US Airways non-rev costs increase

Yeah, it's crazy 'yo. It screams of desperation. Unfortunately.

Wheels, we get it... you are unhappy with the way things are going at Airways. It's been going that way a while, but I think now that AWAC is probably feeling it a bit as well you are really starting to notice it. Nothing new really. The Sand Castle has pretty much driven the Company straight into the ground since they got their hands on it.

FFOCUS put out a memo last week advising their members to book away from Airways.
 
Might not like this. . .

But, just because you work for an airline, you're suppose to be able to give travel "benefits" to in-laws and are given 8 buddy passes a year? Delta does the same, and I can remember years ago being able to actually enjoy the benefits of non-rev, standby, employee associated travel. Enjoying my old man's 1989 Seniority these past few years while I was out of state and gas was just getting out of hand was extremely nice. . .along with the obvious benefits and enjoyment that came with being able to grow up flying wherever the hell we wanted to. . .but now. . .nuh-uh - I'll never subject anyone to the pain that is standby, non-rev travel.

Maybe a decade ago, but not these days. I'm sorry. I won't even non-rev with my wife anywhere because it is such a pain in the ass.

I'm certainly not going to hand out buddy passes to any family members or friends, just so they can go through the living hell that is standby travel. Only so that they get to their destination and are pissed off beyond belief at the nightmare that it is. (Granted, there are few exceptions. . .but the nightmare is regular occurrence)

In the end, I think our respective companies should just get rid of travel benefits that can be extended beyond the immediate employee's family. It'll mean more customers who actually have to purchase a full fare ticket, and you know what. . .we won't have as many disappointed non-rever's running around the airport either pissed off at our respective companies.
 
It causes ME way too much stress to give out buddy passes. Mainly because I feel responsible when/if they don't make it...
 
Delta mad a lot of money, they've even admitted, with "Friends and Family" (buddy) passes.

USAir needs to be very careful about this stuff because buddy travel IS revenue and when the cost of a buddy pass nearly meets or, in some cases, exceeds a standard ticket on their competitor, it's not a good thing.

(Note to self: Does Martha Stewart say both "It's a Good Thing" AND the converse of "It's NOT a Good Thing"? Hmm...)
 
I've given all of mine away...still a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a ticket. $80 plus taxes to go coast to coast...


Not anymore.

Check the price now. Round trip non rev(buddy pass) with tax is 210$ Zone 1-6 pass. For a little more just go Southwest or jetblue with a confirmed seat.
 
I've noticed they're enforcing the First fee more too. Used to be the gate agent would let you slide if it was a regular domestic flight. Hawaii and Mexico flights have been strict about it for a while. But I got hit for the fee going LAS-JFK a couple weeks ago.

How bad is the fee?

Here it is only a few dollars and I am more then happy to pay it.
 
Enjoying my old man's 1989 Seniority these past few years while I was out of state and gas was just getting out of hand was extremely nice. . .
Man.. its real fun with a 1954 seniority date!;)

I will most likely get flamed as well for this, but I think the same about the pilots using JS for personal travel. One thing to use to commute, but it you are not going to/from work you should fall under the non-rev like the rest of the company. It is sad that airlines are going to loose this revenue, when it only got used when their were seats anyway going empty. I haven't non-rev'd since NJC05, I usually want to get where I want to go (and I have to go through ORD, which says alot as well). I also get all those FF points to mess up the revenue stream as well.
 
Man.. its real fun with a 1954 seniority date!;)

I will most likely get flamed as well for this, but I think the same about the pilots using JS for personal travel. One thing to use to commute, but it you are not going to/from work you should fall under the non-rev like the rest of the company. It is sad that airlines are going to loose this revenue, when it only got used when their were seats anyway going empty. I haven't non-rev'd since NJC05, I usually want to get where I want to go (and I have to go through ORD, which says alot as well). I also get all those FF points to mess up the revenue stream as well.

I will stop using the JS for personal travel with my company stops making me pay to commute to work.:panic:
Hell I look for full flights so I can get the JS.
The best thing about AMR is it is first to list first on. A 2007 can get on before a 1950 date.
 
In the end, I think our respective companies should just get rid of travel benefits that can be extended beyond the immediate employee's family. It'll mean more customers who actually have to purchase a full fare ticket, and you know what. . .we won't have as many disappointed non-rever's running around the airport either pissed off at our respective companies.
Thank you, exactly what I was trying to say, you stated it much better though.
 
The best thing about AMR is it is first to list first on. A 2007 can get on before a 1950 date.

Yeah, I think that pretty much sucks. But to each there own.

During the AAA/AWA merger they had that issue come up because Airways was seniority based and America West was FCFS. The deal they ended up making was it would be seniority by year of hire and then FCFS within a year. It's sort of weak, but at least everybody is evenly unhappy about it.
 
Wheels, we get it... you are unhappy with the way things are going at Airways.

