Let's Pretend!

[SparrowHawk]

All of the rancor and bickering is getting tiresome. So let's pretend you are the HMFIC of US Airways. (HMFIC =Head Mf'er In Charge) The goal is to raise RASM and provide a better customer experience without spending a ton of money. I'll start it off. Let's keep the other issues to the other thread please.

1. Get the bugs out of the Nuance IVR ASAP, Elites are complaining. Some of this is already done so kudos to US IT.

2. The goal should be to increase yield by attracting more business travelers who are willing to pay the last minute fares. In order to do so you have to provide a compelling reason for them not to pick DL or another non Star Carrier. So the challenge is how to do this.

If I were the HMFIC I would:

Continue the negotiation of code share arrangements with international carriers in and out of the Star Alliance. This is an outstanding source of high yield revenue. Secondary to this is making sure that these high yield customers are treated at the level they get treated by with their "home" carrier. This could likely be done with some sort of identifier in the PNR so that you don't up end with a very pissed Mr Money Bags in 22B. In fact one could easily argue that a revenue trigger in the PNR provides an automatic upgrade based on the dollar value of the ticket. Remember we want Mr Money Bags to fly with US more than once and when he tells his colleagues he speaks positively of US.

If it were me I'd revamp domestic First Class to reflect some realities. One, nearly no one buys a short haul F/C ticket so the perks are a total give away. For anything less than 1.5 hours I wouldn't even call it First Class. I'd call it Business Express and if the Elites didn't fill the seats I'd charge a modest fee like $40 to upgrade. There would be an in air two drink maximum and one pass of the snack try PERIOD as I need the savings to pay for something else.

Next tier would be mid haul from 1.5 to 3.5 hours and the level of service destination based. If you're going to select cities like DFW, ORD, PHX, FLL/MIA, BOS, PHL non stop then there would be a fruit plate or salad option depending upon time of travel. The cities I mentioned are prime business destinations and I'm sure I missed a few. Remember we want high yield business travelers. This level of service would be called Business Class.

Domestic First would be the transcon flights. PHL to SEA, SAN, LAX, SFO as an example. This would be the premier domestic First Class service.IFE, Linens, Glassware, Hot entree', Hot towels, warm nuts the whole deal and it would be called US Airways Signature Service and it would be second to none. IOW a product people will pay for. Remember who you're trying to attract! You want the guy who arrives at work on Monday and finds he has to be in SFO Wednesday morning. He looks at DL and AA and they price at say $1,199 and US prices at $1379, You want the guy to say "I'm booking US because last time it was fantastic, it was almost like going to Europe. You start filling those seats up @ $1,200+ instead of upgrades you're talking serious money.

The thought process is that if you make the Trans Cons so appealing the business folks will start using you for the rest of their travel just to reach elite status and have the chance of getting upgraded. Now you can't afford to offer this level of service on every flight but you can offer it on enough to generate some publicity from the travel mags and blogs and it will be favorable. Something US doesn't always get.

OK I've rambled on enough, YOUR turn.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

too tired for a more detailed answer...
Get rid of QIK/SHARES!

Would love to get into details about not treating employees and VFF customers as liabilities - rather than the assets that they actually are. But let's start by getting rid of QIK/SHARES.

 

[SparrowHawk]

too tired for a more detailed answer...
Get rid of QIK/SHARES!

Would love to get into details about not treating employees and VFF customers as liabilities - rather than the assets that they actually are. But let's start by getting rid of QIK/SHARES.

Answer a question for me please. How does QIK/SHARES play in the sandbox with the other GDS's out there? Is it pretty transparent, low number of keystrokes? Clean fast connections?

US went down an ill advised path when "Scary Joe Beery" was CIO due to cost considerations. SHARES is essentially a dead product in that EDS supports it but doesn't market it for new sales. Primarily because it's an outdated piece of crap. Going forward US is going to have some hard decisions to make regarding scraping SHARES. If CO abandons it as part of the merger with US one must ask will HP/EDS stop supporting the product or just raise the support pricing to the point where US has to find a new system and EDS offers an incentive to switch to SABRE.

