Transcon service standards

[NCFL]

You are so right! What is up with the lack of ice onboard?

Maybe that's Tempe's way of getting fancy? They want to add a bit of European flair to things? Europeans never put ice in anything, or if it's really hot outside, they might add one cube.

 

[WCT]

Does the $2.00 cost include ice?

Do we get a discount if there is no ice?

Van, everything is Free for YOU!! Even tho, I am not a KU fan! ASU grad myself! Sundevils all the way! A colorado native and love CU too! Broncos rock! By the way, transcons are 4 full beverages I believe. Cans, water and coffee, and full bev before landing. Now we will be selling the whole flight???!

 

[jerseyfinn]

Traveplro, thanks for the clarification about what in-flight service is "suppossed" to be. My ears perk up when you say that FAs are still operating as seperate entities. WTF is going on with this company 3 years and running?? No wonder that service is inconsistent ( and I too have observed this on my own flights). I've said it before and I will say it again. I understand the dire situation all airlines find themselves in. I accept the higher fares and unbundling of services so long this "unbundling" identifies the flyer who is actually costing the airline more money. That's what trying to capture real fuel costs in fares ( airlines of course lack the courage to do this ), charging non-elites for bags & some of the other new service charges are all about ( I'm not gonna argue about sodas . . . Life goes on ). However, I'm wary of every airline, but especially US because I fear that there is a fine line where unbundling becomes unraveling.

That's what I'm beginning to sense with some of the employees who are placing ther self-esteem and self-pity above their customers. Approach your job with a negative attitude or negative expectations, and that's pretty much how things will turn out. None of us can control this energy/fuel-cost thing, but we can indeed control how we act and behave even when we're getting whacked with change. Get over the fact that your management are a bunch of inept a$$holes and do your job!! Accept that some of your customers are Mini-Me a$$holes & clones of your management and do your job!! When all is said and done, I think there's a good chance that US is a dead duck simply because times are bad and your management squandered its time and options to keep flying. But right now, at this moment in time, you've got pax paying to fly with you and you had better deliver a good experience.

The game of Life is played moment by moment, day by day. Who knows? Despite itself, Tempe be still have an airline to operate some 12 to 18 months from now. Treat your customers right and hope that an occassional pax or two will actually say "thank you". That's Life.

Barry

 

[jerseyfinn]

My opinion is that the management at US doesnt necessarily think they are going to make a fortune nickel and diming nor do they think that charging for beverages is the savior of the airline, but I bet you they think they are "training the customer" - training the customer to be the kind of customer they want flying on US Airways. I wouldn't be suprised if you worked in Tempe, some executive douchebag has been quoted as saying "We'll train our customers".

Solidcactus, you make an excellent observation about your mangement. In truth it is management's perogative to determine how and with whom they're gonna do business . . . within certain logical business constraints. So on-the-one-hand, I can accept what Tempe may be thinking as it's a logical / instinctive move. That said, DP and his boys are out of their depth if that's what they are up to because as someone who sits in the back, it's clear to me that most airlines need a mixture of pax & cabin product to survive into the future that aviation is heading into ( sure the lcc model remains, but that is not what all of the market aspires ). Yet it's very fitting ( and predictable ) that Parker and crew would try to return to the womb so to speak and recapture / recreate the cozy model of AWA and what are now fondly remembered as the "good old times". Of course there's one problem with their thinking . . . they purchased a legacy carrier whose eastie flying culture and operations are incongruous with Tempe's plans. Tempe continues to struggle with this reality despite having "ejected" a good sized-chunk of their elites ( I use the term "ejected" since I can't say "aviation fornication" in this forum ). The future is not just a battle for paying pax. It's a fight for different stratas of pax willing to play the unbundle game as well as packing in the disloyal Kettles.

So yeah, it seems to me that Douggie and crew intend to pursue the WN model as it would appear to to them to be the correct niche. But remember that it's also a very logical move for WN to put Tempe in it's gunsights ( call it a LUV fest <_< ) So yeah, Tempe might require "dumbing-down" your customers and clipping their gonads ( not their toenails ) to "train" their expectations so that US might better compete for the lcc market. Your better ops numbers and on-time arrival numbers actually embolden DP and crew to think they can pull this off. Of course there's the small problem of running TA ops which require an airline to act like an adult carrier which offers real service. Takes us right back to square one and the muddled product which Tempe continues to fly. Oh yes, then there's those east customers whose expectations / needs are different because that's the way it is out here. Well . . . Parker has ignored them from the get-go . . . why change now?

I'm not the kind of pax who spills drinks and takes other forms of pithy revenge ( but please tell me that people do not actually cut their toenails on a flight ). I always give customer feedback good and bad ( admittedly I no longer say anything to Tempe since I long ago recognize that they cease listening to people ). I don't complain to DOT or urge a boycott. I fly US because I live close to PHL & you fly where I wanna go. But I too have limits. I'm simply sitting back and allowing this entire aviation storm to rage around me while I fly point A to point B and my wife and I meet our travel needs. But we do indeed take notice about the sort of service we receive in return for our hard-earned dollars ( we're not subsidized business travelers ). When the new aviation future takes a more distinictive shape, we will base our choice upon product and service in addition to airport proximity. If we're gonna pay more in the future, we expect / demand service and a product. I don't think we're typical of your infrequent flyers, but the one thing we do know is that we are the customers with the need to fly and we have a modest modicum of money to do it. There will be an airline who acknowledges that many types of flyers do an airline make.

Barry

 

[kobe1]

I'd like to demand more from Exxon for my hard earned money since I'm paying almost triple now for gas. Oh, wait a minute, they won't give me anything else. I'll go to Shell/BP/Citgo. Guess what, they tripled the price of gas also yet I still get the same gallon of gas. I guess I can just not drive or face the reality.

