Usairways Giving Away 100,000 Items?

[Reservation Agent]

USAIRWAYS is just recently out of bankruptcy protection...And is now "GIVING AWAY " over 100,000 items to try to attract customers in the Washington area???

Where is the $$$$$ cash comming from to pay for all these items?

The 100,000 "free" items include: "Free" Golf Balls, "Free" Car Washes, "Free Krispy Kreme doughnuts, "Free" Ice Cream, "Free" Hotdogs, "Free" Key chains, etc...

This is the same airline that couldn't survive without TAXPAYER bail-out money, wants MORE concessions from union workers...some making $20,000+ a year...

But ,nothing from Management, Sales & Administrative staff...

Hmmmm Don't alot of them work in the Washington area???... Enjoy those doughnuts & car washes...

It is a real shame, when you get a lousy bag of stale, square pretzels with 8 tiny pretzels in a bag, if your lucky....and 3 sips of Diet Coke from a plastic cup with 3/4 ice in it....on a flight...And you see this....

A customer is gonna fly on whoever has the cheapest ticket, doesn't matter to him if you gave him a keychain last week....LOL

Reminds me of where the money is comming from to buy brand new Embraer jets, brand new Kiosk machines, brand new boarding pass reading machines....

How much does a new Embraer jet cost these days $5 million? $7 Million? $10 million?....More?

I guess a company that "GAVE AWAY" $$$$ millions of dollars to Mr. Wolf, Mr.Gangwahl & Mr. Siegel that is just part of their "big plan"....


Bye, Bye...U...

 

[Light Years]

Embraer. No L's.

 

[Reservation Agent]

Cool..Thanks for the spelling lesson...lol

 

[Light Years]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[RumorS]

Maybe Donuts on the plane.... MMMMMMM yummy

 

[Reservation Agent]

The company pretty much abandoned the Baltimore area when Southwest came in..... Kinda late to worry about that now, huh....

That is the "low fare" competitor in the Baltimore-Washington area...


And if you truly want to be on a par with Southwest Airline as a competitior you have to do all the other things that Southwest does to reduce cost: like "Coach" only seating, "No advance seat assignments, "No change fees", Single type aircraft like B737 for crew training & spare parts & maintenance, No upgrading calls, No booking on 15 airlines as in the Star Alliance, etc...

I have yet to see many calls for Star Alliance airlines, besides people calling for "FREE TICKETS' using their mileage...

You can't be all things to all people....That's why Southwest is sucessful...

A short term, advertising schedule in one area (DC) of "promotional items" is unlikely to save the airline, especially with $59.00 fares on 50 seat regional jets....

I think someone is dreaming if they think the way to become profitable, is gonna be by giving away key chains in Washington...Passengers are not that niave....

The passenger perception is a B737 with 120 seats is more roomy, reliable....

I see the airline problems not related to advertising....It is the philosophy of where the airline is going right now....

The philosophy is......................................

Smaller planes, less customer service due to much smaller customer service

staffing, fewer pilots, fewer flight attendants, less mechanics, less people cleaning

the aircrafts, less flights, make passengers check themselves in at airports, make

them call on the telephone from the airport to try to get rebooked on a flight

cancellation and wait on hold for an agents because airports are short staffed,

more reliance on passengers to either book on the internet or wait a long time on

hold, etc....

They way to attract customers is to not "LOSE" the customer you have on your airline today.....

You have to think like a customer...You want a reasonable priced ticket!...you want good service!....you want someone who cares about you, if your fight is cancelled!...and can you want to be appreciated as a customer!
It can be done....

 

[Reservation Agent]

Light Years, You are correct!!!

Customers today are too savy for the marketing ploys...

Give them a reason to like your airlne...

Reasonable fares, clean aircraft, friendly staff, safe, reliable transportation, etc...

This is a service industry.....There are way too many airlines out there they can fly on....Ya have to do a better job and have enough staff to do it... and do it well...

 

[Reservation Agent]

Piney Bob....

Is Piney a "wooden" part?...Hmmm

Anyway....

The company does advertise... You advertise according to the resources you have available....

We must remember this is not a "brand, new airline"...It is an airline that has been around quite a long time...

There is not a lack of phone calls in the reservation centers...most days anywhere from 100-250 calls on hold, most of the time...24hrs a day...4 years ago Usairways had 9 reservation Centers, it now has only 2 ......

The airline is not suffering from a lack of phone calls....It is not profitable because it is trying now to sell fares in the $59-$180...range of a low fare carrier,like Southwest, Jet Blue, Anerica West.... but its staffing has shrunken and is still trying to provide the service in "All Areas" as a "Full Service International Carrier"......

First Class, DM Programs, Upgrades, pre-assigned seats, Multi-airline tickets,

various marketing programs, AAPR, Consolidators, Travel Agencys, Online,

Groups, Meeting & conventions, Star Alliance, Round the World Fares, Airpasses,

American Express Mileage purchase, Tour Operators, etc....

All that.... takes extra people to handle all those areas...An airline like SouthWest Airlines doesn't have to do any of that but have a streamlined frequent flyer program & online booking & reservations call centers....

