US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking planes

Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

Doug Taylor said:
The thing that gets my goat about the China route is that if they didn't intend to start it, it should be put out for bid again.
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What would one expect when an airline with limited international flying and limited international branding and infrastructure is awarded a route that most industry folk laughed at? Oh yeah, they have to get a new airplane type, and do the proving runs, a most reasonable idea with today's moderate fuel prices.

On the upside, looks like Boeing might get the tanker contract for our military.....
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

Kingairer said:
We hear all this whining about "RAISE TICKET PRICES!"...and they when they do something about trying to increase money, people bitch about it. Get you can of soda in the airport before you get on the plane or something...Itll be about 2.50 there but youl be sure to get the whole can....Look, i think this thing stinks to, but somethings gotta be done. Maybe that was sarcasm above...
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Yeah it was sarcasm! I added it to my post. If it weren't for the TSA liquid rule, I'd just bring a six pack on. Eh but they'd probably charge me a dollar for ice!:D
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

I figure whatever the industry can do to increase revenue is good. We've been subsidizing travel for far too long in this country and I'm sorry, but flying transcon to Miami for free using "miles" you really haven't flown, for free, isn't a constitutional right.

Everyone's auto insurance went up in the last quarter, the industry said "suck it!" but in the airline business, it takes an act of congress to raise an air fare in a deregulated market? Raise 'em.
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

H46Bubba said:
Yeah it was sarcasm! I added it to my post. If it weren't for the TSA liquid rule, I'd just bring a six pack on. Eh but they'd probably charge me a dollar for ice!:D
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Two fitty.

You want clean ice? That's five clams.
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

Doug Taylor said:
It takes an act of congress to raise an air fare in a deregulated market? Raise 'em.
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So true. You don't see McDonald's charging .50 cents for a Big Mac and then asking for a handout. Nor do you see customers buying said Big Mac and complaining that it tastes like that piece of errant toilet paper that's been sitting behind the toilet since the Nixon administration.

Either you charge more to make money or you pay more for better service.
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

H46Bubba said:
Yeah it was sarcasm! I added it to my post. If it weren't for the TSA liquid rule, I'd just bring a six pack on. Eh but they'd probably charge me a dollar for ice!:D
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You can sell the rest of the six pack to the other passengers for a quarter of the price the airline is selling them. Sure you won't be making a profit, but you'll be moving the product!:sarcasm::)
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

KLB said:
You can sell the rest of the six pack to the other passengers for a quarter of the price the airline is selling them. Sure you won't be making a profit, but you'll be moving the product!:sarcasm::)
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You might be on to something here. You can call it
Undercutters Air Snacks. I bet you would make a lot of friends.
;):sarcasm:
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

US Airways stopped handing out pretzels and snack mix. The pretzels were nasty anyway - I ate too many of them while commuting and while flying and got tired of them. :D
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

H46Bubba said:
Yeah it was sarcasm! I added it to my post. If it weren't for the TSA liquid rule, I'd just bring a six pack on. Eh but they'd probably charge me a dollar for ice!:D
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Figured so, but you know someone is thinking it.
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

so wait, do the pilots have to pay too? haha
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

JaceTheAce said:
US Airways stopped handing out pretzels and snack mix. The pretzels were nasty anyway - I ate too many of them while commuting and while flying and got tired of them. :D
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my ex used to bring them to me when she'd go flying i really liked them HAHA
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

Doug Taylor said:
I figure whatever the industry can do to increase revenue is good. We've been subsidizing travel for far too long in this country and I'm sorry, but flying transcon to Miami for free using "miles" you really haven't flown, for free, isn't a constitutional right.
Click to expand...

No, it isn't a constitutional right, but it is a marketing gimmick that the airlines have set up with credit card companies, etc., that allows people to rack up all these non-flying "miles". One would presume that if the airlines offered these methods to earn miles, that it makes some sort of sense to them from a business perspective, no? At any rate, I agree the airlines must raise fares, so go ahead and raise them, but I personally find all this "nickle and dime" stuff for sodas and checking luggage (and other "hidden fees" in general) to be quite insulting. BTW, I love Southwest's new ad "no surprise fees".
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

Continuing their tradition of being the airline of last resort.
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

So, uh, I just did some back-of-the envelope figuring aaaaand....

Say the soda costs 60¢ and another 60¢ to stock, deliver, serve and dispose of it. Further estimating, it takes about a quarter-pound of fuel to fly that 12-oz can from JFK-LAX. Today's spot price for Jet-A in New York is $3.896 per gallon (about 58¢ per pound), so that works out to about 15¢ for fuel. Then, for good measure, multiply the sum ($1.35) by two. If you're inefficient, multiply it by three.

That works out to between $2.70 and $4.05 to fly a can of sugar water across the country.

If their goal is to reduce the amount of crap the have to carry, lets estimate 75% of a 200-passenger flight wants a drink. That's a $400 to $600 baseline (anyone know what it actually costs to cater a "beverage service only" flight?). Say the new charge cuts demand to 1/3 the original.

Just using ballpark guesses, that works out to saving $250 to $400 per flight. For perspective, a single-engine taxi in a 200-seat-sized jet saves about $5.25 per minute at those fuel prices.

Durrrr. :crazy: :p
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

Its not that buying a soda for two dollars is bad or 15 dollars for first piece of checked luggage its the darn price of fuel going up. We have been seeing a trend for the last 6 months at the gas station. As far as airlines going ala carte its not that they want to its that they have to, to find a way to offset the fuel prices. I firmly think that if fuel is where it was a year ago US airways would never entertain of having 2 dollar sodas or 15 dollar checked luggage. With out getting into a political fight we can all blame it on the war, oil man bush and its an election year.
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

Airline A decides not to charge fees and just raises prices to cover everything. Airline B keeps initial price lower and charges fees for miscellaneous services. Guess what, Passengers will buy the cheaper fare 90 percent of the time and then grumble about the fees. In their mind, Airline A is just more expensive and that is all they see. If airlines were pricing to a traveling public that looked beyond "who's got the cheapest ticket," it would be easier to just raise prices; however, we all know this is not the case.
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

I also heard that on the employee side, buddy passes for friends (as well as registered guests) will be doubling at that time.

Hopefully they don't charge an entrance fee for the jumpseat!
 
Re: US Airways to charge for soda, cancel leases, parking pl

Looks like it has paid off:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/13/news/companies/US_airways.ap/index.htm

"Shares of US Airways Group Inc. jumped Friday after the carrier revealed a number of measures to cope with rising fuel costs and an analyst upgraded the stock.
Shares of US Airways (LCC, Fortune 500) jumped 45 cents, or 16.7%, to $3.15 in early morning trading, following news that the company will cut domestic flights and shrink its fleet".
 
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