Guest pass zone fares/Parent fees

[ItsJustAJob]

Please excuse me if this topic has already been discussed, but I feel like I need to vent.

I'm trying to get my mother and sister to fly IND-MSP. Obviously we don't have a direct flight, so they have to make a connection in CLT. Now because US Airways does not publish a fare between these two cities (they want you to take United on a code share through ORD), I have to price the flight segments seperately. By doing that, the price doubles. That makes it cheaper to ride on a NW ZED fare than to take US Airways....the company I work for. Excuse me, but does this make any sense?

Also, this is from the ETC....

There are a couple things to note with this chart. First, travel between two zones in either direction is
the same price. If you’re traveling from zone 4 to zone 2, you’ll pay the same guest fare as someone
traveling from zone 2 to zone 4.

If you’re connecting outside the zone, the cost is the same. That is, if you’re traveling PDX (Zone 2)
to PHL (Zone 6) on HP, the fare is $40, even if you dip briefly into PHX (Zone 1) to catch a connecting
flight.

This is not true. IND-MSP is zone 6 to 4. CLT is in zone 5. So now I have to pay a fare for zone 6 (IND) to zone 5 (CLT) AND zone 5 (CLT) to zone 4 (MSP). This doubles the price for the guest pass. The whole trip is on East metal.

Does any of this make sense? If so, why? You would think that they could look at the situation and see how rediculous it is, then override the computer pricing and make it right.

Am I alone in seeing it this way?

 

[flyingcat]

US does file fares between IND and MSP. :huh:

Anyway the ETC frequently comes up with wierd prices for guest passes and parents. The way to get the right price is to pay at the airport and have the agent manually load the correct fare.

 

[SpinDoc]

US does file fares between IND and MSP. :huh:

Anyway the ETC frequently comes up with wierd prices for guest passes and parents. The way to get the right price is to pay at the airport and have the agent manually load the correct fare.

Excuse me, but when did they start requiring parents listed on the term pass of active employees to purchase zone passes? Is this new with HP/US merger?

 

[ItsJustAJob]

Excuse me, but when did they start requiring parents listed on the term pass of active employees to purchase zone passes? Is this new with HP/US merger?

They don't. The zone pass is for my sister.

 

[SpinDoc]

They don't. The zone pass is for my sister.

You know I have never understood why the company does not allow the employee to choose either the parents or a sibling to have on their term pass. Most parents don't use the term pass anyway, and in most cases, the sibling will have their own family, and if the sibling were enticed to fly on the term pass, US could easily collect paying fares from the husband/wife and child/children. By extending the benefit to the sibling, it would make the entire family of the sibling more likely to use US exclusivley for all of their flights. You would think marketing would see advantages and dollar signs with this.

 

[USstew23]

Please excuse me if this topic has already been discussed, but I feel like I need to vent.

I'm trying to get my mother and sister to fly IND-MSP. Obviously we don't have a direct flight, so they have to make a connection in CLT. Now because US Airways does not publish a fare between these two cities (they want you to take United on a code share through ORD), I have to price the flight segments seperately. By doing that, the price doubles. That makes it cheaper to ride on a NW ZED fare than to take US Airways....the company I work for. Excuse me, but does this make any sense?

Also, this is from the ETC....

There are a couple things to note with this chart. First, travel between two zones in either direction is
the same price. If you’re traveling from zone 4 to zone 2, you’ll pay the same guest fare as someone
traveling from zone 2 to zone 4.

If you’re connecting outside the zone, the cost is the same. That is, if you’re traveling PDX (Zone 2)
to PHL (Zone 6) on HP, the fare is $40, even if you dip briefly into PHX (Zone 1) to catch a connecting
flight.

This is not true. IND-MSP is zone 6 to 4. CLT is in zone 5. So now I have to pay a fare for zone 6 (IND) to zone 5 (CLT) AND zone 5 (CLT) to zone 4 (MSP). This doubles the price for the guest pass. The whole trip is on East metal.

Does any of this make sense? If so, why? You would think that they could look at the situation and see how rediculous it is, then override the computer pricing and make it right.

Am I alone in seeing it this way?

I think making our parents pay to travel is absolutely the most idiotic thing, I would rather go back to paying that $100 something a year for the term pass and be done with it. Having to pay this $15.00 + tax is a major pain in the ass, it ends up being like $22.00 and she can fly SWA for $30.61 (tax included) and actually enjoy the experience, take a nonstop flight, and not be at the mercy of that cheap Shares system that erases reservations and double charges the credit card.

