As written by the "Consumer Watch" reported for the Philadelphia Inquirer...

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Especially galling is US Airways' comparison of airline tickets to tickets to a Broadway play or sporting event.
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Too late now, of course; interesting nonetheless.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/columnists/jeff_gelles/4024608.htm

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Arrzee:
As written by the "Consumer Watch" reported for the Philadelphia Inquirer...

Too late now, of course; interesting nonetheless.</font>

Never say die. It's not too late. Keep working them -- SWA is an alternative and they can still feel pain from this. As time goes by this is going to sink in with Ma & Pa and more articles like that one will surface.

If this lasts until the holidays I predict that the press will have a field day with stranded travelers caught unawares and being hit with thousands of dollars in replacement costs for walkup fares.

It isn't over yet.

(Furthermore U still has a card or two left to play -- keep your eyes open and your hand on your wallet.)

[This message has been edited by TomBascom (edited 09-08-2002).]

Tom is absolutely right. Give it a few months to start. Some travel for Thanksgiving and the holidays. There are going to be some hopping mad consumers (i.e. leisure travelers) in this country in the next few months.

They're going to do a couple things. First, they're going to be crying "I'm never flying your airline again!" and they'll be clamoring in droves for Southwest and the like. Secondly, they're going to start complaining to their legislators of how they lost $1000, $2000, $3000, etc. on the family trip to Disney.

John McCain will pick up the sword again at the Capitol and you'll be seeing a whole new passenger bill of rights. Just give it a year or so. Those of us at FT were loud enough to fire some shots across the airlines' bow because we travel often enough to know what this means without it having to happen to us. Ma and Pa don't have that knowledge. When enough of them have been taken to the cleaners by the airlines, Ma and Pa are going to be very vocal.

This isn't over by a mile. It just started.


[This message has been edited by syzygy8 (edited 09-08-2002).]

I agree, I saw a leisure passenger at the gate in PIT last week completely freak out. He flew in from SYR and his granny was supposed to fly in from BUF--they were attempting to connect in PIT and fly to MCO together. Apparently she missed her flight from BUF and they were holding her up for a $500 walk up and they told him that if he waited for her later flight to arrive he would be charged for missing his scheduled flight to MCO. It was not pretty plenty of people in the boarding area were watching--the holidays will be really ugly. Thanks Ben you really know how to endear yourself to the flying public. Shear marketing genius!

I guess you guys are right. Wait till the leisure travelers get hit with the increased fares for missing a flight. We know the rules and I guess have to live with them right now but lots do not. Just need a few stories about the family vacation to Disney being ruined for missing a flight due to some hard nosed agent not accepting that an accident just happened on the interstate, or showing the smiling family buying cheap walk up fares on WN.

RE granny on BUF - PIT.

That suggests that there is no "flat tire rule" if she just missed her flight. I asked the Shuttle gate agent at DCA on Friday about that. He said that they would only do it if they were certain that it was legitimate such as a documented traffic back-up. Then he went on about how passengers lie, bla, bla.....

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gnaget:
RE granny on BUF - PIT.
... Then he went on about how passengers lie, bla, bla.....</font>

These jerks ought to pay for a ticket once in a while. It would change their tune in a big way. (Note: I'm talking about the jerks... most employees are not jerks.)