Is US Airways is adopting RyanAir business model?

[usa1]

I was told that US Airways is adopting the RyanAir business model ..... if so you should be able to figure out future fees by visiting their website ..... http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=CHARGES

I took a quick glance, and I think the next item you will be able to purchase at US Airways is "advanced boarding priority".

 

[a320av8r]

I was told that US Airways is adopting the RyanAir business model...

Told by who? :blink:

 

[oldiebutgoody]

Will the toilets accept credit cards?

 

[Dog Wonder]

Will LCC fly point to point in Europe?

 

[hp-csr-phx]

I was told that US Airways is adopting the RyanAir business model ..... if so you should be able to figure out future fees by visiting their website ..... http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=CHARGES

I took a quick glance, and I think the next item you will be able to purchase at US Airways is "advanced boarding priority".

Buying the choice seat option, puts you in zone 2.

 

[jimntx]

Only two U.S. airlines had cabotage rights in Europe--TWA and Pan Am--dating back to the post-WWII period. Both have gone to glory.

As the U.S. refuses cabotage rights to foreign airlines to fly point to point in the U.S., I'm guessing it will be a cold day in Hades before another U.S. flag airline is granted such rights in Europe. (Oh, before any of you jump on the Qantas flight from JFK-LAX-SYD, that's not cabotage. They can not sell a ticket for JFK-LAX--only JFK-SYD or LAX-SYD.)

 

[PHL]

As the U.S. refuses cabotage rights to foreign airlines to fly point to point in the U.S., I'm guessing it will be a cold day in Hades before another U.S. flag airline is granted such rights in Europe.

But isn't this one of the benefits of the Open Skies agreement(s), when fully implemented?

 

[usa1]

PineyBob thanks understanding what the RyanAir business model is regarding fees ..... IM not sure what everybody else is talking about 😉

I was told they don't have ticket counter agents, and it's pretty much self service. I can see our procedures moving in that direction daily. And our customers seem to be catching on and it's working. Why do you think local management is under some much pressure to make customer use the kiosks and not an agent.

With the right technology and equipment at the airport it will work. Ticketing kiosks that print bag tags, reroute kiosks with a phone set. Today when you get rerouted the system sends an automatic message to the baggage reroute room. There is no reason why a reroute desk in central reservations couldn't do it all. That way all you need is a hand full of highly qualified agents in a reservation center handling cancellations and delays via the reroute kiosks. Then a minimum wage contract group working at the airport doing some very basic simple task.

TSA has already taken over 99% of security checks, ID's, checked bags via new x-ray equipment.

I think I beginning to see the airport of the future .... the not so distant future ..... 😀

 

[malikie]

If you basing it off of fewer employees at the ticket counter and more automated systems then it is not just US that is headed in that direction but pretty much all the airlines here in the states.

 

[tadjr]

I was told they don't have ticket counter agents, and it's pretty much self service. I can see our procedures moving in that direction daily. And our customers seem to be catching on and it's working. Why do you think local management is under some much pressure to make customer use the kiosks and not an agent.

With the right technology and equipment at the airport it will work. Ticketing kiosks that print bag tags, reroute kiosks with a phone set. Then a minimum wage contract group working at the airport doing some very basic simple task.

The kiosks numbers are what they are because of the few agents left pushing the customers to use the kiosks. Otherwise, I dont think the numbers would be as high as we have now if the customers were given the option. We very often have 10-12 open kiosks, yet the customers decide to go stand in a line to speak to someone instead of walking up to a whole row of open kiosks. Might be different in other cities, but grandpa and grandma dont do technology. Also, you have to know how to READ to use the kiosk. There goes X% of the customers :blink: . Would be an interesting experiment one day to not force customers into the kiosks and see exactly what percentage CHOOSE to use it vs standing in line to speak to a human.

Now, about US having the right technology and equipment so they dont need agents.... still have eticket issues where they dont come over, online issues with web checkin and bag check, intl checkins that kick out because of documentation requirements, and the general old cant find the reservation using the PNR, name and barcode. So....... US has a while to go until we get to that point in time.

