US Airways passengers: ‘no confidence’ in management

My wife and son were recently flying on US Airways from Phildelphia to Chicago. Their flight was cancelled, supposedly due to weather. However, other flights did fly from Philadelphia to Chicago later that evening. US Airways did nothing to accomodate my family. They did not put them on another flight. We were able to purchse tickets for the same night on Southwest airlines. I guess the weather is different on terminal E than in terminal B. As a way of apologizing US Airways has given us 2 discount vouchers. If we buy tickets of more than $500 we will get $100 discount..

I have been a “chairman”, “platinum preferred”, “gold preferred” and “silver preferred” flyer on US Airways. They are doing everything in their power to eliminate me from their passenger list. Perhaps that is the one thing that they are good at.

This recently came across my inbox. Can’t verify it’s authenticity, however :)

Dear Dividend Miles Member:

It has recently come to the attention of management that many of our best customers, i.e., travelers who reserve and pay for a first class ticket over the internet at least 30 days prior to travel, and who make no changes to their itineraries before their completion of travel, and who check 1 or less bags and who require no special services whatsoever during their travel, actually pay no fees. In an effort to best serve all of the USAirways family of travelers, and provide only those services that our customers value the most, we have decided to rectify this situation.

Beginning September 1st, 2008, USAirways is proud to announce the introduction of AMF’s, or Alternative Minimum Fees. Alternative Minimum Fees are designed to assure our passengers that although some passengers pay less in fees than other passengers, no one is given a “free ride”.

The following Alternative Minimum Fees will apply in the absence of your eligibility to pay any of the current or future fees our marketing people have structured into your travel costs:

Itinerary Guarantee Fee: $50. Should your round-trip travel on USAirways be completed without requring any changes (which otherwise would require a fee of $150 plus any difference in available fares), passengers will be assessed an AMF of $50 to cover the cost of fuel on your original flight(s) that the airline would have saved had you changed to another flight.

On-board Service Fee: $10. Similar to “corkage” fees found in fine restaurants, the fee will apply not to food or beverage items consumed, but rather for the containers (plastic glasses, plates, utensils, etc.) required to serve them to you free of charge. Plastic used in the production of our on-board first-class service uses petroleum that would otherwise go into the refining of jet fuel, thus increasing our costs. The Service Fee AMF is designed to help offset those costs.

Overhead Storage Fee: $15. USAirways adamantly believes that no full-fare first-class passenger shall ever pay a checked baggage fee (for the first bag). This fee is for a license to carry on luggage and consume valuable overhead storage space, and because it is not tied to the actual baggage itself, it will be charged regardless of whether you bring on carry-on items or not.

On-time Arrival Fee: $35. As many USAirways passengers know, one of the most frustrating travel experiences can be arriving at your destination airport either on-time or, in some rare cases, ahead of your scheduled arrival time. The frustration occurs when your gate is not available because the aircraft occupying that gate is suffering a delayed departure. As frustrating as this may seem to passengers, for airlines it can result in costly fuel expenditures as some systems on board your aircraft require either an engine or an APU to continue running while the aircraft awaits shutdown at the gate. The On-time Arrival AMF will help to mitigate the fuel costs of on-time arrivals.

Made Connection Fee: $35. In the rare instance where passengers may actually make a connecting flight, they will become ineligible for re-booking fees imposed to aid passengers in a successful completion of their original travel plans. To offset the loss of revenue from rebooking, and because the passenger is actually consuming fuel on the connecting flight, a Made Connection AMF will be assessed.

Fair Weather Fee: $35. At certain times of the year, because of weather situations beyond the control of USAirways, certain flights may complete the scheduled route and arrive at the intended designation on time. However, FAA regulations require airlines to maintain fuel on board sufficient to reach an alternate destination, if the original destination airport is closed, plus a 45-minute reserve. In the case of fair weather, this additional fuel carriage is wasted. The Fair Weather AMF is designed to offset the cost of carrying additional fuel not required for safe completion of a flight in fair weather.

Alternative Minimum Fee Fee: $10. Creating the Alternative Minimum Fee schedule is not without cost. Consultants from McKenzie and other high-profile firms often must be flown from New York and Los Angeles to Phoenix for consultation with upper management of USAirways. Creating new AMF’s is an ongoing process. The Alternative Minimum Fee Fee will be assessed to help cover the costs of creating new and innovative fees for the USAirways family of customers.

USAirways, apart from all other carriers, will continue to provide cutting-edge solutions for air travel at a time when the realties of global costs can no longer be denied.

These new Alternative Minimum Fees, when considered in part, constitute an amazingly small portion of your total airfare expenses, especially in markets where USAirways suffers from scant competition.

We are certain that Dividend Miles fliers will continue to appreciate the efforts that USAirways management puts forth in maintaining its leading role as the Low Cost Fee Airline.

- Doug Parker / Chairman USAirways