Service Adjustments

[hharotz]

Rumor has it that the "Envoy Class" name will disappear sometime next year...the transatlantic J class cabin will simply be called "Business Class". :down:


I've also hear rumors that we will be serving Spinzels onboard as a replacement for the Snyders pretzles once stocks are depleated. :huh:

Any truth to these?

 

[Light Years]

No! I love the Envoy Class name! Why go generic... it's already the most brandless airline in the country.

I'm worried that these new folks don't have much of a clue about international flying.

 

[hharotz]

No! I love the Envoy Class name! Why go generic... it's already the most brandless airline in the country.

I'm worried that these new folks don't have much of a clue about international flying.

[post="306244"][/post]​

That's my impression exactly....why would they bother to re-brand the product? Envoy sounds great and was (at its peak) the best in the business.

 

[hp_fa]

I'm worried that these new folks don't have much of a clue about international flying.

[post="306244"][/post]​

And we are worried that you folks don't have a clue how a lost cost carrier really works.

 

[etops1]

And we are worried that you folks don't have a clue how a lost cost carrier really works.

[post="306256"][/post]​

ah we will leave that upto the new management.

 

[Light Years]

And we are worried that you folks don't have a clue how a lost cost carrier really works.

[post="306256"][/post]​

Enlighten us then, as to how a low cost carrier operates a large network in the highly competitive and lucrative transatlantic market.

 

[Flying Titan]

And we are worried that you folks don't have a clue how a lost cost carrier really works.

[post="306256"][/post]​

Somehow, I don't see how changing the name from "Envoy Class" to a more generic "business class" saves any money or produces any new revenue.

When is the last time you heard someone from JetBlue give and interview or participate in a promotional event without repeating the mantra of new planes, leather seats and live DirecTV? This is a major way to differentiate themselves in the face of an industry that is becoming more and more of a simple commodity.

For US Airways' international flying, Envoy serves the same purpose. Giving that successful branding up for a generic, commodity-type name would be going in the wrong direction for any carrier - legacy or LCC. It's not just about being an LCC, it's about being a successful business.

 

[Light Years]

And since we're so penny-pinchy, why bother to alter all of the signage to change a successful brand (very succesful) to a generic name? Doesn't that cost money?

 

[desertgal]

I don't care what they call it, but the OP did say it was a rumor.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

And we are worried that you folks don't have a clue how a lost cost carrier really works.

[post="306256"][/post]​

hp_fa, no offense, but have you ever flown in Envoy Class? It really was a good product...better on the A330 than the 767-200. If US is truly going to go low cost I suspect they will dump this altogether and perhaps go with an "Economy Plus" section like British Airways; however, BA does 4 classes of service on their over the pond jaunts. It's going to be hard to keep the loyal business traveler if they scuttle business class.

 

[Light Years]

Why don't they just come out and say if they really want to be an international carrier or not? All signs point to no. A350 order aside (yawn... US never takes the planes they order), it doesn't seem like they are interested.

Casual dress and cardboard boxes of snacks just doesn't cut it in this market. They really can't dumb down the service any more than they already have. Despite the cutbacks, Europe is one of the places that Airways has a great reputation, which they earned through thier great Envoy and Economy products along with the outstanding station personell in the European stations.

I hate to sound negative already, but I was so excited that we were going to be a "next generation airline"- efficient, broad network, reasonable fares, smarter operations, with a modern, consistent, sophisticated, and most importantly DEFINED product.

Instead it seems like they just want to be tacky. You can't force people's expectations down. And "low-fare" dribble-drabble or not, chasing away the highest paying customers is just plain stupid.

But what do I know. Why bother having a brand at all. JetBlue and Southwest don't have defined brands at all, right? Thier success doesn't have anything to do with clever marketing at all does it? And in this case, Virgin, Lufthansa, BA, Aer Lingus, Alitalia, KLM etc? No, forget a brand, we're not trying to be memorable or anything... what are we trying to be? 🙄

Please act like an airline!

 

[rjh]

There's nothing wrong with a "generic" name. It doesn't matter what it's called, or what uniforms the employees wear, if we don't deliver good, friendly service at a reasonable price. If we have crappy service, people won't remember that it had a snobby-sounding name, or that the flight attendants were dressed in a full suit. They will simply remember that "USAirways service sucks".

The same goes for good service. If a flight attendant dressed in a nice looking polo shirt & kahki pants gives terrific service--the passenger will tell their friends that the best service they had was on USAirways.

 

[Light Years]

What is "terric service"? Smiles are great but don't compare to what the other airlines offer on the same market segment (particularly the international ones). As a matter of interest, if you're referring to the demeanor of the cabin crew, Airways won for Best Inflight Crew- transatlantic a few years ago, so no worries there. But if you don't have the tools to provide expected service, you can be as nice as anything and lose your customers.

I'm interested to see how much more traffic we can lose to Continental if we ditch the successful product, or even worse, send our folks over dressed like shoe salesmen.

In the "carrier of choice" era and the A330 introduction, US won a reputation as the premier American carrier to Europe (particularly in the UK and Italy IIRC), and the TA part of the network was one of it's few bright spots (the fact that 60% of TA traffic comes from east of the Mississippi helps).

Now, as all of the other airlines increase thier focus on international flying, "the new US" doesn't seem to even know we fly there, or think it's the same as LAS-ATL flight. In all of the hullaballoo, it seems like an afterthought- the low cost airline that also flies to Europe. Not that they've really defined what the overall product is going to be, but nothing at all seems to be said about international. They need to either do it right or just get rid of it altogether, rather than embarrass everyone.

 

[hharotz]

Actually it is now official...thanks to an FA who PMed me...Business Class is the new name and Spinzels will replace pretzles. She said it can be found on thehub under Flight Crew in the Oct Monthly Product Highlights.

I still dont understand how dropping the "Envoy" name will save a single dime?!

 

[US1YFARE]

It seems that the fomer HP people just don't understand--no offense--but, you are not familiar with the product. The old US did a terrible job marketing, and despite this, people in PHL, particularly business people, know ENVOY. The name sticks and people know what it means. Even people who rarely fly, know what ENVOY means on US. I think it would be a big mistake to get rid of the name.

I don't like the generic way--and it seems that is what HP management likes--isn't their magazine the name of the airline--keep the Attache name. It does have meaning to people in the East.