Usairways.com Sets Record

[USA320Pilot]

usairways.com Sets Record

ARLINGTON (theHub.com) - Ticket sales via usairways.com have experienced record-setting growth, with tickets purchased on our Web site now accounting for approximately 20 percent of the company’s total, more than double the total of a year ago.

Last week, revenue reached an all-time high by setting back-to-back record sales days of $4 million and nearly $5 million. On Tuesday, the Web site saw nearly 332,000 visitors – the highest number since February 2003. On Wednesday, usairways.com broke the previous day’s sales record by attracting nearly $5 million in ticket revenue by 265,000 visitors. A new record was set for the total tickets issued by usairways.com at 20,365. The week’s ticket revenue generated by usairways.com totaled $22.7 million, a 35 percent increase over last year at this time.

“We are very pleased with the strong growth of usairways.com. The upward trend in online sales allows US Airways to further reduce distribution costs, which is a key component of the company’s Transformation Plan,â€￾ said Ben Baldanza, senior vice president of Marketing and Planning.

Respectfully,

USA320Pilot

 

[chele5]

Outsoursing comes to mind, now doesn't it??
To bad dot com wasn't in-house work.......
And the company wants to ammend the cwa contract to allow for outsoursing where the company sees fit......imagine that! :down:

 

[CynicalResAgent]

these numbers could be very misleading.....

If they were booked online but the website could not ticket it for a variety of reasons and they are referred to res the website still gets credit for the res even though it could not be completed there.

So they get credit for the sale, and Res gets a service call.....Believe me this happens a lot.

Plus Res has always been there not just for sales but for service.

-I want to list for an upgrade.
-I want to change my return date.
-How many bags can I take?
-How much can they weigh?
-My 9 year old daughter is flying alone and her connecting flight was cancelled.
-How much will it cost me to bring my dog Scraps in the cabin?
-I wanna bring some alchohol back from Aruba, how much is allowed without a duty?
-I am a Egyptian citizen flying from Toronto, transiting in PHL and SXM going to AXA, do I need a visa?

I could keep going....my point is that the website cannot handle those special requests, it cannot find reaccomodations for people who are stranded, cannot track down a lost palm pilot, and cannot offer the advice of traveling out of another city or on another date to lower a fare, and it cannot and will not ever provide the personal detail and attention that our many great res agents provides....All it can do is offer fares....

Yes we can be replaced and yes there will be people willing to do the work for less money....I have had to deal with them when I have called Airtran....I am not picking on Airtran, just this one agent.....

I have heard one of their res agents utter "What be a FIM?"....and this was supposed to be a supervisor....Now while we all might use some industrywide lingo, I am aware that maybe I might be using terms that are "in-house" so my problem was not the fact they did not know what a flight interruption manifest is. However, to say "what be"????? Please!!!!! While you might get a few hardworking aqnd intelligent or capable people for 8 bucks and hour, the majority will be just like that supervisor I spoke to, speaking inner city english or worse, they might actually think that Alaska is due west of SanDiego just because some maps put it in the little box right next to Hawaii......

A good Res agent, just like our coworkers at the Airport, in a few minute, can make a lifelong customer. The website will never be able to do that.

flame on!

 

[marco90821]

Are you people ever happy? There is positive news for a channel of distribution and all that you can do is be negative. The company should have expelled workers like you years ago...that is one reason this company is shot.

 

[EightySix]

Res agent- you are right, these numbers are not correct. These do not take into account any pnr booked online and completed by a res agent. That is a significant amount of bookings.
In addition it doesn't account for the fact that many many reservations pnrs are being ticketed in the agent sine of the web and not the reservations area. Want to bet the same increase that was seen on the web bookings correlated to a decrease on the res booking side? The company is trying to make it appear that the web is a lot more successful than it is. It's just creative reporting, we really aren't getting the web bookings they say we are.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

Geeez, Ive been using the website without problem or complication for years. It's not the best, apparently, for sophisticated users, but my need to bother somebody on the phone has drastically declined. Having said that, I do very much appreciate being taken care of when I do call. There are a lot of people who don't need a lot of service at high and low ends that can use the website. Save the people for doing more important things.

 

[Art at ISP]

In a way this is good news--people are still booking US Airways-let's remember that ok?

On the other hand, I wonder what the numbers would have been if the new web site had been up and running with all its improved functionality.

Cynical, there is definitely a place and need for experienced reservations agents--we loyal customers DO value you and your colleagues tremendously...but the world is changing, and there are some things which can be done via the web---just plain fact.

I thank you for all you do and wish you all the best......

 

[bobcat]

It is just crazy how some of you find glee in the fact that many employees will lose their jobs due to the forced use of the internet to book reservations.

