Erosion of OAL nonrev agreements

[Dont call me Shirley]

In recent months, several OAL ID agreements have changed from service charge to ZED fares. True, it makes short hops a bit less expensive, but increases the price for longer trips. WN, B6, and AS are now ZED fare, instead of USD 25/30 service fees. (The latter was actually rather a deal: USD 30 from MIA to northern Alaska). The AirTran service charge agreement is gone, now part of the ZED fare deal with Southwest.

No, it's not the biggest issue in the wonderful world of US Airways, but it is rather annoying.

 

[BoeingBoy]

My impression is that it's an industry change, not just US. You're right that the old service charge agreements could be good deals, though.

Jim

 

[gizmo_sc]

Agreements between pass bureaus has become ZED across the board for most part. I only have one airline that still does ID90's so if you want to go to Ireland it will be ID90. When I worked for US the charges to go FC international was high. About $200 roundtrip. I found if you fly UA or DL even tho you are paying higher ZED fares you have a good likelyhood of getting upgraded. I got business class IAD AMS on UA for two of us. got the same thing ATL DUB on DL. I do find that some carriers are better than others due to the levels of ZED pricing. UA usually does low ZED and DL does med ZED. I just priced a trip from DTWHKG on DL and for two it was just $660.00 roundtrip which I thought was not bad. My company now has a link via our company website that allows you to plan your own trip and price it out ZED fares. You make a CC payment online and dont have to go to the ticket counter or pass bureau to get a ticket.

 

[nycbusdriver]

The airlines did a good thing with agreeing on the ZED system. On its face, it appears simple....fare based on mileage bocks and issued at three levels: low, medium and high. But, you still can't just go to the ticket counter and, say, buy a medium ZED for 1000 miles and walk away. The agent still has to have an airline and flight number that meets the requirement. Why? You may not want to go on that flight, and the ZED is theoretically good for any ZED airline within the parameters of the ticket. Why not just issue the ticket with the carrier open, and the fare as prescribed on the ZED tables?

It's a uselessly complicated issue to "make up" an itinerary just to get a ticket issued at an agreed-upon by all carrier fare.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

That, I think, is a QIK/SHARES issue. ZEDs are mostly a better deal than ID90, but the service charges I mentioned were even better for most trips.

Speaking of OAL benefits, I would love to try out Singapore Airline and its famous service, but the ID agreement with them is only ID75, rather pricey.
And it's a Star Alliance carrier!

Another QIK/SHARES issue is its inability to issue ID E-tkts. This has caused a suspension of the ID agreement with Scandinavian;like many carriers, it does not want to deal with paper tickets. Too bad, because the agreement with SK is one of the better ones: Low ZED, even for parents. (The same thing was going on the Air France for a while.)

 

[BoeingBoy]

That, I think, is a QIK/SHARES issue.

Not having to have a carrier and itinerary - that existed at US before the US/HP merger when Sabre was being used.

Jim

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Not having to have a carrier and itinerary - that existed at US before the US/HP merger when Sabre was being used.

Jim

IIRC - and could easily be wrong - Sabre showed a "valid any ZED carrier" endorsement, QIK/SHARES does not. I have heard of people having a hard time when switching from. say, AF to LH and running into a numbnuts agent.

 

[BoeingBoy]

That could be true - to tell the truth I've never purchased a ZED fare. I just recall having to have a specific carrier/ininerary to purchase, but then it could be used on any carrier that offered the same ZED rate (low/med/high) and destination (as long as any connecting points were within the same distance zones - no GSO-CLT-SAV ZED used for GSO-ORD-LAX-DFW-ATL-SAV)

 

[UPNAWAY]

I think it may be moving to ZED specifically to enable electronic on line purchases, possibly through a third party site like zed.com.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

It appears that the interline nonrev agreement with SQ - a Star Alliance partner - is no more. True, it was not a very good one --- ID75, but still a bit of a surprise.

 

[The Bagfather]

For me the biggest thing is the so called local agreements. In SAN we had the best at one time. BA system wide for taxes for instance. We could book to the city with the least taxes(rome-$45) and go anywhere.So thats 6 meals and two pair of socks for $45. All OA were free..Cont US but we never had anything on AA or UA. Just recently we got Cont. US on UA. But we also just lost AS. We now get just
one trip free per year. I probably flew them 50x SAN PDX.

I dont know how these local agreements work. I thought it was just our station mgr working it out with the OAs, but I also think it has to be OKed by the particular Airline at a corporate level. And I know that this only applies to employees who work at a particular station. Except I remember on this forum people talking about a deal with WN and US for crews to go free from PIT to PHL.

Losing free Alaska was a huge loss. Right now we still have many others, but I wonder if or when the "bottom line" will trump employee moral.

It's been a while since I nonreved but I getting from discussion that the" fee only" is no more. True? AS and WN used to be $25 OW.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Local station passes are indeed are indeed a good deal for those eligible. The availability can vary quite a bit depending on the local relationship between carriers and their managers.

And, Bagfather, you are right. Several interline agreements have gone from service charge to ZED.

And now for some really bad interline nonrev news. In case you were planning on trip to Iraq: Please be advised of the following travel embargo placed by ROYAL JORDANIAN (RJ).
Reduced rate travel including ZED, ID90, ID75, ID50 or interline company business travel will not be permitted on
the routes or flights designated below.
If you have any questions, please contact the US Airways Employee Travel Services Office by email at
[email protected] or call 480-693-8717 (toll free 1-800-875-4780, option 5).
EMBARGOES DETAILS
FLIGHT ROUTE OR FLIGHT NUMBER EMBARGO DATES

All flights to/from BGW (BAGHDAD) January 27, 2011 until further notice.

All flights to/from BSR (BASRA) January 27, 2011 until further notice.

All flights to/from EBL (ERBIL) January 27, 2011 until further notice.

All flights to/from ISU (SULAYMANIYAH) January 27, 2011 until further notice.

 

[jimntx]

Oh, fudge. I was so hoping to go to Basra for the annual torching of the oil wells. :angry2:

 

[nethan]

Another QIK/SHARES issue is its inability to issue ID E-tkts.

I've had no problems getting ZED etickets issued on Frontier and Swiss in the last 6 months.

 

[tadjr]

Local agreements dont exist (wink wink). It depends on the airlines policy and then the managers agreeing to terms they're willing to reciprocate. Some offer anyone on term pass, some just employees/spouse/kids and some domestic partners. AA/DL/UA didnt offer anything. Since the merger with CO, UA has started offering passes for employees only. WN/B6/FL seem to be the most liberal.
ZED etkts are an option now on QIK. There's still a lot of airlines that require paper tickets. One issue we seem to be having with eticket ZEDS on US is not having the name on the ticket match the reservation which means the ticket wont attach to the reservation until the name is verified and changed.