Reality and facts

[UPNAWAY]

nor is it as bad as the blow hards here seem to think.
Usage up??????????

****************************************************
Instead of focusing on the e-savers, Christ wants to further improve the airline's Web site and make it more of a user destination. Before the merger, about 15 percent of US Airways customers purchased their tickets from the site. At America West, the figure was about 29 percent. Now, the combined airline sells about 20,000 tickets a day, equal to about 23 percent of its overall sales. US Airways hopes to increase that figure to 30 to 35 percent.

 

[jimcfs]

Mr Obvious said: "If it worked right, you'd sell even more tickets... DUH!"

 

[whlinder]

Now, the combined airline sells about 20,000 tickets a day, equal to about 23 percent of its overall sales. US Airways hopes to increase that figure to 30 to 35 percent.

I wonder when the first statistic was collected- i.e. before or after the new website.

And 30-35%? I thought this was supposed to be a Low Cost Carrier. Real LCCs hit at least 50% of sales on their website. Ryan Air is 90%+...

 

[hp_fa]

Joe Beery is tasked with driving 100 million dollars out of the current IT cost structure. My prediction is he will achieve his goal. Partly as a result of doing this web integration on the cheap instead of right, without consideration of the impact on customers.

The potential dollar savings by driving people to the web is all the more reason to make sure that the customer has a positive experience. from the numbers posted it looks like US sells about 90,000 tickets on average daily, with 20K via the net right now. You get that up to 35% and you're looking at 31,500 tickets per day. The savings per ticket bookingover the web compared to a GDS is about $6.00 per ticket.

As I have said elsewhere, the website worked for the one trip I have booked on US. However, playing devil's advocate, could it be that some college boy (or girl) has had the bright idea that they have minimized costs as much as they can in Res and that the $5.00 booking fee more then covers the costs and thereby makes using the phone to book a trip a corporate profit center that needs to be utilized more? So, making customers frustrated on the web will make them more likely to just pick up the phone. (Of course, it helps if the phone call is to US rather then UA, etc.)

 

[bigman60]

So 23% of tickets is 20,000 a day, I seem to remember US having much more than 100,000 pax/day, much less a US/HP combo.

 

[jerseyfinn]

. . . It's always good business to call your salary providers (AKA Customers) blowhards . . .

Piney, I think he refers to a veneer of unrelenting doomsayers who find nothing right with US and not US customers in general. It's a point that I must agree with, especially if one includes some of the usual banter on Flyer Talk. Sometimes that same negative attitude seeps into discussions here on Aviation.com and it would be misleading to assume that this attitude represents a majority of anything on either board.

You're absolutely correct to suggest that the web site migration has not gone well and many folks have experienced lots of problems. Yes, US is certainly accountable and it's hard to believe that they walk into this one. It is not the best way to run an airline ( or any business ). How bad or "egregious" this actually is has been the subject of a lot of heated debate.

I've read the postings here, on FT, and in sources like the Wall Street Journal etc. It's a mixed bag of explanations which describe the problem but none offer rock-solid solutions or alternatives. It's both an IT and an operational bungle. I'm just glad that the site is gaining functionality with each day. It's in the both airlines and our interests as pax to fix this bomb. Hopefully US will focus upon execution in the future -- on web sites and all other aspects of the business.

. . . Casual Customers won't wrestle with a cranky website they move on, often to never return which again presents a compeling business reason to do it right. . .

Given the still low rates of Internet bookings at many airlines, I'm not so sure that this AOL dial-up crowd will ever migrate to things new and useful any time soon. They barely know how to go on-line let along comprehend an airline user interface (QVC, phone in hand, and a credit card, they comprehend). These are indeed the folks any airline would love to migrate to Internet booking. But that's also one of several reasons airlines charge a fee for call center bookings.

I myself am still trying to adapt to the new web site interface. With time, lots of pax will be better able to evaluate and critique the site's ease of use. For the present, there remains the more immediate problem of functionality which appears to be abating.

Let's just hope that US learns from this mess.

Barry

 

[careerfurloughee]

So, making customers frustrated on the web will make them more likely to just pick up the phone. (Of course, it helps if the phone call is to US rather then UA, etc.)

