distribution
that is currently available.

I would have no problem with US matching NW if the
web site were easy to use and reliable, but it is not
currently to that point. From what I have heard, there
is a redesign of the web site and booking engine that
are coming in October and the result will be closer to
WN and HP which are very easy to use. Unfortunately,
the fees are being implemented before the new web
site, and that will be a huge problem for a lot of
customers. Bad timing and a bad decision by CCY
if you asked me.

I can certainly see a lot of people booking away
from US to avoid the extra costs.

 

[tadjr]

Unfortunately,
the fees are being implemented before the new web
site, and that will be a huge problem for a lot of
customers. Bad timing and a bad decision by CCY
if you asked me.

[post="177397"][/post]​

Seems to be modus operandi at US. Force customers to use inferior products instead of getting the kinks worked out before cramming it down their throats. Kiosks are a prime example of this. At least they are becoming more user friendly, but why the rush to push people to use our "services" that are sorely lacking? If I were being forced to continually use the inferior technological services of US, I'd think twice about doing business with US. Unfortunately from a work standpoint we have little choice with Sabre, kiosks, gate readers, etc.. :down:

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

It wasn't too too long ago that I was riding AA's nonstop from London Gatwick to DFW and I SWEAR that the entree served to those of us in the euphemistically named "main cabin" was, in fact, boiled owl.

I have no idea how the folks at Sky Chefs prepared it, but they need to lose that recipe.

A Bistro bag would have been better.

The paper on the outside of the Bistro bag would have been better.

But I digress. Bad idea, bad timing, bad decision by bad management. What else does anyone need to say?

You could have accomplished the same thing by offering folks a discount to use your website, then discreetly raising the fares a few bucks in a few weeks.

As far as other airlines matching or not matching your fare increase...I don;t think anyone knows what anyone else's fares are.....I'm not sure that USAirways even knows what USAirways fares are much of the time. The yield management programs alter, change, adjust the price so much that on a 126 seat plane, you probably have 126 different prices paid.

What kind of people you guys got in charge, anyhow? I have no Harvard MBA or upper crust educational credentials...a Bachelors from a cow college in Texas and a Masters from Arkansas (you know, the place where during football season, people run around with a red plastic pig on their head.) And even I could figure out how to make this work. Sheesh.

 

[tadjr]

What kind of people you guys got in charge, anyhow?

[post="177401"][/post]​

Maybe "The Apprentice" rejects would like a new job? "You're Hired".

 

[ktflyhome]

Spin Doc, why would this have to be this way???? U should be state of the art. I just don't understand.