 

[Fu-ManchuStew]

I think making our parents pay to travel is absolutely the most idiotic thing, I would rather go back to paying that $100 something a year for the term pass and be done with it. Having to pay this $15.00 + tax is a major pain in the ass, it ends up being like $22.00 and she can fly SWA for $30.61 (tax included) and actually enjoy the experience, take a nonstop flight, and not be at the mercy of that cheap Shares system that erases reservations and double charges the credit card.

Totally Agree!!! The Agents do not want to deal with Non-Revs. The Co. does not want us to tie up the Kiosk or Agents. They seem to make a very simple process difficult. Charge every employee one set fee to travel all year long for any eligible member we wish to list on our travel card/term-pass and allow us to exercise our privilege (as we do not have any left) as often as we and our relatives chose.(Does this sound familiar?) I believe the Co. would come out ahead, making more money if everyone paid/payroll deducted a fee once a year. If someone in Corp. did the math, I am sure their eyeballs would roll and spin if they saw the FIGURE that would be equated from multiplying $100 by every active employee!!! I think that we are going to continue to see things go in the direction of AW policies and procedures whether they make good sense(or cents?) or not. :unsure:

 

[USstew23]

Totally Agree!!! The Agents do not want to deal with Non-Revs. The Co. does not want us to tie up the Kiosk or Agents. They seem to make a very simple process difficult. Charge every employee one set fee to travel all year long for any eligible member we wish to list on our travel card/term-pass and allow us to exercise our privilege (as we do not have any left) as often as we and our relatives chose.(Does this sound familiar?) I believe the Co. would come out ahead, making more money if everyone paid/payroll deducted a fee once a year. If someone in Corp. did the math, I am sure their eyeballs would roll and spin if they saw the FIGURE that would be equated from multiplying $100 by every active employee!!! I think that we are going to continue to see things go in the direction of AW policies and procedures whether they make good sense(or cents?) or not. :unsure:

I think you're right and from what my friends out West are saying some of those policies and procedures do not make sense (well they only make sense to those on a power trip). While I love this company (well at least the old school) and our employees, I do not think this place is worth $22.00 for my parents to travel one way, I'd rather spend $8.00 more and have them fly on an airline (except Scab Air)that is more comfortable and hasn't turned into a cramped, tacky experience.

 

[flyingcat]

I think making our parents pay to travel is absolutely the most idiotic thing, I would rather go back to paying that $100 something a year for the term pass and be done with it. Having to pay this $15.00 + tax is a major pain in the ass, it ends up being like $22.00 and she can fly SWA for $30.61 (tax included) and actually enjoy the experience, take a nonstop flight, and not be at the mercy of that cheap Shares system that erases reservations and double charges the credit card.

1. WN does not even serve Minnesota.

2. Fare paying passengers really hate it when employees complain over $22.00 fare

 

[UPNAWAY]

While I love this company (well at least the old school) and our employees, I do not think this place is worth $22.00 for my parents to travel one way,

Well the "old school" is dead killed by two BKs and in part by a culture of entitlement by it's employees and we will be headed back down that same road if the "Old School" mentality doesn't die like the old usair did!

 

[USstew23]

While I love this company (well at least the old school) and our employees, I do not think this place is worth $22.00 for my parents to travel one way,

Well the "old school" is dead killed by two BKs and in part by a culture of entitlement by it's employees and we will be headed back down that same road if the "Old School" mentality doesn't die like the old usair did!

Go choke on your Kool-Aid, there is no culture of entitlement (at least not by anyone that I know) and just so you know by the old school I was referring to such a thing as an image and how things were presented, even with a 20+ year old 733 (USAir had one of the first 737-300's off the line) there was something to be proud of, it was in decent shape, clean interior (ok I know it was the Tuna Can but still) and it didn't look like it was driven straight out of the junk yard with 4,000 seats smashed into it with flight attendants sitting on the first class passengers lap, about how the employees used to enjoy coming to work and make a comfortable (not too much but just enough)living doing so. Yes 2 BK's have changed alot, but I will tell you something that it will never change and that is the backbone of these employees, they are the foundation of what a true aviation professional really is, for over 18 years they have kept it going through countless mergers, the Gulf War, the CEO's (well I won't even go there), Business Select, Metrojet, 9-11, the 2 BK's, and last but never least the pull down in PIT, LAX, SAN, SFO, DAY, SYR, and on and on. These people have truly kept this thing going and pulled each other through what some will never endure in a lifetime. I grew up around this company and it made me into the person that I am and these people are truly the best with the biggest heart. The "old school" is not something that you should condemn but maybe what you should embrace and learn from.