If you call Southwest your not gonna book a ticket on: Quantas, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Carribean Sun Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Varig Airlines, etc....


It is my opinion, it is not an advertising problem.....It is a LCC revenue stream vs a higher cost "Legacy" operating structure,.... with trying to do too much with too few people....The cut backs have been very drastic over the last couple of years, and that can affect your product...

 

[geo1004]

Reservation Agent, do you offer a solution? I mean a real one and not just "we need to stop trying to be a LCC with a legacy airline cost structure..." response.

I live in DC and was witness to US's marketing blitz in downtown DC and some of the affluent suburbs. It worked. US is wise to to target the largest concentration of overall wealth in the USA in the NoVa/DC metro area. US is wise to try and retain it's marketshare.

You are correct that passengers will fly an airline over and over again if they have a positive experience. US's management needs to find a way to keep flying while also delivering a product that passengers will accept and buy again. IMO some of the recent moves by US are in the right direction. No offense, but personally, I would much rather book my flights online than dial a reservation agent on the phone. There will be times when it's necessary to call the airline for a ticket change or for some out of the ordinary reason but generally speaking, I'd just assume book online and give US my $$$ via credit card. As more passengers get comfortable doing this, it only makes economic sense for the airline to move more of its bookings to the internet. It's easier for me (as a passenger) and it takes far less time than calling the CP desk and asking what time flights leave X to get to Y etc etc etc when it is all right there on the screen on the website. And if US ever gets around to offering a truly functional website they may be on to something...

 

[geo1004]

If you call Southwest your not gonna book a ticket on: Quantas, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Carribean Sun Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Varig Airlines, etc....

Two things.

First, the fact that I CAN call US Airways (by far my major carrier) and utilize the global reach of US's European flight and the Star Alliance partners is EXACTLY why I have NEVER set foot on one of Herb's orange 737s. And trust me, I CAN get to BWI from where I live.

Second, "Quantas" has no "u" in it. QANTAS is an anacronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service (or something similar - not enough coffee to remember yet).

 

[ITRADE]

USAIRWAYS is just recently out of bankruptcy protection...And is now "GIVING AWAY " over 100,000 items to try to attract customers in the Washington area???

Where is the $$$$$ cash comming from to pay for all these items?

The 100,000 "free" items include: "Free" Golf Balls, "Free" Car Washes, "Free Krispy Kreme doughnuts, "Free" Ice Cream, "Free" Hotdogs, "Free" Key chains, etc...

This is the same airline that couldn't survive without TAXPAYER bail-out money, wants MORE concessions from union workers...some making $20,000+ a year...

But ,nothing from Management, Sales & Administrative staff...

Hmmmm Don't alot of them work in the Washington area???... Enjoy those doughnuts & car washes...

It is a real shame, when you get a lousy bag of stale, square pretzels with 8 tiny pretzels in a bag, if your lucky....and 3 sips of Diet Coke from a plastic cup with 3/4 ice in it....on a flight...And you see this....

A customer is gonna fly on whoever has the cheapest ticket, doesn't matter to him if you gave him a keychain last week....LOL

Reminds me of where the money is comming from to buy brand new Embraer jets, brand new Kiosk machines, brand new boarding pass reading machines....

How much does a new Embraer jet cost these days $5 million? $7 Million? $10 million?....More?

I guess a company that "GAVE AWAY" $$$$ millions of dollars to Mr. Wolf, Mr.Gangwahl & Mr. Siegel that is just part of their "big plan"....


Bye, Bye...U...

As Geo and Piney have said, its all part of advertising and name recognition.

 

[skyflyr69]

Light Years, You are correct!!!

Customers today are too savy for the marketing ploys...

Give them a reason to like your airlne...

Reasonable fares, clean aircraft, friendly staff, safe, reliable transportation, etc...

This is a service industry.....There are way too many airlines out there they can fly on....Ya have to do a better job and have enough staff to do it... and do it well...

and non-whiny employees! just look at the amount of postings at U. unbelievable.
if you folks would put half the amount of effort you put into this board U would be a much better airline.

 

[flyin2low]

What about FREE pizza?

 

[X-U]

Really, these employees need to quit whining and get back to work! If they are tired of seeing the money they gave back going to tchotkes for some rich folks, then why don't they save further cuts to their paycheck by offering up some of the vast amount of leisure time they have (really, does anyone need 2 days per week?). Under a "USlave" program, each employee could serve 3-4 days per month in the service of a frequent flyer. Rather than using concession money to pay for a car wash, the USlave could do the job themself. Rather than buying donuts and pizza, the USlave will cook breakfast, lunch and dinner. Caddy instead of giving away golf balls! Just imagine all of the advertising and goodwill that thousands of USlaves, garbed in their distinctive yellow jumsuits, could generate!
Perhaps the government would make favorable changes to the ATSB loan by letting US Airways "adopt" I-95 and having USlaves pick up trash from Maine to Florida. These workers just need to quit their complainig, and some good honest work is just the thing to take their minds off of their perceived woes. If they don't have enough money for bread, let them eat cake!

 

[Hope777]

X-U, I thought it was Cheese?