Have you tried booking over the telephone? Did you see the movie "Cool Hand Luke"? As the warden says in that movie "What we have heeeeere is failuuuuure to communicate". I thought of that line from the movie the last time I tried to book using the phone. Ain't outsoucing great?

 

[CLTBWIDAYSYR]

nor is it as bad as the blow hards here seem to think.
Usage up??????????

Wow. Never been called a blow hard. Ouch. I guess speaking from experience when attempting to do seemingly simple tasks on the "new" usairways.com and having it do ABSOLUTELY nothing doesn't count for anything, nor should I be irritated by that fact. Sorry.

BTW, the terminal maps page still only shows PHX and LAS. Apparently they are our only hubs. The airports served page doesn't include any of the US East cities that AmWest did not serve. No code share flights can be booked on our "new and improved site".

Yeah, I guess I'm a blow hard. usairways.com sucks.

 

[Travels2mch]

Yeah, I guess I'm a blow hard. usairways.com sucks.

Blow hard here too

 

[ringmaruf]

Blow hard here too

That makes three of us, then.

Hey, maybe PineyBob can rename the Cockroaches the Blowhards instead!

 

[scuba]

I don't understand what is so hard about using the US website? Just worked up a reservation faster than I can on WN. Of course, I know the airport codes, and I don't have to scroll down the list of cities an airline flys to, (WN).

Somebody please explain what is so difficult about making a reservation online? It is not that hard. What was short changed? The reservation built just almost as fast as I could build a reservation when I worked for HP in the rez center when it was still built with codes,
A JFKLAX 24AUG
N1Y1*
A LAXJFK 31AUG
N1Y1*
$BB0
N:LASTNAME/FIRSTNAME
P:JFKR 202-111-1234
P:JFKB 202-123-5555
P:LAXR 404-122-4422
9AX HBA TKT NR, $50 CHG FEE, FARE STCUTP
9AX HBA ETKT
ER

.. The last time I was monitored on the phone I was told I moved through the screens so fast that they could not follow my work. I also may be mixing up the HP System One with the UA Apollo as I spent eight years there after I left HP Rez)

Anyway, but I do agree on the outsourcing. I would rather book online than talk to somebody on the other side of the globe to book my travel! But if the jobs are in the US, (like WN) I will call the airline direct to book everytime over going to a travel agent. As a matter of fact on the travel I just booked for the company I work for we did it ourselves to avoid paying the travel agent fees for booking travel.

 

[scuba]

PineyBob,

I thought the problem was they didn't like the new formats. My bad 100%, I was wrong. I would also be upset if I got a time-out everytime I attempted to spend my money. I would go elsewhere and vote with my dollars and spend them with others. Sometimes it is the only thing that big companies understand, and only if enough customers follow.

Good Luck! And again, my apologies!

 

[CLTBWIDAYSYR]

I don't understand what is so hard about using the US website? Just worked up a reservation faster than I can on WN. Of course, I know the airport codes, and I don't have to scroll down the list of cities an airline flys to, (WN).

Somebody please explain what is so difficult about making a reservation online? It is not that hard. What was short changed?

Let's see...my two favorites are having the site freeze when trying to sign up for Dividend Miles and not being able to make a code share reservation (yet I can use our code share partners to make the same reservation on US!!). How about the fact that the website has never been updated to reflect the ENTIRE company. According to the "new" site, it appears we still only serve Arizona and Nevada.

 

[ONT_CP]

PineyBob,

I thought the problem was they didn't like the new formats. My bad 100%, I was wrong. I would also be upset if I got a time-out everytime I attempted to spend my money. I would go elsewhere and vote with my dollars and spend them with others. Sometimes it is the only thing that big companies understand, and only if enough customers follow.

Good Luck! And again, my apologies!

I actually have minimal problems with the website, my main issue is that I use to 1) get Upgrade emails and 2) was able to book Exit row seats Now that is gone. I have to call to check upgrades and I need to call and be put on hold many times to get exit row seats. I learned that if I am flying on HP metal to call the old HP Platinum number and if on US East metal to call the CP number... fun huh?