Hot Towels?

[FlyUs]

I just can't believe the attitude of some of US Employees. Maybe if you did care you would be a world class carrier.

It's not the front line employees who determine the inflight service levels. We can only provide what managment offers. With that being said, the revenue generated at the new US is no longer determined by the "high paying" last minute traveler. So a lot of the amenites have been cut. I think it used to be that 40% of the revenue was generated by 5% of the travelers. This is no longer the case. Over all, fares are considerably lower through out the system.

 

[jimntx]

FWIW, we just brought back the hot terry cloth towels in F/C for all domestic meal flights. We were using those awful little "paper" towels for awhile. The F/C customers noticed the difference immediately and expressed their appreciation of the change.

 

[EMBFA]

Oh please...you're on a blog. This is entertainment, nothing more.

Thank you!

 

[BoeingBoy]

Over all, fares are considerably lower through out the system.

Demonstrably false when comparing 4Q06 to 4Q05. There are some periods going back further where fares were higher than 4Q06, although "considerably" is a stretch.

Jim

 

[FlyUs]

Demonstrably false when comparing 4Q06 to 4Q05. There are some periods going back further where fares were higher than 4Q06, although "considerably" is a stretch.

Jim

My point is that US is not relying on the last minute fare to provide the bulk of our earnings. In general, fares are being reduced slowly across the system.

 

[BoeingBoy]

One could legitimally argue that there would be no profitability without the low fares paid by leisure travelers or the last minute fares paid by some VFFs, the fact is that the high RASM enjoyed on the EAST provided the profits.

High RASM does not come from those paying the lower fares - they're paying roughly breakeven fares. The high RASM comes from those paying anywhere from 50 cents to $2.00 per mile - the last minute fare payer (or more correctly the high fare class payer.

As for fares being reduced - aside from the publicized fare cuts in very select and relatively few markets and where true LCC compition exists - it's simply not true. All one has to do is look at reported yield each quarter, since that the fare the average passenger paid (just expressed in fare per mile). Yield was up in 4Q06 YoY, meaning that the average passenger paid more for their ticket than the year before.

So while some fares are down, and some of those are down considerably, one cannot accurately say that fares are lower in general. It is mathmatically impossible to have higher yield while having fares generally fall.

What can happen, which you said hasn't, is for a small percentage of passengers - say the VFF's - pay greatly increased fares so the larger group - say leisure flyers - can enjoy somewhat lower fares, while still seeing yield rise.

Jim

 

[Art at ISP]

Also to the point, Fly US, right now about 22% of the most frequent customers make up over 40% of the revenue, so the burden is still on the business traveler.

The point is, that all US has done is cut costs--amenities, employees, pay, etc. They have not remained competitive with other carriers, who are ADDING amenities and attracting business travelers, yet still THEY make money too.

There has to be a happy medium, folks, but up to now, all Tempe has done is take--and given nothing in return.

That said, I had an OUTSTANDING flight this morning on US JFK-LAS. The #1 was just amazing, and despite a small weather delay (JFK has deicing down to a science), we made it in almost on time. I do hand out praise where due.

It ain't all bad, folks--it could just stand to get a bit better.

My best to you all.....

 

[TheLarkAscending]

Oh please...you're on a blog. This is entertainment, nothing more.

In point of fact, this is a message board: decentralized and group-based. A blog (shortened from its original name, weblog) is centralized and personal, based usually, but not always on things related directly to or about the blog's author and sole contributor.

As to the entertainment comment, we agree.

 

[N903AW]

Hot towels were discontinued several years ago on the AWA side. The clientele we were attracting would look at the hot towel roll being offered to them, take it and then try to eat it. It wasn't pretty!