The reported numbers are definately deceptive. A huge amount of time is wasted daily on trying to straighten out .com problems and mistakes and answering questions from people attempting to book on this exceptionally "efficient" website (cough, gag, cough). There is supposed to be a .com Customer Support Center to call for help but, I have no idea what they actually do because they surely don't help. People that do call them are told to call Res. Now that's a big help! So, instead of Res. selling tickets, they are barraged with .com calls. Hours and hours are spent wasted on line by passengers, just to book in many instances a simple reservation, and still can't book it or they get to the end and it won't accept their credit card. What do they do? Call Res. and it is taken care of in a matter of minutes. So, Res. should be getting credit for a good chunk of those so called .com bookings.

A lot of people do not want to book online but are forced to. I know, no one is holding a gun to their head but who wants to hold for 45 minutes or longer and then be transferred from dept. to dept. (procedure you know) for another 15 minutes until an agent that feels sorry for them takes the call. Then when it's time to pay, they must cough up an additional $5.00 to have had the privilege of booking with a live person that actually provided a service (this is a service industry), actually knows what they are doing and has explained rules and restriction and answered any questions they may have had. Don't forget the hefty $25.00 charge if they book an ESaver, which has many rules and restrictions, with Res. Realistically they don't have much of a choice.

These agents who have been loyal to the company for so many years, gave up seeing their children grow up, spent nights, weekends and holidays attached to the umbilical cord and don't forget gave concessions twice to try and save this company and their jobs, now have to sit there day in and day out helping .com so .com can take their jobs away. You wonder why the CWA group is p---ed off and just want it all to end. This is just one of many many reasons.

So, be happy that this will eventually cause more job loss. Makes you a better person? Don't think so!

 

[ITRADE]

I used it this week - to book one rev ticket and two 40,000 k F class tickets. For the first time, no hiccups and the "Back" button worked.

As to Bobcat's comment: "It is just crazy how some of you find glee in the fact that many employees will lose their jobs due to the forced use of the internet to book reservations."

Are you that far in the dark ages to realize that when everybody else has moved towards streamlined booking processes, ie, the internet, it makes absolutely no sense to remain behind on the technology curve, keep your head in the sand, and imagine that the old ways will still work.

Some folks like the phone, a lot of folks don't. They're more than comfortable using the internet since they've had 8 - 10 years experience doing it already.

 

[Art at ISP]

Bobcat,

No one wants to see people lose their jobs--but the current way of doing business will not work anymore. So let's see--you don't want to take a pay cut, and you want everyone to keep their jobs....how does that help anyone but the unions?

Granted that the people of US are the best in the industry, and we the loyal travelers DO want as many of them as possible to stay and to thrive, but the world has changed, and somewhere along the line something has to give.

I fail to see the point of wanting the whole thing to shut down to make a point..the good of the many outweigh the good of the few my friend.

I am not going to point fingers and say it's this one's fault or that one's fault. Regardless of the reason, the world is a different place--and not just in the airline industry. The fact is that E commerce is here and is affecting many businesses. It's a fact of life right now.

Let's just hope there is some middle ground to be found somewhere--there are too many talented people here for EVERYONE to lose their jobs because a few have their heads in the sand.

Sorry to be blunt but that's just the way I feel....

My BEST to you all....

 

[ITRADE]

Are you people ever happy? There is positive news for a channel of distribution and all that you can do is be negative. The company should have expelled workers like you years ago...that is one reason this company is shot.

[post="185769"][/post]​

Amen Marco. US Airways could announce that it has developed new on-line seat maps with clickable seat information, and the naysayers would still complain that it is taking away jobs.

 

[reznc]

The web page has been down alot lately so record bookings seem to be a peculiar statement to be making when the page has been operating spasmodically. If these are record numbers, were the tickets sitting on a queue waiting to be processed? or something similar, then it would not be a record day, but an inflated day, as the day previous may have small sales due to technical difficulties. ( Res had waivers in most of last week to assist with web bookings as the page had "issues").

Sorry I just find this one hard to believe.

 

[whlinder]

There was a sale going on during those two days. I bought 1 ticket, it took forever to search and price for the flights I wanted.

Independence Air is generating over 90% of bookings on their website...

 

[reznc]

aah, I remember the Europe Fall fares, in the middle of the hurricanes I do recall booking a few of them.

I agree about Flyi , just booked myself a one way on them. very easy to use.

 

[cavalier]

Art at ISP:

Thanks for the refreshing breeze of common sense minus the hate filled rants from emotional troubled employees who do not know when to just quit and move on to a peaceful existence. Rage changes nothing except your health in a very negative way. “Peace be With Youâ€￾ was a statement given humanity for a very sound reason.