 

[crazystnic]

take advantage of seasonal flying opportunities where money can be made.
Have a quick strike fleet of Aircraft and a team of employees who are willing to go when ever and where ever.

We give up so many opportunites in the mountains in the winter and the beaches along the East Coast in the summer.

 

[SS255]

A couple of additional suggestions from a lapsed 8-year US Gold who switched over to CO/UA, and now only flies US now and then as a *G:

1) Install wifi AND 110V power ports fleetwide. It's maddening to have your laptop battery die on a transcon.
2) Add an elite boarding lane.
3) Allow elites to book Choice Seats for free.
4) Build an Envoy lounge in CLT.
5) Add more frequent shuttle buses between terminals in PHL.

Yes, these changes require an initial cash outlay (or result in lack of some ancillary revenue ), but they are very important to people who care more about the product than the cheapest ticket.

Companies really do need to listen to their best customers. I fully understand that airlines and their customers often have competing agendas. However.....at the end of the day the customers are the ones buying the tickets, so their voices cannot and should not be discounted.

On that same token, if I were in charge, I would do an "Undercover Boss"-type operation to find out first-hand what challenges my employees face of which I was unaware. Since it's unlikely that anybody on the Executive Floor of 111 W. Rio Salado could pull this off incognito, perhaps a trusted lieutenant could be sent on an undercover mission. One of the advantages which I have had in that I started as a temp at my company is that I can really get into the heads of the worker bees in the department which I now run, and I think about how high level decisions I make affect their day-to-day work. The people at the top have to have empathy for the people at the bottom and in the middle in order to build a good, trusting working relationship.

 

[A320 Driver]

All of the rancor and bickering is getting tiresome. So let's pretend you are the HMFIC of US Airways. (HMFIC =Head Mf'er In Charge) The goal is to raise RASM and provide a better customer experience without spending a ton of money. I'll start it off. Let's keep the other issues to the other thread please.

1. Get the bugs out of the Nuance IVR ASAP, Elites are complaining. Some of this is already done so kudos to US IT.

2. The goal should be to increase yield by attracting more business travelers who are willing to pay the last minute fares. In order to do so you have to provide a compelling reason for them not to pick DL or another non Star Carrier. So the challenge is how to do this.

If I were the HMFIC I would:

Continue the negotiation of code share arrangements with international carriers in and out of the Star Alliance. This is an outstanding source of high yield revenue. Secondary to this is making sure that these high yield customers are treated at the level they get treated by with their "home" carrier. This could likely be done with some sort of identifier in the PNR so that you don't up end with a very pissed Mr Money Bags in 22B. In fact one could easily argue that a revenue trigger in the PNR provides an automatic upgrade based on the dollar value of the ticket. Remember we want Mr Money Bags to fly with US more than once and when he tells his colleagues he speaks positively of US.

If it were me I'd revamp domestic First Class to reflect some realities. One, nearly no one buys a short haul F/C ticket so the perks are a total give away. For anything less than 1.5 hours I wouldn't even call it First Class. I'd call it Business Express and if the Elites didn't fill the seats I'd charge a modest fee like $40 to upgrade. There would be an in air two drink maximum and one pass of the snack try PERIOD as I need the savings to pay for something else.

Next tier would be mid haul from 1.5 to 3.5 hours and the level of service destination based. If you're going to select cities like DFW, ORD, PHX, FLL/MIA, BOS, PHL non stop then there would be a fruit plate or salad option depending upon time of travel. The cities I mentioned are prime business destinations and I'm sure I missed a few. Remember we want high yield business travelers. This level of service would be called Business Class.

