I recently checked on a companion pass from ORD to MCO , the price was $162.00 , I went to Orbitz and bought a round trip nonstop ticket on AA for my brother for $175.00. What kind of a benefit is this ? If I remember correctly these passes were given to us a part of a wage concession.With all of the empty seats throughout the system right now wouldn't it be smart to reduce the price back to what it was last year ? This management team has its head in the sand when it comes to good relationship with its employees. The icing on the cake is that a Buddy pass has to pay baggage fees like a regular passenger. Thanks for screwing up this benefit !
Buddy Pass Rip-off
- Thread starter bunt3dunk
- Start date
YVINTERN
Veteran
AMEN but what can I do...nothing...I have taken my last Buddy Pass for this Year to get back to Washington D.C for College but won't be flying on US anytime soon...it's cheaper to hunker down and suck it up flying AirTran.
FlightChic
Veteran
- Feb 18, 2007
- 954
- 0
They are a rip off. I checked the price for a ticket from CLT-CDG and it was $550 or something like that! That is plane rediculus! For just a little more, you can buy a regular ticket and have a confirmed seat.
The key words covering buddy passes is "unrestricted Y fare". This is what the ID90 is based off. For most airlines there is a BIG difference in price between these and the highly restrictive fares posted on Orbitz or Travelocity. This and the fact that it's difficult to go standby even for SA3s make buddy passes so worthless.
midnightmech
Advanced
- May 16, 2007
- 123
- 0
How long have you been working for US ? 6 months? The buddy pass is a dead issue and has been for years. There worthless. Why couldnt the unions have dumped this benefit and negotiated some better pet healthcare for us instead?
ItsJustAJob
Advanced
- Oct 31, 2003
- 117
- 2
When the price of oil was $120+, the company DOUBLED the price of the buddy passes. As with anything else, they will never lower the price back to where it was, even with the 50%+ reduction in the price of oil.
A few months ago, I sent Corp Communications the question about reducing the fares. I finally recieved a response and said the topic was addressed by DoUgIe at a Reno Meeting. It went on to say that the fare was not doubled due to the oil price (when they raised it they said it was) and how great our pass travel is, so at this point there is no price reduction on the horizon.
legacy-to-LCC
Veteran
- Feb 20, 2004
- 778
- 2
"hunker down"?? at least on air tran you don't have to pay for a drink...
PHL Approach
Advanced
And that's exactly what a Co-Workers Daughter did. Got a $550 R/T fare on AF ~ PHL-CDG. It's absurd really. It's kinda just a tease now to have those in front of you on The Hub.
FutureUScapt
Veteran
- Dec 1, 2005
- 600
- 13
The European fares are really out of whack; its $400 roundtrip + any applicable intl taxes.
In the off-season, you can find a regular fare for that amount. Now in the peak-season, you'll be hard pressed to find anything near that so I suppose it's not that bad of a deal then. Of course, flights are jam packed in the summer so traveling across the pond at an SA7 priority is pretty worthless.
Perhaps that was Tempe's goal though: Discourage buddy-pass traveling to Europe as it'd probably make the agents' lives much easier, not having to deal with inexperienced pass-riders on once-a-day full flights.
In the off-season, you can find a regular fare for that amount. Now in the peak-season, you'll be hard pressed to find anything near that so I suppose it's not that bad of a deal then. Of course, flights are jam packed in the summer so traveling across the pond at an SA7 priority is pretty worthless.
Perhaps that was Tempe's goal though: Discourage buddy-pass traveling to Europe as it'd probably make the agents' lives much easier, not having to deal with inexperienced pass-riders on once-a-day full flights.
Don't forget - FREE XM radio too...
Generally I'm not one to just blame everything on the AWA management, but this one I'll throw right in their face. When I started with AWA 10 years ago our "Flexi Passes" weren't a bad deal, even when used as a guest pass. When fees started plummeting, especially after 9/11, AWA failed to adjust the buddy pass fares. With the merger they elected to go to this new system, which I assume is at least based on the US way pre merger. They're now making the EXACT SAME PATTERN! When the fares go down the pass fares need to go down as well.
The Flexi Pass was cool becuase it was flexible.
It could be used as a guest pass, or a SA1P or a FC upgrade or a Pet Ticket or a Parent Pass, plus we got 40 a year with perfect attendance. 24 if you were a slouch. Calling in sick was weighed very heavily by that flexi equation.
It could be used as a guest pass, or a SA1P or a FC upgrade or a Pet Ticket or a Parent Pass, plus we got 40 a year with perfect attendance. 24 if you were a slouch. Calling in sick was weighed very heavily by that flexi equation.
SegmentKing
Veteran
Pre-merger USAirways, the passes were ID90s I believe... I don't remember them being very expensive.
The "new" passes include a nasty $60/direction fuel surcharge for domestic.
One of the biggest things we had @ Airways was that everything was electronic - agent would simply look up our profile E*:123456US01100 (example) and be able to do ticketing for anyone. We also only paid $20 to sit up front, pets were free, and we could haul on as many bags as we wanted. And the buddy passes were 8 r/t per year (also electronic), regardless of segment count.
Seems like the "new" USAirways is not only nickel-and-dime'ing the customers but also the employees.
The "new" passes include a nasty $60/direction fuel surcharge for domestic.
One of the biggest things we had @ Airways was that everything was electronic - agent would simply look up our profile E*:123456US01100 (example) and be able to do ticketing for anyone. We also only paid $20 to sit up front, pets were free, and we could haul on as many bags as we wanted. And the buddy passes were 8 r/t per year (also electronic), regardless of segment count.
Seems like the "new" USAirways is not only nickel-and-dime'ing the customers but also the employees.
Why is this a big deal? You either use the so called discount or look for a better discount elsewhere with a confirmed seat. Each employee, their spouse and their children are still flying for free.
If the company was making money hand over fist, I might agree with the charges being outrageous for buddy passes, but as it is we lose money and charge our passengers for drinks and food.
If the company was making money hand over fist, I might agree with the charges being outrageous for buddy passes, but as it is we lose money and charge our passengers for drinks and food.