 

[usa1]

Related news:

Paperless Boarding Passes for Smartphones. To employ the paperless passes, travelers simply open a message sent to them by Continental and show both the message, with an embedded barcode, and their legal picture identification to TSA screeners at airport gates. TSA screeners at participating airports are positioned next to associated scanning kiosks, where they scan customers' encrypted flight information. The paperless passes are also scanned again by airline representatives at gates when travelers board planes. LINK

"If the airlines are going to make their revenue goals—selling more of their product outside of just the raw ticket—they need to embrace third-party distribution to get there," Travelport's Wilson said. "There's a limit to how much they can sell through the kiosk at the airport or at the time of booking on their own Web site." American CEO Gerard Arpey envisioned a future "where those folks who are the intermediary between us and our customer have to pay for access to our product rather than us paying them to distribute our product." LINK

 

[usa1]

Just for fun ....... Future Airport Experience???

1- TSA takes care of all security.

* As the technology kicks in ticket counters will be maned by a single CSS, handling cash, questions, bag jams and last bag down the belt tags.

*Passengers will tag their own bags and place them on a belt. Self-service kiosks will be placed at curbside, in long term parking lots, anywhere there's a belt leading to the baggage room.

* ID checks on checked luggage at the ticket counter will no longer be necessary, with new advanced screening devise use by TSA ALL bags are safe for travel when they reach the aircraft.

*Carry on baggage and passenger tickets and ID's will be checked and matched by TSA at check points.

*Someday customers will be able to ship freight or small packages on a space available basses from a kiosks position. (counter to counter is reborn).

2- Gates will be maned by CSS's, working one to a flight.

3- Cancellations and delays: Several "reissue kiosks" equipped with handsets and a direct link to an "irregularity desk" at the CRO will process cancellations and delays faster than a couple of agents at a gate podium.

* More efficiency: 25 centrally located CRO agents will be able to handle the entire system. In a major weather event, overflow will be shifted to general sales.

*Reroute kiosks will print new boarding passes (online or offline flights). Baggage reroute messages will be automatically sent to local bag room. Passengers will given directions to their new gate.

With this system only three agents will be needed per shift. The work will be simple and can be easly contracted out.

 

[usa1]

I agree ...... An interesting angle to this is the Unions. US Airways customer service is represented by the CWA. TSA is picking up US Air/CWA work and making this new system possible. The TSA is looking at Union representation also, in fact I heard they are talking with the CWA? Will CWA members displaced by technology and the TSA get priority hiring at the TSA? 😉

 

[a320av8r]

While some may find your scenario chilling it is likely to become reality sooner rather then later. What most people don't want to realize or admit is that more than NAFTA, CAFTA, China and outsourcing the single biggest contributor to job loss is Automation.

The machine tool industry is a classic example. In the 60's you had 10 skilled machinists and 10 Lathes. Today you have 10 computerized lathes, ONE skilled Machinist/Computer Operator and faster lathes. No jobs went to Mexico, China or anyplace but into the vapor.

Ryan Air or No Ryan Air look for the trend in job loss due to automating functions at every level of aviation operations.

Ryan Air may have accelerated the move towards automation but all those who do automate to the level of Ryan Air will not adopt other aspects of their business model.

So what we'll likely see is US attempting to automate as many functions as possible, as quickly as possible given the economy.

The futures coming, the futures coming! No company should try to modernize and automate! We should still be in the stone age...

 

[RowUnderDCA]

Well, this economic development creates jobs in Lathe design, programming and manufacture. It also creates jobs in industrial engineering. It should create jobs in efficiency engineering to include all costs, like energy and environmental mitigation. I think that unions should be fighting to preserve those jobs in the US, instead of outsourcing them That's how productivity is supposed to work: an educated, socially mobile society upgrades its workforce through good education and public health coupled with individual initiative and robust reward systems so that we become a workforce of journeymen engineers producing products that have extra smart value and dont degrade the environment or waste energy.

We're doing well at tossing aside the manual, low-skilled jobs, but we're not doing a good job at retaining the high-value added jobs.

In the airline industry I'd say that higer value added jobs would be:

enhanced security flight attendents

enhanced airport operations/customer service agents roaming the terminals solving mundane and unusual problems

travel consultants that up sell air passengers in terminals with car rentals and upgrades and 'conceirge services.'