Stand by = WHAT A JOKE !

trvlr64

Veteran
Aug 20, 2002
725
10
FLL
www.usaviation.com
[A href=http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021001/dctu075_1.html]http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021001/dctu075_1.html[/A][BR][BR][BR]Recently overheard in the TPA USAirways Club a PAX ***** about not being able to standby for an earlier flight. Guess what, the agent so kindly put him on that earlier flight after the customer pitched a fit. And he didn't have to pay an extra $100 to get on that flight. Oh yeah and he ended up sitting next to me in first class too. [BR][BR]On my recent trip home for DAY, I so kindly asked the agent if I could catch the 6am direct flight home to PIT instead of the 6:40 am flight to PHL then home to PIT. I didn't need to pitch a fit and I thanked her for allowing me to fly home direct instead of that awful connection. And I didn't have to cough up an extra $100.[BR][BR]What does the $100 extra get USAirways?? NOTHING but *****y and irritable customers. I can't wait for the day when PHL and LGA are delayed because of bad weather and the agents are scrambling to try and get people on other flights. Let's also see how this is going to effect the pilots and flight attendants trying to get to their stations or home and they are not able to get on the plane because of the large number of people that have to reaccomodated.[BR][BR]This winter is going to be fun.[BR][BR]
 
Its not the policy that gives agents a hard time, its agents who dont follow procedures that later give another agent a headache.:)
 
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On 10/1/2002 9:30:17 PM trvlr64 wrote:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021001/dctu075_1.html


What does the $100 extra get USAirways?? NOTHING but *****y and irritable customers. I can't wait for the day when PHL and LGA are delayed because of bad weather and the agents are scrambling to try and get people on other flights. Let's also see how this is going to effect the pilots and flight attendants trying to get to their stations or home and they are not able to get on the plane because of the large number of people that have to reaccomodated.

This winter is going to be fun.


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Agreed, the confusing stdby policy leaves much to be desired, but weather and crew shuffling have been a part of airline life for decades, and have nothing to do with the stdby policy and will be handled successfully or unsuccessfully the same as it always has been.

As for agents who disregard the policy and dont hold firm to it (despite agreeing or disagreeing with it), that does make it difficult to enforce consistently.Especially for agents in rez and ato down the road when you hear the familiar I DIDNT HAVE THAT PROBLEM LAST TIME ..that line unfortunately doesn't work any longer, supposedly all the way to the SUPREME COURT(i.e. C/A)
 
To solve that problem, U has thoughtfully introduced $100 standby coupons that can be used at the customers leisure. Yes, why hassle with trying to stand by for a flight, just hand the agent the pre paid, $100 ticket to ride and you're on your way. And while the ticket you hold isn't transferable...the airline has provided the traveller with added value by permiting these standby certificates to be fully transferable. So if you find that you can't use them, you can just give them to your coworker to use. The certificates are non refundable and cannot be exchanged for anything else except standby travell. So, If you've got a book full of 6 $100 coupons, and the year is coming to an end, you can't just give the agent six coupons and a dollar for a $601 flight...but they do make great stocking stuffers. Read more about this great policy here: [A href=http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021001/dctu075_1.html]http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021001/dctu075_1.html[/A] .
 
Reminds me of the 'Get out of jail free' cards in Monopoly.

Books of 'standby' coupons. How many more SST's are we
going to have to handwrite because of this? Can't someone program our partition of SABRE to do this?
 
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On 10/2/2002 6:24:57 PM dinosaur wrote:

Reminds me of the 'Get out of jail free' cards in Monopoly.

Books of 'standby' coupons. How many more SST's are we
going to have to handwrite because of this? Can't someone program our partition of SABRE to do this?
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There's a small matter of around $70MM in IT costs that haven't been paid... although judging from the passenger side of some of that programming I think a refund might not be an unreasonable thing to ask for.