US Comments to Employees on AA & UA Changes to Fare Rules

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chipmunn

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AA Changes Fare Rules
American Airlines changed rules overnight on nonrefundable tickets to eliminate the one-year grace period on missed flights after Oct. 1, and to charge a $100 fee beginning next year for standby flight changes, Dow Jones News Service reported Aug. 30.
The moves follow similar action announced earlier this week by US Airways.
American''s changes were made in fare rules listed in computer reservation systems, but the company had no announcement or comment, Dow Jones said.
Customers on both American and US Airways are still able to make changes to itineraries on nonrefundable tickets prior to departure, subject to $100 change fees and several restrictions. But tickets for no-shows can''t be reused.
Both American and US Airways had previously given customers one year to apply the value of unused nonrefundable tickets to another ticket, less change fees.
Meanwhile, United Airlines said it''s tightening rules on upgrades and fare discounts and is raising the fee for issuing paper tickets to $20 as part of cost-cutting efforts.
United said it will strictly enforce fare rules and minimum and maximum stay requirements for domestic and international flights. United also said it will eliminate additional reductions on already discounted fares when negotiating prices with corporate customers and would increase the purchase price and the accumulated frequent flier miles needed to buy upgrades as of Oct. 1.
 
Topic:
I think we need a topic dedicated exclusively to this...........


Running outta places to defect to?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?Maybe U can tweak the stdby policy a little and its back to almost an even playing field.


AA Changes Fare Rules

American Airlines changed rules overnight on nonrefundable tickets to eliminate the one-year grace period on missed flights after Oct. 1, and to charge a $100 fee beginning next year for standby flight changes, Dow Jones News Service reported Aug. 30.

The moves follow similar action announced earlier this week by US Airways.

American's changes were made in fare rules listed in computer reservation systems, but the company had no announcement or comment, Dow Jones said.

Customers on both American and US Airways are still able to make changes to itineraries on nonrefundable tickets prior to departure, subject to $100 change fees and several restrictions. But tickets for no-shows can't be reused.

Both American and US Airways had previously given customers one year to apply the value of unused nonrefundable tickets to another ticket, less change fees.

Meanwhile, United Airlines said it's tightening rules on upgrades and fare discounts and is raising the fee for issuing paper tickets to $20 as part of cost-cutting efforts.

United said it will strictly enforce fare rules and minimum and maximum stay requirements for domestic and international flights. United also said it will eliminate additional reductions on already discounted fares when negotiating prices with corporate customers and would increase the purchase price and the accumulated frequent flier miles needed to buy upgrades as of Oct. 1.
Posted: 8/30/2002 4:08:48 PM
 
On the assumption that is an internal memo, one can only assume that in the face of one of the dumbest bits of marketing in a long time, the boys drinking the Crystal City Kool Aid continue to believe in denial. Presumably, sending themselves memos makes them feel better. Sure AA and UA made some changes, and people won't like them. But let's look at a couple of differences. Firstly, they aren't insolvent (at least not yet). Secondly, they have a national route system. In many cases, you can actually fly them nonstop over long distances. They have partners in their FF programs (DOJ still hasn't OK'd the proposed UA/US link). They have not excluded their discount fare customers from elite level participation. They have not called customers of long standing "disloyal" because they buy published fares where available, even though there may be higher ones. They may even have informed their agents about the changes they made prior to implementation, so they didn't have to hear it from customers. Oh, and nice going on running the place. The current market capitalization of USAirways looks to me to be about $50 million. But that's OK, because thy have sold effective control for $200 million. Now let's see, if you take that nearly 40% of the company being sold, and compare it to the UA purchase price, the value of it has only gone from $4 or $5 billion to $200 million. That's almost as good as a trip to Costco. Might even make those $300 tickets look good. Nice job.