Dear US Airways Retirees,
Since we published the recent change to the boarding priority for retirees, I have received many emails concerned about the approach we are taking and asking us to reconsider. I appreciate hearing from you. It is clear that US Airways retirees with 20 or more years of service, who have, up to this point, traveled at the same boarding priority as active employees, feel strongly about their ability to retain that privilege. I want you to know my thinking about this issue.
I appreciate your concern and am sorry if you believe the policy to be unfair. Please understand that we are working very hard to integrate two companies with different policies and expectations and are trying as best we can to do so in a way that is fair and equitable to all employees.
In regard to retiree boarding priorities, the policy differed at the two companies. AWA (like most airlines) has had a slightly lower priority for retirees while US left retirees with 20 or more years of service in the same boarding priority as active employees. In these cases of differing policies (which are numerous) we ask ourselves, “what is most fair?†or alternatively, “if we were starting a new airline, how would we handle this?†In this case we decided the most fair policy is to have a separate boarding policy for retirees.
The rationale is that our retirees have scheduling flexibility that our active employees do not have and therefore are better able to plan their trips around lower load factor periods of the week.
One feature of the AWA retiree pass policy that I am pleased will continue for all is the “vacation pass.†This gives the retiree and eligible family members the highest space available boarding priority for round trip travel once a year, enabling them to go on that most important trip of the year with much better boarding security. The vacation pass will be available for all retirees in March when we expect to implement many of the electronic changes necessary to the new travel program.
I recognize that overall this is not the answer that you wanted to hear and that you may not agree with the rationale. One of the worst parts of this merger has been making decisions that we know will be adversely viewed by some set of our employees no matter what we decide. This is one those. Rest assured, though, that we did give it a lot of thought and I would not expect to see it reconsidered.
This decision is not by any means, though, an indication of a lack of respect for our retirees. To the contrary, we have tremendous respect for our retirees and the work that you have done to allow US Airways to be here today. Our retiree pass policy (which now includes free travel for all retirees and full retiree privileges for any employee who has an age an service total of 65 years) is as good or better as any in the industry and is reflective of that respect.
Thanks again for your emails and, more importantly, thanks for your many years of service to US Airways.
Doug Parker
Since we published the recent change to the boarding priority for retirees, I have received many emails concerned about the approach we are taking and asking us to reconsider. I appreciate hearing from you. It is clear that US Airways retirees with 20 or more years of service, who have, up to this point, traveled at the same boarding priority as active employees, feel strongly about their ability to retain that privilege. I want you to know my thinking about this issue.
I appreciate your concern and am sorry if you believe the policy to be unfair. Please understand that we are working very hard to integrate two companies with different policies and expectations and are trying as best we can to do so in a way that is fair and equitable to all employees.
In regard to retiree boarding priorities, the policy differed at the two companies. AWA (like most airlines) has had a slightly lower priority for retirees while US left retirees with 20 or more years of service in the same boarding priority as active employees. In these cases of differing policies (which are numerous) we ask ourselves, “what is most fair?†or alternatively, “if we were starting a new airline, how would we handle this?†In this case we decided the most fair policy is to have a separate boarding policy for retirees.
The rationale is that our retirees have scheduling flexibility that our active employees do not have and therefore are better able to plan their trips around lower load factor periods of the week.
One feature of the AWA retiree pass policy that I am pleased will continue for all is the “vacation pass.†This gives the retiree and eligible family members the highest space available boarding priority for round trip travel once a year, enabling them to go on that most important trip of the year with much better boarding security. The vacation pass will be available for all retirees in March when we expect to implement many of the electronic changes necessary to the new travel program.
I recognize that overall this is not the answer that you wanted to hear and that you may not agree with the rationale. One of the worst parts of this merger has been making decisions that we know will be adversely viewed by some set of our employees no matter what we decide. This is one those. Rest assured, though, that we did give it a lot of thought and I would not expect to see it reconsidered.
This decision is not by any means, though, an indication of a lack of respect for our retirees. To the contrary, we have tremendous respect for our retirees and the work that you have done to allow US Airways to be here today. Our retiree pass policy (which now includes free travel for all retirees and full retiree privileges for any employee who has an age an service total of 65 years) is as good or better as any in the industry and is reflective of that respect.
Thanks again for your emails and, more importantly, thanks for your many years of service to US Airways.
Doug Parker
