An Open Letter to The Great Employees of US Airways
Dear US Airways Employee,
Today US Airways put your financial well being in jeopardy yet again with its latest announcement regarding treatment of its most loyal customers. Below is the text of the announcement.
"As part of our continuing efforts to provide valuable benefits to our frequent flyers, US Airways is making a change to our Dividend Miles program. We're making these changes to offset record fuel prices and rising airline related expenses while maintaining the benefits you've come to expect. Beginning May 1, 2008, Dividend Miles will award the actual number of miles flown rather than a minimum number of miles flown for each segment. Also, members who redeem miles for award travel within 14-days of departure on usairways.com will be assessed a quick ticketing fee.
Here's a summary of the policy changes:
Accrual
* Tickets purchased on/after March 1, 2008 for travel on US Airways on/after May 1, 2008 will earn the actual number of miles flown and will no longer earn a minimum of 500 miles per segment.
* Tickets flown on partner airlines after May 1, 2008 will earn the actual number of miles flown.
Tickets purchased prior to March 1, 2008 will continue to earn the 500 mile minimum for travel after May 1, 2008. Accrual on flight segments greater than 500 miles in length are not impacted by this change.
Redemption
* Members redeeming miles for award travel online within 14-days of departure will be assessed a quick ticketing fee of $50 per ticket.
A quick ticketing fee of $75 per award ticket will continue to apply for award tickets purchased from US Airways Reservations. Chairman's and Platinum Preferred members booking within 14-days (both online and by phone) are exempt from the fee.
Dividend Miles members still get award travel for as low as 25,000 miles. And, we offer the most generous Preferred upgrade windows in the industry. Earn miles when you fly to any of our 230 destinations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. You can also earn and redeem miles to the nearly 900 destinations served by the Star Alliance.
Thanks for continuing to fly with US."
These actions will, in our opinion, drive more high yield customers away from US Airways. Frequent flyers are the lifeblood of any airline including Southwest. Any action undertaken by management that has the potential to drive loyal customers away ignores the 43% revenue premium generated. Continued losses like those in the 4th Quarter reflect the defection of large numbers of business travelers to other carriers. This weakens your ability to negotiate raises and places the very survival of the organization in jeopardy. With two bankruptcies in recent memory, the employees have endured more hardship, both emotional and financial, than one should in a lifetime. Once again the prospect of financial hardship looms for airline workers and US Airways as a result of its view of customers as the enemy, with employees ranking a close second.
Let your management know how you feel, that you resent your job being placed at risk yet again. At FFOCUS we remain committed to the concept of Employee Satisfaction plus Customer Satisfaction equals maximum shareholder return on investment. This latest move will ensure that none of the above comes to fruition.
Sincerely yours,
FFOCUS Policy Board
Dear US Airways Employee,
Today US Airways put your financial well being in jeopardy yet again with its latest announcement regarding treatment of its most loyal customers. Below is the text of the announcement.
"As part of our continuing efforts to provide valuable benefits to our frequent flyers, US Airways is making a change to our Dividend Miles program. We're making these changes to offset record fuel prices and rising airline related expenses while maintaining the benefits you've come to expect. Beginning May 1, 2008, Dividend Miles will award the actual number of miles flown rather than a minimum number of miles flown for each segment. Also, members who redeem miles for award travel within 14-days of departure on usairways.com will be assessed a quick ticketing fee.
Here's a summary of the policy changes:
Accrual
* Tickets purchased on/after March 1, 2008 for travel on US Airways on/after May 1, 2008 will earn the actual number of miles flown and will no longer earn a minimum of 500 miles per segment.
* Tickets flown on partner airlines after May 1, 2008 will earn the actual number of miles flown.
Tickets purchased prior to March 1, 2008 will continue to earn the 500 mile minimum for travel after May 1, 2008. Accrual on flight segments greater than 500 miles in length are not impacted by this change.
Redemption
* Members redeeming miles for award travel online within 14-days of departure will be assessed a quick ticketing fee of $50 per ticket.
A quick ticketing fee of $75 per award ticket will continue to apply for award tickets purchased from US Airways Reservations. Chairman's and Platinum Preferred members booking within 14-days (both online and by phone) are exempt from the fee.
Dividend Miles members still get award travel for as low as 25,000 miles. And, we offer the most generous Preferred upgrade windows in the industry. Earn miles when you fly to any of our 230 destinations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. You can also earn and redeem miles to the nearly 900 destinations served by the Star Alliance.
Thanks for continuing to fly with US."
These actions will, in our opinion, drive more high yield customers away from US Airways. Frequent flyers are the lifeblood of any airline including Southwest. Any action undertaken by management that has the potential to drive loyal customers away ignores the 43% revenue premium generated. Continued losses like those in the 4th Quarter reflect the defection of large numbers of business travelers to other carriers. This weakens your ability to negotiate raises and places the very survival of the organization in jeopardy. With two bankruptcies in recent memory, the employees have endured more hardship, both emotional and financial, than one should in a lifetime. Once again the prospect of financial hardship looms for airline workers and US Airways as a result of its view of customers as the enemy, with employees ranking a close second.
Let your management know how you feel, that you resent your job being placed at risk yet again. At FFOCUS we remain committed to the concept of Employee Satisfaction plus Customer Satisfaction equals maximum shareholder return on investment. This latest move will ensure that none of the above comes to fruition.
Sincerely yours,
FFOCUS Policy Board