Domestic First would be the transcon flights. PHL to SEA, SAN, LAX, SFO as an example. This would be the premier domestic First Class service.IFE, Linens, Glassware, Hot entree', Hot towels, warm nuts the whole deal and it would be called US Airways Signature Service and it would be second to none. IOW a product people will pay for. Remember who you're trying to attract! You want the guy who arrives at work on Monday and finds he has to be in SFO Wednesday morning. He looks at DL and AA and they price at say $1,199 and US prices at $1379, You want the guy to say "I'm booking US because last time it was fantastic, it was almost like going to Europe. You start filling those seats up @ $1,200+ instead of upgrades you're talking serious money.

The thought process is that if you make the Trans Cons so appealing the business folks will start using you for the rest of their travel just to reach elite status and have the chance of getting upgraded. Now you can't afford to offer this level of service on every flight but you can offer it on enough to generate some publicity from the travel mags and blogs and it will be favorable. Something US doesn't always get.

OK I've rambled on enough, YOUR turn.

Take some of these seats out that they crammed in post merger, sell them to the highest bidder and sell the new comfort level to buisiness travelers that can't GET into First Class. Fixes a WHOLE lot of other issues like fuel range at the same time.

Driver B)

 

[cactusboy53]

take advantage of seasonal flying opportunities where money can be made.
Have a quick strike fleet of Aircraft and a team of employees who are willing to go when ever and where ever.

We give up so many opportunities in the mountains in the winter and the beaches along the East Coast in the summer.

I've always thought that you could use a small portion of the fleet to shuttle around for different events at cities that you already serve. Add a few NB aircraft and staff, then plan your extra aircraft against given calendar events:

1. Seafair (Seattle), this past week.
2. The Reno Air Races & Reno Hot August Nights (Sept. 14-18 & Aug. 9-14).
3. Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (Oct.1-9).
4. Portland Rose Festival (May 27-June 19, 2011).
5. Calgary Stampede (July 8-17, 2011).
6. All NASCAR events.
7................................

With the proper planning all we would be doing is adding flights / lift to cities that we already serve (perhaps no more than one or two).

 

[NoYellowNeck]

A couple of additional suggestions from a lapsed 8-year US Gold who switched over to CO/UA, and now only flies US now and then as a *G:

1) Install wifi AND 110V power ports fleetwide. It's maddening to have your laptop battery die on a transcon.
2) Add an elite boarding lane.
3) Allow elites to book Choice Seats for free.
4) Build an Envoy lounge in CLT.
5) Add more frequent shuttle buses between terminals in PHL.

Yes, these changes require an initial cash outlay (or result in lack of some ancillary revenue ), but they are very important to people who care more about the product than the cheapest ticket.

Companies really do need to listen to their best customers. I fully understand that airlines and their customers often have competing agendas. However.....at the end of the day the customers are the ones buying the tickets, so their voices cannot and should not be discounted.

On that same token, if I were in charge, I would do an "Undercover Boss"-type operation to find out first-hand what challenges my employees face of which I was unaware. Since it's unlikely that anybody on the Executive Floor of 111 W. Rio Salado could pull this off incognito, perhaps a trusted lieutenant could be sent on an undercover mission. One of the advantages which I have had in that I started as a temp at my company is that I can really get into the heads of the worker bees in the department which I now run, and I think about how high level decisions I make affect their day-to-day work. The people at the top have to have empathy for the people at the bottom and in the middle in order to build a good, trusting working relationship.

I can give you a little insight on #1.

You'll never see outlets installed on our aircraft. They're expensive to install, carry, and maintain. They've been nothing but a headache for VA.

WiFi. On the fence. Expensive to install and carry and it's not quite breaking even. Company is trying to get GoGo to assume more of the coats. If this happens you'll see WiFi retrofitted on all aircraft.

 

[SS255]

http://airlineforums.com/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=reply_post&f=37&t=51396&qpid=819943
I can give you a little insight on #1.

You'll never see outlets installed on our aircraft. They're expensive to install, carry, and maintain. They've been nothing but a headache for VA.