Sorry for the ramble but for some reason that really got to me, anyway what I really meant by the money thing was how it used to be done by just paying a certain fee every year (either payroll deduct over so many pay periods or 1 time payment which the employee decided on). The point was to point out that they could just walk up with the employee's info (and the little grey slip which went away too) and just go, this new system is so flawed and leaves room for too many unnecessary errors that are not worth the trouble.

1. WN does not even serve Minnesota.

2. Fare paying passengers really hate it when employees complain over $22.00 fare

1. Who said anything about MN?

2. Won't even go there!!!

 

[LCC_#1]

Well the "old school" is dead killed by two BKs and in part by a culture of entitlement by it's employees and we will be headed back down that same road if the "Old School" mentality doesn't die like the old usair did!

You know, I REALLY get sick of hearing this. Did you work for the old US?? Well, I did and I can tell you when you put out words like entitlement, you do NOT know what you're talking about. I have been with this company for 20 years. I started with Piedmont and when we merged with USAir inherited the BEST f/a contract in the industry. That contract, and all of the labor contracts, were negotiated. I will be the first to say that NOBODY thought about the high cost. Would you? Management signed off and didn't want unrest with two mergers so all were happy. The sad reality is that the labor cost WERE high, BUT please not read into the entitlement BS. Since 1990, the labor force has given back in EVERY contract. Yes, we would get raises, but we always had to give something back. That is almost 17 years of concessions. Could you PLEASE tell me where our labor group on the east is entitled? Would an entitled workforce GIVE UP 1for 3 duty rigs allowing one to only work 13 days a month instead of 20 now? Would an entitled workforce give up pay credit deadhead pay? Would an entitled workforce give up 10 days vacation?

You do NOT know what you are talking about. The giving didn't just start after 9/11. It started WAAAAY back. Perhaps you think we on the East are entitled because of the DOH issue. That is a UNION bylaw with the f/a's and has NOTHING to do with entitlement. By a vote of 9-1, changing that was voted down my the national AFA...not US East f/a's and has NOTHING to do with entitlement.

Perhaps you view DOH for travel as entitlement. I see this as two different views. i prefer DOH , but the company will decide and we will all live with it ,but entitlement? Please!!
I find it amazing that there seems to be so much hatred towards people who have been loyal to this company. I once had 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, and now 20. I am AMAZED at the total disrespect for those that have been here for a long time. Someday, you 1-10 year folks will have 20-30 years and it will stab you in the heart when you hear people speak with such bitterness.

The word ENTITLEMENT is SOOOOO far from the truth. Unless you have been in our shoes, people really need to shut the hell up because you REALLY don't know what your talking about. And UPNAWAY, if you are an East employess, you have been smoking something and need to review the history of employee concessions here on the East side.

 

[2clippedwings]

Well the "old school" is dead killed by two BKs and in part by a culture of entitlement by it's employees and we will be headed back down that same road if the "Old School" mentality doesn't die like the old usair did!

Now, THAT's rich! By a culture of entitlement by its employees....unbelievable :down:
Edited to add: I responded with this as soon as I saw the word "entitlement" and just now finished reading the posts prior to mine. Here here.

 

[tahitigirl]

Back on topic. I too would prefer to pay a fee once a year. The new parent fees seem to add more work to agents who generally don't have time to deal with employee travel. It just seems much more simple to pay once a year and not have to worry about going to the counter and finding someone who has time to help.

 

[N109UW]

I gave my parents my numbers for the Hub and they go on there and make their own itenarary. I don't even have to deal with it. Then again, my parents are fairly bright and can do those types of things without my help. They don't even mind the fees. They have had it great for 17+ years and now they have to pay $15 dollars. Big freakin deal. That covers they fuel, processing, and a beverage. They also realize that this is a business and that I work for the business. I'm just glad that I can keep them on the pass, at all.