Usairways Implements Peace of Mind policy

usfliboi

Veteran
Aug 20, 2002
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US Airways Implements ''Peace Of Mind'' Flexible Travel Policy




ARLINGTON, Va., March 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- US Airways announced
today that it has implemented the 90-day Peace of Mind flexible travel
period, effective tomorrow.
The Peace of Mind flexible travel policy, which is being implemented due
to the conflict in Iraq, allows customers to make changes to itineraries for
travel originating March 19 through June 17, 2003, without incurring standard
change fees. Travel within the U.S. or between the U.S. and Canada may be
rescheduled to originate on or before June 17, 2003. Customers scheduled to
fly to or from Europe, the Caribbean (including Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands), and Mexico during the 90-day flexible travel period may
reschedule travel to originate on or before Dec. 15, 2003. Among the allowed
itinerary changes are:

* Full value of wholly unused tickets can be applied to future travel
* Dates of travel can be changed
* Destination city can be changed
* Itinerary changes can be made for those customers whose trip has not
been completed

The Peace of Mind flexible travel policy applies to all US Airways
itineraries that include travel March 19 through June 17, 2003. The policy
applies to tickets purchased, and award tickets issued, on or before April 2,
2003. Itinerary changes must be made prior to the scheduled departure or
before April 2, 2003. All rules and restrictions of the fare purchased will
apply, and customers are responsible for any difference in fare. US Airways
could extend the change and flexible travel periods, and would communicate
those dates publicly.
With Peace of Mind, customers traveling on Dividend Miles award tickets
will be able to reschedule award travel without incurring fast ticket,
reissue, redeposit or change fees.
Customers who have purchased US Airways tickets through a booking source
other than US Airways Reservations, US Airways Airport or City Ticket Offices
or usairways.com -- such as a travel Web site or a travel agency -- should
contact the booking source to request changes. Tickets issued by US Airways
for travel on airlines other than US Airways, the US Airways Shuttle or US
Airways Express will follow the rules of the airline operating the flight(s).

US Airways is the nation''s seventh-largest airline, serving nearly 200
communities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. Most of
its route network is concentrated in the eastern U.S., where it is the largest
air carrier east of the Mississippi. It employs approximately 33,000 people
and operates a fleet of 279 mainline jet aircraft. US Airways, US Airways
Shuttle, and the US Airways Express partner carriers operate over 3,300
flights per day. For more information on US Airways flight schedules and
fares, contact US Airways online at usairways.com, or call US Airways
Reservations at 1-800-428-4322.



SOURCE US Airways
 
Passengers are now changing for the next day or two, which is what they really wanted, but the less expensive fare was not available and they want to stay on their vacation a few days more or they really want to leave a few days earlier, stating we aren''t charging the change fee......I am not reading the rules like this, but they are putting up a fuss and taking advantage of something like this,,,,,anyone else having this problem......
 
In Tuesdays Wall Street Journal there was an article comparing the different airlines polices that was very favorable to US. They called 4 airlines (AA,DL,UA,and US) to test the res agents knowledge of their carriers new policies on this and US was the only that got it right, the other 3 plus travelocitys staff were confused at their policies, my compliements to the knowlegeable US res agent
who took that call and made US look so good.
 
Res agents always have and always will make US look good!!! Hats off to you all--hang in there!!! You were all very very nice and helpful tonight when I had to call several times.
 
Oh, yeah! We knew that the minute we went to war, we were going to have our OWN war in res. I''ve had people who were booked to go on tiny little trips suddenly want to go across the country and don''t feel they should have to pay a dime more, because this will give them "Peace of Mind"(it gives ME nightmares!). And even if you told them you''d have a private jet painted their favorite color and give them free travel for life, they still wouldn''t be happy. But bless their pointy little heads, they are the exception and not the rule. Most of the people I talk to are genuinely nice and if they''re not, they have genuine concerns, and if they don''t then they just need someone to listen and we''re cheaper than a psychiatrist.

It''s not going to be an easy time for any of us, but I''ve found a little humor can go a long way to ease a tight situation. I''m no Pollyanna, but I DO understand war (I was in Viet Nam) and people are stressed to the max right now. And that''s okay. It''s okay to feel like you''re losing it. You don''t have to be a superhuman. Be yourself. After all, who knows how to be you better than you do?

"When you''re up to your butt in aligators, it''s hard to remember that your main objective was to drain the swamp."
 
First, there are rules for published fares and a whole other set for the bulk rate type tkts.For some of the bulk,well they have to call their purchaser(hotwire,expedia,pricwline,etc..)
To say the rule are confusing would be an understatement.We printed up the rules to read.Over 10 feet long.Must have been made up by our legal dept.Some of the rule are only till June 19th and for some I think INTL types until Dec 3rd.
Please pass the Goodies Tablets my head hurts from all the reading.
 
I needed to make a seemingly simple change yesterday. I had a trip setup for Sunday thru Friday -- on a refundable ticket no less! (H, not Y) I needed to move the departure to Wednesday -- no change to the return.

Unfortunately changing the departure means repricing the entire trip (I should have known this and not bothered to call but I wasn''t thinking...) Which meant another $400+ Anyone care to guess what happened?

That''s right -- trip canceled. US Airways lost $400 (the original fare).

No, I didn''t try to beat up the nice lady at the CP desk over this, nor did I try to invoke "peace of mind" -- she tried a few things on her own to work it out (I think she must have called inventory or pricing...) but didn''t get anywhere. I''m sure that the rules are the rules and that this is all by the book but there''s something wrong with a system that won''t allow a customer to voluntarily move from a crowded peak-time flight (Sunday evening) to a decidedly non-peak flight (Wednesday mid-day) thereby freeing up a potential walk-up fare for resale. You''re shooting yourselves in the foot when you (the airline) rigidly follow the rules in these cases.
 
We''ve known this for a very long time. Just thank heaven you probably had a very experienced res agent--most of the new ones have gone--and she went that extra mile to assist you. We "senior" agents knew how to go about helping you in the past and still try to do so, but there are some times you get tired of banging your head on a brick wall.