US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Is it me or did something change with US policy?

I was at usairways.com and I noticed that there is a new title "Pricing Changes Implemented" in the upper left hand corner, so I clicked and it and began reading the press release from August 27, 2002. On a side note, didn't that link say something else?

Secondly, they start off with the title "US AIRWAYS IMPLEMENTS PRICING CHANGES" So first off, I thought wow...here are the new pricing strutures we thought we would see.

However...It seemed like the orginal August 27 post...but...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Customers ticketed on non-refundable fares will continue to earn full Dividend Miles credit. Effective for travel Jan. 1, 2003, and beyond, miles and segments earned on most non-refundable fares will not count toward Dividend Miles Chairman's Preferred, Gold Preferred and Silver Preferred status.</font>

So now on some non-refundable fares, they will count? Did that change or am I just slow.

Second...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Can customers make changes to their non-refundable tickets under these new fare rules?
Yes, however the change must be made prior to the departure of the ticketed flight in question. Changes made to non-refundable tickets are subject to certain restrictions and fees. If the change is not made prior to flight time and the customer does not take the originally ticketed flight, the ticket will have no further value.</font>

Did this change too? They ARE going to let us change non-refundable tickets now under certain restrictions?

Perhaps I'm just way slow but I thought no refundable tickets were going to collect preferred miles and thought no changes to a non-refundable ticket whatsoever. Now their site is saying different.

Again, tell me if i'm off my rocker and I'll crawl back into the whole I came out of.

JetTroop - No I think it always said that. You earn the miles on the discounted fares - they just don't count toward status. Refundable fares earn the miles and they DO count toward status - just as always.

The restrictions to changes on non-refundable tickets are the same as always - with the new and notable exception that you must make said changes BEFORE the flight closes...

Refundable tickets were always able to be changed..

This is what it has been saying right along.

Important points that they gloss over:

1) Virtually everything is a "discount" or "non-refundable" ticket. Only the very highest fare or two is refundable. Examine the rules carefully -- many tickets that you think are immune are not. Immunity is not related to price.

2) Yes, they permit changes in advance. For the difference in fare between what you paid and what it would cost to start all over at that moment. Plus the change fee. If that change is taking place at the airport on the day of the flight make sure that the armored car people are standing by with bags of money...

3) No stand-by means that you will be forced to make formal changes to tickets that you never had to change before. See #2 for pricing. Or you can hang out and wait.

4) No exceptions. Hopefully you will never miss a flight. That's certainly what US Airways hopes you'll think. Only irresponsible people or those who are somehow "cheating" would ever need to use stand-by or fail to call ahead and change a reservation.

5) There is no relationship between booking fare class and "discount" or "non-refundable". There never has been. There are discount non-refundable F fares and there are discount fares priced at $1,500. Preferred miles are tied to booking class, not price, and the ridiculous changes supposedly take effect in January and finally impact the actual number of elites in March of 2004. The far more sweeping and (in the long term) suicidal changes to fares and rules took place 8/27 under cover of smoke from the preferred miles change.

6) The entire "rationale" for these changes is fatuous. Whatever it is that they are doing and whatever the reason really is it isn't what they say is happening on that web page.

Two things.
According the the FAQ's on the website the following fare classes won't earn status miles: H,K,V,Q,L. On travelocity I saw a 21 day advance M fare from EWR to LAX for $549 plus tax. This fare is non-refundable, however since it isn't one of the excluded fares the miles should count towards status correct?
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TomBascom:
4) No exceptions. Hopefully you will never miss a flight. That's certainly what US Airways hopes you'll think. Only irresponsible people or those who are somehow "cheating" would ever need to use stand-by or fail to call ahead and change a reservation.</font>Even if you leave with plenty of extra time to get to the airport all it would take would be one horrendous accident to tie up traffic and make you miss your flight. If you should be unlucky enough to be in an area where your phone doesn't work, or you're one of the few people left who doesn't own a cell phone (guilty) you wouldn't be able to call ahead. I don't see how this would make me irresponsible or a "cheater"

edited for spelling

[This message has been edited by iflyual (edited 09-03-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by iflyual:
Two things.
According the the FAQ's on the website the following fare classes won't earn status miles: H,K,V,Q,L. On travelocity I saw a 21 day advance M fare from EWR to LAX for $549 plus tax. This fare is non-refundable, however since it isn't one of the excluded fares the miles should count towards status correct?</font>

Yes. That is correct.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TomBascom:
4) No exceptions. Hopefully you will never miss a flight. That's certainly what US Airways hopes you'll think. Only irresponsible people or those who are somehow "cheating" would ever need to use stand-by or fail to call ahead and change a reservation.

Even if you leave with plenty of extra time to get to the airport all it would take would be one horrendous accident to tie up traffic and make you miss your flight. If you should be unlucky enough to be in an area where your phone doesn't work, or you're one of the few people left who doesn't own a cell phone (guilty) you wouldn't be able to call ahead. I don't see how this would make me irresponsible or a "cheater"</font>

And suppose that you're the victim in that accident and you get taken to the hospital for a few hours... and let's suppose that it happens while you're at the far end of your trip. With the family along.

But you're supposed to think that nothing like that could ever happen to you.


[This message has been edited by TomBascom (edited 09-03-2002).]