You're not?!? I have faith in Parker, I think he's a great CEO, but his hands are tied now with fuel. He built up AWA and ran it well, it was a great company, almost a SWA-like culture. He saw the value in Delta and tried to take 'em over. 2006 and 2007 were full of profits. I just hope they can pull thru without pissing off passengers to never return. :(
 
Maybe nobody else holds the same views, but this is managment working around the contract to reduce costs. Once again, they are pulling pilot benifits to pad their pocket. Non Reving costs the NOTHING. If you think 180lbs of person makes a significant diffrence in fuel burn in a larger aircraft, you are kidding yourself. The ONLY time it is acceptable to raise the fee, is when TSA, Gov't or otherwise imposes more fee's per PAX. On Average, pilots here give out less than 50% of their buddy passes, and most all of those are to family members.

Every buddy pass i have given out in the last 2 yrs, has been on the case, that it made the trip cheap enough. Without a buddy pass, the trip didn't happen. I ONLY gave it to people who understood that they would not make a full flight, and that they were standby. IMHO, a buddy pass rider should be considered a Pt. 91 rider. They are NON REVENUE. That seat is going to be empty and cost just as much without them. I could see withholding beverage, or charging fee's for bags, drinks etc.. but the non rev ticket should be nothing more than assosiated costs (TSA, airport, tax etc.)

What point is having the contractual benefit of non rev tickets, if a regular ticket; 1) Costs the same 2)Gets you miles and points 3)Gets you a seat or accomodations 4) Gets you a gate agent who will work with you?

Whats next... Fee for Jumpseat? Will it be enough when your own company is charging you for your ride to work? While they are at it, i have no need right now for my 401K... so why not just syphon a 3% broker fee off that.
 
There's good and bad things about senority-based boarding priority and there are good and bad things about time-of-check-in boarding priority. I don't think one is better than the other, and I have first-hand experience using both systems. Neither system is perfect, and in this day of 80%+ load factors non-revving is hard no matter HOW the priority works!

A pilot jumpseat is there for a pilot to use, no matter the purpose. At DL, you can reserve the jumpseat on a flight 3 days ahead of time for going to work, 2 days ahead of time for coming home from work, and 1 day ahead for personal use. So, guys who are using the jumpseat to get to work have the opportunity to reserve that jumpseat in advance of other people who may want to use it for personal travel.
 
You're not?!? I have faith in Parker, I think he's a great CEO, but his hands are tied now with fuel. :(

I feel he's not such a great CEO for two reasons. First, he's turned US Airways into a vacation airline instead of a pretty good business airline. That's fine when your core market is PHX and LAS, but it pretty much is the kiss of death when you run up and down the East Coast all day. He has (or his minions) have consistently made changes to things to save money with out looking at the long term effects (and by long term I mean more then a week out). Something as basic as closet space on a 320 has been redone several times because Sand Castle guys didn't understand the concept of people traveling with winter coats.

The second issue is he can only manage through chaos. His plan for growth was to keep merging, and as long as stuff was merging he had reasons for why a lot of stuff wasn't working. But now, here we are almost THREE years past the date of the merger and only two labor groups have been integrated, there are still a whole bunch of systems that don't work (including the reservation system that doesn't even recognize a fair number of international city codes).

The place is falling apart and fuel costs have VERY little to do with it.

And yes, I seriously wonder if any of us will have jobs here within a year or so, not just because of fuel costs, but because the airline has pretty much driven away most business travelers, who are the only ones who will be able to afford the fares when they actually charge what they have to due to fuel.
 
Thank you, exactly what I was trying to say, you stated it much better though.

Holy cow. . .thanks. . .don't let Screaming_Emu see this though. . .he won't believe I said something without putting a tone on it. :sarcasm:

Anyway - glad I could help highlight your thought process.
 
I feel he's not such a great CEO for two reasons. First, he's turned US Airways into a vacation airline instead of a pretty good business airline. That's fine when your core market is PHX and LAS, but it pretty much is the kiss of death when you run up and down the East Coast all day. He has (or his minions) have consistently made changes to things to save money with out looking at the long term effects (and by long term I mean more then a week out). Something as basic as closet space on a 320 has been redone several times because Sand Castle guys didn't understand the concept of people traveling with winter coats.

The second issue is he can only manage through chaos. His plan for growth was to keep merging, and as long as stuff was merging he had reasons for why a lot of stuff wasn't working. But now, here we are almost THREE years past the date of the merger and only two labor groups have been integrated, there are still a whole bunch of systems that don't work (including the reservation system that doesn't even recognize a fair number of international city codes).

The place is falling apart and fuel costs have VERY little to do with it.

And yes, I seriously wonder if any of us will have jobs here within a year or so, not just because of fuel costs, but because the airline has pretty much driven away most business travelers, who are the only ones who will be able to afford the fares when they actually charge what they have to due to fuel.


I think his articles in the monthly US Airways magazines are pretty good.....but he needs a haircut.
 
Here's a little slice of sunday non-sequitur trivia for ya. Apparently, my pre-jetcareers website was in an article in US Airways magazine back in 1996. I never saw it, but apparently it was there.
 
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