The author of this letter granted permission to share it in an effort to express the feelings of this Chairman Preferred customer. It is his desire to share this information with customers and employees alike so that we can gain a better perspective from one of our most loyal customers.
September 3, 2002
David N. Seigel
President and CEO
USAirways, Inc.
12345 Crystal Drive
Arlington, VA 22227
Re: USAirways' Fare Changes Anger Many
USA Today August 29, 2002
Dear Mr. Seigel:
I had the opportunity to read the comments attributed to Senior Vice President of Marketing B. Ben Baldanza in USA Today on August 29, 2002. If he was quoted accurately, his comments were an affront and an insult to every USAirways' preferred flyer who supported USAirways for years. Under Mr. Baldanza's theory, and presumably yours, "loyalty" as of January 1, 2003, will be based on the price of a ticket and not how often you fly. Thus, a traveler on USAirways who spends $10,000 per year on nonrefundable tickets will not be a loyal customer because they didn't spend $10,000 on business fare tickets. USAirways seeks to penalize those of us who fly weeky and consistently on nonrefundable tickets by denying us the ability to reach a preferred status level.
USA Today quoted Mr. Baldanza as saying, "Someone who flies a lot isn't necessarily loyal if what they're doing is buying the lowest-priced ticket each and every time they fly. That's not necessarily the kind of loyalty we want to reward." I have news for you. It is precisely the people who fly regularly and who have flown for years on nonrefundable tickets that should be rewarded. It is people like myself who have gone out of our way to choose USAirways even when your nonrefundable fare was not the lowest in the market and when travel time was twice as long as your competitor. It is this group of loyal customers who will bring USAirways back to viability. But how would Mr. Baldanza understand loyalty to USAirways when he has only been with the company for about nine months.
The last time I looked, the only premium service USAirways offered was an aluminum tube with a seat designed to move a traveler from Point A to Point B. Other than free beverages and a slightly wider seat in first class, there is little difference between the product USAirways offers versus that of its competitors. For some reason, your group apparently believes that a customer should spend $700.00 for a flight from DCA-ALB to demonstrate loyalty. And for this type of one-way loyalty, the customer gets to ride in a cramped Dash 8 and suffer substantially increased travel time. With this type of strategy, I don't see much future for this airline or Mr. Baldanza.
Company loyalty should also travel from the top downward. Leisure flying benefits for corporate officers and families, at a time when USAirways is in bankruptcy, seeking concessions from employees and looking to stimulate business is disingenuous. One must asked how USAirways justifies allowing corporate officers and their families to fly in first class for free at the expense of paying customers. I understand that a USAirways vice president recently flew to the islands for free with three family members in first class. It is my further understanding that each ticket, if purchased by a regular traveler, would have been in the neighborhood of $1200.00 per ticket. If my information is correct, this suggests reduction in costs and expenses applies to everyone but corporate management. Where's the loyalty here?
I stopped flying USAirways on July 9, 2002, because of repeated failures in your service and fare structure. I intended on reevaluating my decision in January 2003. Mr. Baldanza's comments closed the door on that reevaluation. I am now actively encouraging all of my chairman's preferred, gold and silver colleagues to stop flying USAirways until the "loyalty" policy is reversed. I am going to actively lobby DOT to reevaluate USAirways' failure to use the jet slots it holds from ALB-DCA. I am going to encourage my representatives and senators to ask DOT to take those slots away and give them to a carrier willing to provide jet service at a reasonable fare in that market. After reading Mr. Baldanza's insulting comments, I am convinced USAirways doesn't deserve loyalty in any way, shape or form.
Sincerely,
Stephen G. DeNigris, Esq.
Chairman's Preferred Customer
-END-
September 3, 2002
David N. Seigel
President and CEO
USAirways, Inc.
12345 Crystal Drive
Arlington, VA 22227
Re: USAirways' Fare Changes Anger Many
USA Today August 29, 2002
Dear Mr. Seigel:
I had the opportunity to read the comments attributed to Senior Vice President of Marketing B. Ben Baldanza in USA Today on August 29, 2002. If he was quoted accurately, his comments were an affront and an insult to every USAirways' preferred flyer who supported USAirways for years. Under Mr. Baldanza's theory, and presumably yours, "loyalty" as of January 1, 2003, will be based on the price of a ticket and not how often you fly. Thus, a traveler on USAirways who spends $10,000 per year on nonrefundable tickets will not be a loyal customer because they didn't spend $10,000 on business fare tickets. USAirways seeks to penalize those of us who fly weeky and consistently on nonrefundable tickets by denying us the ability to reach a preferred status level.
USA Today quoted Mr. Baldanza as saying, "Someone who flies a lot isn't necessarily loyal if what they're doing is buying the lowest-priced ticket each and every time they fly. That's not necessarily the kind of loyalty we want to reward." I have news for you. It is precisely the people who fly regularly and who have flown for years on nonrefundable tickets that should be rewarded. It is people like myself who have gone out of our way to choose USAirways even when your nonrefundable fare was not the lowest in the market and when travel time was twice as long as your competitor. It is this group of loyal customers who will bring USAirways back to viability. But how would Mr. Baldanza understand loyalty to USAirways when he has only been with the company for about nine months.
The last time I looked, the only premium service USAirways offered was an aluminum tube with a seat designed to move a traveler from Point A to Point B. Other than free beverages and a slightly wider seat in first class, there is little difference between the product USAirways offers versus that of its competitors. For some reason, your group apparently believes that a customer should spend $700.00 for a flight from DCA-ALB to demonstrate loyalty. And for this type of one-way loyalty, the customer gets to ride in a cramped Dash 8 and suffer substantially increased travel time. With this type of strategy, I don't see much future for this airline or Mr. Baldanza.
Company loyalty should also travel from the top downward. Leisure flying benefits for corporate officers and families, at a time when USAirways is in bankruptcy, seeking concessions from employees and looking to stimulate business is disingenuous. One must asked how USAirways justifies allowing corporate officers and their families to fly in first class for free at the expense of paying customers. I understand that a USAirways vice president recently flew to the islands for free with three family members in first class. It is my further understanding that each ticket, if purchased by a regular traveler, would have been in the neighborhood of $1200.00 per ticket. If my information is correct, this suggests reduction in costs and expenses applies to everyone but corporate management. Where's the loyalty here?
I stopped flying USAirways on July 9, 2002, because of repeated failures in your service and fare structure. I intended on reevaluating my decision in January 2003. Mr. Baldanza's comments closed the door on that reevaluation. I am now actively encouraging all of my chairman's preferred, gold and silver colleagues to stop flying USAirways until the "loyalty" policy is reversed. I am going to actively lobby DOT to reevaluate USAirways' failure to use the jet slots it holds from ALB-DCA. I am going to encourage my representatives and senators to ask DOT to take those slots away and give them to a carrier willing to provide jet service at a reasonable fare in that market. After reading Mr. Baldanza's insulting comments, I am convinced USAirways doesn't deserve loyalty in any way, shape or form.
Sincerely,
Stephen G. DeNigris, Esq.
Chairman's Preferred Customer
-END-