WiFi. On the fence. Expensive to install and carry and it's not quite breaking even. Company is trying to get GoGo to assume more of the coats. If this happens you'll see WiFi retrofitted on all aircraft.

Don't you think that the two are somewhat inextricably linked? Maybe GoGo should pay for the iinstall 110V power ports instead of the wifi. Then perhaps the wifi usage would increase, and justify the retrofit.

Oh, and I just read on Flyertalk that US is supposedly testing out an elite boarding lane (at a gate in PHX, I believe). If true, then it's great news! Hey, 1 out of my 5 suggestions on the day I made the suggestions is pretty good!

 

[NoYellowNeck]

Parker has stated that battery tech is improving YOY and that batteries will be able to last most flights with one charge. iPads can do it now and laptops are coming along.

The benefit just doesn't justify the cost.

Not too many people have a need to surf on a flight. Say 10% (which is a typical number) on a full 320 means 14 pax. That's not a good return.

 

[NoYellowNeck]

Parker has stated that battery tech is improving YOY and that batteries will be able to last most flights with one charge. iPads can do it now and laptops are coming along.

The benefit just doesn't justify the cost.

Not too many people have a need to surf on a flight. Say 10% (which is a typical number) on a full 320 means 14 pax. That's not a good return.

 

[SS255]

Parker has stated that battery tech is improving YOY and that batteries will be able to last most flights with one charge. iPads can do it now and laptops are coming along.

The benefit just doesn't justify the cost.

Not too many people have a need to surf on a flight. Say 10% (which is a typical number) on a full 320 means 14 pax. That's not a good return.

I wasn't referring to surfing, I was referring to working. Alot of the e-mails I receive require access to my VPN in order for me to act on them.

I strategically ordered a new battery for my work-supplied laptop prior to the first US transcon I flew after the wifi install. If I'm lucky, I can get 2 hours out of my battery. When I use the wifi on US, it's more like 1:45, since the wifi and VPN connections suck up so much juice. I flew UA p.s. 2 weeks ago, bought the wifi as soon as we reached cruising altitude, and spent the next 4+ hours catching up on all of my work e-mails after a day of meetings in NYC, so I did not have to arrive home at 8:30PM and spend the next 2 or 3 hours cleaning out my in-box.

All I am saying is that there is a direct correlation between wifi take rate and the lack of power ports. It has definitely affected my personal take rate. This is a really big deal to business travelers, who tend to spend their inflight time working on their laptops. iPads are great devices for internet surfing, watching movies, or playing games, but in most cases they are terrible devices for working.

But while we are on the topic, and you seem to be pretty knowledgeable: I now have an iPad, which is a personal device. Would I be able to switch to my iPad once my battery dies on my laptop using the same Gogo session, or would I have to buy a new session? I could see spending 1:45 working, and then switching to my iPad for surfing, or the other way around, for those early AM Westbound flights.

 

[NoYellowNeck]

If they're the same price tier, then yes.

You would sign out of your laptop then sign in on your iPad.

And there is an app for GoGo.

 

[jimcfs]

Here's one that I always liked when I could get it flying UA as a US gold... US needs to put a few rows similar to what JB and UA have up front, Economy +, with a few more inched of pitch and if possible, a blocked out middle seat. You could sell those for $20 a segment (or tiered based on distance). If a CP can't get an upgrade because F sells out, put him there and give him a drink. It's not first class, but it's still better than cattle class these days.

The old Business Select idea from the mid 90s was the right idea, but had bad implementation. I always got on the "right plane" for it in ROA as the originating BWI-ROA flight was a biz select flight, but the continuing ROA-PIT was not, so those rows were put back to the 3X3 from the 2X2 configuration.

 

[NoYellowNeck]

We have Choice Seating.

That's about as close as you're gng to get.

Remember when AA tried adding pitch to their seating? It didn't last long because the money didn't make up for the lost rows.