 

[jerseyfinn]

I'd like to demand more from Exxon for my hard earned money since I'm paying almost triple now for gas. Oh, wait a minute, they won't give me anything else. I'll go to Shell/BP/Citgo. Guess what, they tripled the price of gas also yet I still get the same gallon of gas. I guess I can just not drive or face the reality.

Is your pain at the pump any greater than the rest of us? Then again, if you are in a pension paln, a 401K or you own mutual funds, you are likely a shareholder in Exxon since it is one of the most widely held stocks. Take with one hand, give with the other . . that's Life.

Barry

 

[mrman]

Yet on Amtrak people willingly pay for drinks, snacks and the like (at a higher cost than what US is going to charge) without complaining one bit.

Yet on WN FF get their snacks and cocktails in coach for free. This is your competition

 

[Travelpro72]

Ya know missthe727 you are absolutely right about the ice. With that being said though I commuted cross country and have worked many a trip with oodles of ice only to have one service. I will even dare say the MAJORITY off flights to the west coast will not see the service done by procedure. It's just as much a reality as saying the majority of crews serve a CAN of soda in and out of Florida to PHL. It's just the way it is. Speaking of service levels when is the last time anyone witnessed a crew from ANY base do an oj/coffee service before arriving on the east coast after a redeye? You'd be VERY hard pressed.

 

[USFlyer]

Yet on WN FF get their snacks and cocktails in coach for free. This is your competition

Amtrak is competition as well. Given DCA-PHL now ranges around $800 roundtrip, I take Amtrak for $300 roundtrip.

Personally, I think charging for drinks and snacks is long overdue. However, I agree with folks here that feel US needs to have a cashless system for doing so. I do not agree with charging for the first bag of luggage, but I could see a case charging for the second, third, etc.

 

[WhatBag?]

Speaking of service levels when is the last time anyone witnessed a crew from ANY base do an oj/coffee service before arriving on the east coast after a redeye? You'd be VERY hard pressed.

This is where Tempe just doesn't listen. Since the merger, we now have a huge amt of passengers connecting in PHL and CLT to places like Aruba, San Juan, and many other islands. Flights generally leave around 11-11 30 am, which means when customers get off a redeye, they must roam around the terminal half asleep for 5 hours until their next flight. Geez, let the customer sleep! They are going to NEED that extra 1.5 hours of rest. Sometimes common sense should be taken in account. With regards to day time flights, there is no excuse to not do a full service.

 

[Travelpro72]

I'm not saying to shout on the PA "COFFEE'S COMIN' and GET YEEEERRR JUICE". You can make a tray of half juice and half coffee and quietly walk through making eye contact with anyone that may be awake. The sun is up and some passengers are up. It's NOT hard and it just gives them a little something to help get them going. I know I like to sit up stretch my arms and legs in the seat (I know, I know no room) and sip a glass of cold juice or sniff some semi tolerable coffee. I guess I'm alone here.

 

[SS255]

My opinion is that the management at US doesnt necessarily think they are going to make a fortune nickel and diming nor do they think that charging for beverages is the savior of the airline, but I bet you they think they are "training the customer" - training the customer to be the kind of customer they want flying on US Airways. I wouldn't be suprised if you worked in Tempe, some executive douchebag has been quoted as saying "We'll train our customers".

News flash... A customer can't be trained. What they are really going to accomplish is, they are going to have customers who retaliate, and act bitter and feel screwed. The same customer will dump soda on the carpets, spit on the table tray, rip up their newspaper into little pieces and throw it on the floor, clip their fingernails and toenails and leave the residue on the floor, etc. Things they are doing already, just worse.

US's line of thinking is that they're giving the customers what they want, because they'd prefer to pay only for the items they use than pay higher fares. The truth of the matter is that there are still some airlines which will both give them what they want.....and not charge them for it. Which airline do you think an informed customer will choose?

There is no easy answer, but taking their cues from the competition is a good first step in the right direction. Some of the other legacies have moved toward fees for first and second checked bags. This seems like it will stick, although I am philosophically opposed to charging for a first checked bag (for obvious reasons). Charging for beverages inflight, however, seems to be exclusive to US at this point. I would highly recommend that US back down on this front if no other airlines begin charging for beverages inflight.

And while they're at it, they could restore the 500 mile minimum, and the elite bonus miles, so perhaps their remaining elites won't bail like all of the others. Elite revenue is the airline industry's gravy train, and US p***ed it away by taking away these benefits.

On the flip side, US really must concentrate on restoring their brand identity. They have a horrible reputation, and despite arguments that most people buy the cheapest ticket, I know people (and I am not talking about elites, either) who absolutely refuse to fly them because of the events which have transpired over the past 2 years or so. They are losing a fortune in potential business from people who will no longer even consider flying US. They need to fix their reputation NOW, not when (if?) fuel prices go down.

 

[USFlyer]

Yepper it's currently $810.00 plus 7 days out. I'm Driving for my June 30 trip. Screw US Airways.

I'm all for fares to increase, but this particular one is ridiculous. This is what US should be charging me to go to the west coast seven days out, not 119 miles.

 

[US1YFARE]

I'm all for fares to increase, but this particular one is ridiculous. This is what US should be charging me to go to the west coast seven days out, not 119 miles.

The same with BOS-PHL. It is plane rediculus.

 

[kobe1]

Is your pain at the pump any greater than the rest of us? Then again, if you are in a pension paln, a 401K or you own mutual funds, you are likely a shareholder in Exxon since it is one of the most widely held stocks. Take with one hand, give with the other . . that's Life.

Barry

Barry, my point was simply that just because you are paying more for something now than you did in the past (gas, air fares, groceries) doesn't mean you're going to get more for it as some on this board imply.