There is a difference between being frugal, or cost conscious, and just being plain cheap. It is obvioius to all that US chooses the latter. Keep drinking the corporate kool aid, Gaucho.
The issue is that CHEAP costs more than it saves. And yes US is profitable right now, but it is in the middle of the pack, while other more customer and service oriented airlines are equally if not more profitable. US loads were lower than the others during the recent holiday period, and they are more vulnerable to a downturn in the industry than others.
They cannot continue to cut and cut to retain profitability-at some point they are going to have to address the core issue which is operating an airline efficiently and reliably, and not relying on unecessary service/product cuts, and ancillary revenue sources to keep the profits. The labor issues MUST be addressed, and they must be addressed NOW. It's a joke that this company is called LCC when they have the highest COSTS in the industry. Rather than address this, they cheapen the product, and then they come up with all sorts of other revenue streams, such as selling status, marketing other products and services, etc. Let me remind you, first and foremost this is an AIRLINE, not a marketing company. Although marketing is a good part of the equation, first and foremost the mission is to provide safe and reliable transportation at a reasonable cost.
US management has failed at the core competency of running an airline. They are hiding behind smoke and mirrors of profits created by sources other than solely ticket sales, which also covers up the fact that so many high yield flyers have left. Until they understand that they can be profitable and STILL provide value to the customer, they will be the most vulnerable looking forward.
There is a difference between operating efficiently and being CHEAP....Since they are incapable or unwilling to do the first, they are relying on the second...and it will backfire.