Media Relations 101: Toot Your Horn

FlyingHippie

Senior
Jan 27, 2003
283
0
With the excellent news today about US Airways being numero uno in the Airline Quality Survey where on earth is a company press release? I saw one for Ashby being named Pres of US Airways Express, where is the one that means most? It never ceases to amaze me how utterly far behind this company is when it comes to getting good news out there. It''s free publicity, take advantage of it. Believe me, if American Airlines was number one they would have about 20 press releases by now. Dave, it''s time for a change here. Hire a PR firm, or people that are enthusiastic about promoting this airline - this company desperately needs it!
 
Wow man! The company just did a release at 5:06. Why did this take 8 hours from the time the survey was announced?

US Airways Ranks First in Annual Airline Quality Rating



ARLINGTON, Va., April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- US Airways was ranked first for
2002 in the annual Airline Quality Rating announced today by the University of
Nebraska and Wichita State University.
US Airways moved up from its second place ranking in 2001, showing
improvement in three of the four criteria tracked last year. On-time arrivals
rose to 83.4 percent, compared to 78.2 percent in 2001. The airline''s
mishandled baggage rate decreased to 2.95 per 1,000 passengers, down from 3.86
in 2001. Customer complaints were also down for 2002, with 1.13 per 100,000
passengers, compared to 1.87 in 2001. In the fourth major category, denied
boardings, US Airways'' performance was virtually unchanged.
"This is a great tribute to our employees who deserve to be nationally
recognized for their devotion to customer service. I am honored to be a part
of their team," said US Airways President and CEO Dave Siegel.
The Airline Quality Rating is an annual study conducted jointly by the
University of Nebraska at Omaha and Wichita State University. Each airline''s
score is calculated based on data reported monthly in the U.S. Department of
Transportation''s Air Travel Consumer Report. The full Airline Quality Rating
2003 report is available online at unomaha.edu/~unoai/aqr.
US Airways, the US Airways Express carriers and US Airways Shuttle provide
service to nearly 200 destinations worldwide, including 37 states in the U.S.
In the Caribbean, US Airways serves Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda,
Cancun, Cozumel, Grand Bahama Island, Grand Cayman, Grenada, Montego Bay,
Nassau, Providenciales, Punta Cana, San Juan, Santo Domingo, St. Kitts, St.
Lucia, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and St. Croix. US Airways Express also serves
North Eleuthera, Governors Harbour, Marsh Harbour and Treasure Cay from select
cities in Florida. For more information on US Airways routes or fares, visit
US Airways online at usairways.com or call US Airways Reservations at 800-428-
4322.



SOURCE US Airways
 
I could nt have said it better myself! When will this mgmt, better yet, ANY MGMT WE''VE EVER HAD, realize that PR and advertising are vital. 100% correct, American would have taken ads out everywhere to let the flying public know their success. NO NO Not US, just send a memo and leave it at that. We will never be a REAL airline...with a regional airline attitude we are doomed to be in the shadows of the BIG BOYS. Once again no one is paying attention in crystal city, they are busy covering for each other and thinking of ways to keep the employees UNHAPPY. I seriously think that in many ways we are cursed, doomed NOT to be successful. With the morale at an all time low, this would be the PERFECT opportunity to thank us for our hard work and sacrifices. He says he wants to emulate CO and yet does NOTHING to emulate their employee relations. Whenever anything good happens at CO, they are rewarded. Isn''t it time to build better relations with the front line people? Guess we have the same old mgmt here...everybody covering their own ASSets..... WAKE UP DAVE, the inmates have had enough!!!!
 
The three golden rules in public relations are: Promote, Promote, Promote. That has never been done at US Airways. Like you said, American would have had Carty out at DFW in front of a HUGE AA logo or plane tooting the AMR PR horn, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FNN, would have been there. Then at 6:50 PM in the closing segment of NBC Nightly News, Brokaw would have been spouting about that airline of red, white, and blue. We live in a shallow world where perception is everything. Sadly, the perception of this airline isn''t right and it''s because of dumb things like not getting out there with good news. US Airways has a great product for crying out loud promote the thing.
 
Since my local newspaper will only publish articles spoon fed to them, and our marketing department is not in the PR business. I have forwarded the news release to the paper myself.

Guess that would be my cost cutting suggestion. Since we rarely hear from marketing why not cut out the department completely and outsource everything to a good PR firm. Can't do much worse then is being done now!
 
cssup, USairways is #1 because of people like you. The only reason this company has survived is because of the employees.
 
PineyBob this has been going on for years. For all the sacrifices the employees at this company have endured and done to keep the ship afloat the least the could do is promote something as good as this. Point blank, the pr methods, people, whatever at usairways stink!
 
Chill Out, Bob.. PUllezze so what now u think ur down with homies?? Piney ur a blowhard!!!! All you do is ramble on and on here about NOTHING. U ride the fence on almost every issue...Try WORKING for USairways and truly understanding what the employees are feeling! Please don continue to insult us with your your"mgt and military" wisdow. Its pathetic at best!
 
Aren''t these the two prairie dust bunny universities that did the 1999 or 2000 superb number 1 rating of US and/or the web site, when the web site was at its all time low in performance and efficiency? I did see a brief news item on local tv news about all this tonight, I simply chuckled.
If there are any accolades to be handed out, they belong in their entirety to customer svc, not upper middle or lower management.
 
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On 4/7/2003 4:36:47 PM NAPAUS wrote:

I could nt have said it better myself! When will this mgmt, better yet, ANY MGMT WE''VE EVER HAD, realize that PR and advertising are vital. 100% correct, American would have taken ads out everywhere to let the flying public know their success. NO NO Not US, just send a memo and leave it at that. We will never be a REAL airline...with a regional airline attitude we are doomed to be in the shadows of the BIG BOYS. Once again no one is paying attention in crystal city, they are busy covering for each other and thinking of ways to keep the employees UNHAPPY. I seriously think that in many ways we are cursed, doomed NOT to be successful. With the morale at an all time low, this would be the PERFECT opportunity to thank us for our hard work and sacrifices. He says he wants to emulate CO and yet does NOTHING to emulate their employee relations. Whenever anything good happens at CO, they are rewarded. Isn''t it time to build better relations with the front line people? Guess we have the same old mgmt here...everybody covering their own ASSets..... WAKE UP DAVE, the inmates have had enough!!!!

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If you haven''t noticed there are banners, ads, and links plastered all over the news web sites - CNN, Yahoo news, Washingtonpost.com, etc. That is doing something.

At this point, I don''t think that anybody is putting out $$$ for TV spots - not US, not AA, not DL.
 
You guys are too critial, I'm sure "Dave" and the bunch are working very hard to find a way to turn this good news about customer satisfaction into a bonus for themselves. After all if it wasnt for all the talent in crystal city the passengers would not be nearly as happy with the quality of service that the employees provide.
 
Fr8tmastr you must work in a hub or a large east coast city. For the past decade marketing is almost nonexistent in the cities serving the hubs.

We have such a low presence that awhile back an USAirways Ad popped up on CNBC and I received surprised calls from Michigan, Indiana and Florida. At the airport often other airlines customers wander up to the US desk and state "I didn't know USAir was still flying into here."

From what the local newspaper tells me is Air Tran floods them with press releases. I forwarded the press release to them, and the editor has already emailed me stating she will print it.

Sending out press releases is simple and cheap, that is why I am disappointed our marketing department does not take care of the job. Just email the editor in charge of the business section of the local papers. Not all press releases will be picked up, but send enough and we will keep a presence in our non-hub communities.