Us Airways Announces 'gofares,'

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Nov 11, 2003
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http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040429/dcth010_1.html

Thursday April 29, 7:04 am ET
GoFares Start as Low as $29*; No GoFares More Than $499* Each Way
Employees Take to the Streets in Philadelphia in Largest Awareness Campaign in Company History


ARLINGTON, Va., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- US Airways introduced the first phase of its new permanent and simplified low fares called "GoFares®" today in Philadelphia, kicking off the largest awareness campaign in company history. Employees will be performing "unbelievable" acts of kindness as part of an intense nine-day highly visible promotional campaign to tell Philadelphians about its new $29 - $499* GoFares. Best of all, there is no Saturday night stay required to take advantage of these new low fares in designated markets.
US Airways' new GoFares start at as low as $29* each way, with last-minute fares as low as $49* each way. GoFares are never more than $499* each way, and there are no Saturday night stay or roundtrip purchase requirements typical of leisure-type fares.

"We have heard our customers loudly and clearly. They have told us that fares are too high, too complicated, and that we need to do something about that -- and we are," said B. Ben Baldanza, US Airways senior vice president of marketing and planning. "Low fares are a reality of the marketplace, and US Airways is adapting to these changing realities. This wave is only the beginning, as we will continue to roll out GoFares in other markets in the coming months."

Baldanza added that unlike some of the other low-fare providers that might require customers to sacrifice a level of service, US Airways offers much more.

For example, when traveling on US Airways, customers get:
* Advance seat assignments
* Pre-boarding for Preferred Dividend Miles members
* A First Class cabin with the ability to upgrade from Coach Class on many
fares
* In-Flight Cafe on select flights
* Ability to earn frequent flier miles for travel to and from more than
700 worldwide destinations through US Airways' participation in the Star
Alliance beginning May 4.


Employees will be on the streets of Philadelphia with thousands of giveaways and can be seen washing cars, feeding parking meters, and paying for gasoline, to name just a few of the many community activities planned over the course of the next nine days. These events will "pop up" throughout the area without advance notice as acts of appreciation for loyal US Airways customers and to call attention to the new GoFares. After the kickoff week, additional activities will follow in the weeks and months to come.

ONE-WAY 'GOFARES' TO/FROM PHILADELPHIA STARTING MAY 2004*

Destination GoFare New First April 2004
Range* Class Fare* Walkup Fare**

Chicago (O'Hare) $79-$339 $499 $740
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. $79-$379 $499 $740
Las Vegas $99-$499 $699 $1,011
Orlando, Fla. $79-$379 $499 $664
Phoenix $99-$499 $699 $1,270
Providence, R.I. $29-$239 $299 $497
Tampa, Fla. $79-$379 $499 $664

ONE-WAY 'GOFARES' TO/FROM PHILADELPHIA STARTING JULY 2004*

Destination GoFare New First April 2004
Range* Class Fare* Walkup Fare**

Houston (G. Bush Intl.) $99-$499 $699 $1,035
Los Angeles $89-$499 $699 $1,349
Manchester, N.H. $29-$239 $299 $448
New Orleans $96-$479 $679 $896
Raleigh-Durham, N.C. $29-$289 $349 $523
West Palm Beach, Fla. $79-$379 $499 $664


US Airways' GoFares are simple, however, the federal government requires that the company collect a tax of $3.10 every time a customer takes off on one of US Airways' planes, plus $2.50 per segment or $10 per trip (the September 11th Security Fee). Some of the airports that customers might visit also charge up to $4.50 for passing through, but the total is capped at $18 per trip.
Highest walkup fare charged before the implementation of GoFares
US Airways has many other airline partners, and a part of a GoFare or any other trip might be on one of the partner's airplanes. These GoFares are available for travel on the US Airways Express carriers Allegheny, Air Midwest, Chautauqua, Colgan, Mesa, MidAtlantic Airways, Piedmont, PSA, Shuttle America or Trans States. A flight also might be operated by a Star Alliance partner United Airlines®. For all of the details about GoFares, including a few other restrictions, please go to usairways.com.

US Airways has played an integral role in the growth and development of domestic and international business in Philadelphia, with its roots stemming to 1948, when the carrier operated as Allegheny Airlines. US Airways and US Airways Express today operate 375 daily nonstop flights from Philadelphia International Airport, with service to 106 destinations in the U.S., Canada and the District of Columbia, and nonstop flights to 20 destinations in the Caribbean: Antigua; Aruba; Barbados; Bermuda; Cancun; Cozumel; Grand Bahama Island; Grand Cayman; Grenada; Montego Bay; Nassau; Providenciales; Punta Cana, San Jose, Costa Rica; Santo Domingo; San Juan; St. Kitts; St. Lucia; St. Maarten and St.Thomas. Philadelphia also is US Airways' primary gateway to Europe. US Airways serves 10 European destinations from Philadelphia: Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Manchester, Munich, Paris and Rome. Seasonal service to Dublin and Shannon and new service to Glasgow operates between May and October.
 
The really AMAZING thing is that they plan on doing some marketing. Been here a long time, and never seen this company do any, besides a few posters and word of mouth. I guess I'll believe it when I see it! :blink:
 
It is about time the Company does the right thing. The only problem I have with these fares, is that they should be SYSTEM WIDE, not just out of PHL in select WN markets.
 
Right. ""We have heard our customers loudly and clearly.." meaning , sorry, only the PHL customers. Amazing that they've waiting until SWA is marching up the front door steps (not to mention first having to lose money with the fares then play catch up with reducing costs.) Better a late start than never, I guess.
 
Come on people, lets not make the same mistakes we always do on these boards.
This is a start. Just look at it in a positive way and hope it works for our customers and employees.
It's a first step.
 
blueoceans said:
Right. ""We have heard our customers loudly and clearly.." meaning , sorry, only the PHL customers.
Oh, they have heard everyone, it is just that they can continue to semi-rape some cities that have no-LCC service to rationalize fares.

I agree it would be great to take this simplified AND rational fare structure systemwide.
 
It's about time that they thought out of the box. The old adage of you have to spend money to make money might just work here. I do however agree that it should not only be phl, but let them be the test market and then we can go from there. :up:
 
But why wait? Do it NOW for CLT and keep JetBlue Out. Be a leader not a follower, but again it is a step in teh right direction. We all have seen what this type of thinking has done for America West, it has saved their company.
 
Note the press release said "first phase". US is way too big to change its entire fare structure overnight (for starters, they don't have enough people in CCY to update all of the thousands of published fares). Plus, choosing select markets to test the new system makes sense, as it's easier to tweak things when you don't take the "big bang" approach to rolling things out.
 
I agree it's a good move, but the press release makes a really big deal of stating that they're going to match SW's fares. They're also doing some PR work in PHL, but hasn't SWA already been around town for weeks doing their sports-teams and other marketing in PHL?
 

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