US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Very interesting response from Mr. Baldanza

Well, about two hours ago I sent a new email to Baldanza, Isom, and Siegel ... basically I told them my point of view and again expressed the point that they have to rescind the change to earning Preferred Miles (and that I could personally live with the other changes, but pointing out I still didn't understand how no stand-by was a good policy, but could live with that even).

Anyway, I just received the following response (again, in less than two hours):

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Dear Thomas,

As you probably can guess, I have heard from many customers who share your views. Few of the letters have beenas polite and well-reasoned, though, and I thank you for that.

These changes were made in response to a very real change we have seen in buying behavior. Today, fares that have been designed for and priced for leisure travel are the primary fares used by business travelers. This creates and uneconomic situation for us since frankly leisure travelers do not need the same-day standby nor do they travel enough to ever earn
their way into the elite levels of the Dividend Mile program.

That said, we are considering modifications to our position given that the tier status approach has been enormously emotional and has angered many. On the one hand, this absolutley confirms our worst economic fears about who the "leisure travelers" really are. On the other hand, we will not intentionally drive away good customers like you.

Thank you for your note, and I hope that the continued progress we make on our restructuring path will make you more comfortable with US Airways.

Ben Baldanza

</font>

I am also looking forward to more modifications to the rules. It seems the ma and pa leisure traveler have no problem whatsoever to the "use it or lose it" rules and though I have had to explain in more detail about the new standby policy and change prior to travel, the businessmen seem to accept it as well. I have not had any call or complaint on the 2003 tier level rules.

That's pretty huge. I might send another well-reasoned email again myself.

The "leisure travelers" are us and we apparently are the enemy. They should have fixed the pricing structure first or at least the same time as the DM changes.

The other thing I thought was that leisure fares had Saturday night stay requirements.

It sounds like they may be shell shocked at the Crystal Palace. If he comes out and admits he said the stupidest things because he had a gun to his head and rescinds the rules, I may fly US enough to book the lowest elite level.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BWI2MCO97:
I am also looking forward to more modifications to the rules. It seems the ma and pa leisure traveler have no problem whatsoever to the "use it or lose it" rules
</font>

thats because they have not thought out what it will mean to them. wait for the first news story of the family of 6 trapped in MCO because they thought their 7am flight was a 7pm flight and can't afford the walk-up fare to get home...... then see what ma and pa think.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
the businessmen seem to accept it as well. I have not had any call or complaint on the 2003 tier level rules. </font>

no we don't accept it, we just know not to bother complaining to reservations about it. When I booked some family travel the other day, I didn't complain about the restrictions, no point. I didn't explain how it will be the last paid flight I take on US, no point.

Thanks to these changes I am no longer permitted to fly US for business reasons, and as I result will soon cease flying it for any reason.

This from Baldanza is CLEARLY a statement of planned retreatment from the failed Tier Miles restrictions. I, for one, say hurrah!

Now, let's take bets on when the announcement will officially be made....

If I had another option I wouldn't forgive U for stating they do not want my business; however, I have no other option. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I know well written letters get a better response than an unorganized and belittling e-mail could ever expect(kudos Beckles). http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starsmilie.gif

So I hope that U throws that small bone toward the elites they brow beat and stated they no longer wanted and return the ability to earn status (with reasonable priced tickets) on their precious airline. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

BRAVO - Now is the time to keep the heat on high via concise and polite e-mails.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by biggs:
The "leisure travelers" are us.....
The other thing I thought was that leisure fares had Saturday night stay requirements.
</font>

This is how I would always be able to fly US for biz, I'd price a sat-stay US fare vs a weekday XX fare and it came down to "if you let me fly US I'll save the co $$$", US got a pax, and I flew what used to be my favorite airline. win-win. ah the good ole days...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:

Dear Thomas,

These changes were made in response to a very real change we have seen in buying behavior. Today, fares that have been designed for and priced for leisure travel are the primary fares used by business travelers. This creates and uneconomic situation for us since frankly leisure travelers do not need the same-day standby nor do they travel enough to ever earn
their way into the elite levels of the Dividend Mile program.

That said, we are considering modifications to our position given that the tier status approach has been enormously emotional and has angered many. On the one hand, this absolutley confirms our worst economic fears about who the "leisure travelers" really are. On the other hand, we will not intentionally drive away good customers like you.

Thank you for your note, and I hope that the continued progress we make on our restructuring path will make you more comfortable with US Airways.

Ben Baldanza

</font>

Don't these guys realize that businesses are sick of getting hosed by the airlines? When they try to milk the business traveler out of $$$ at sometimes 10x the cost of a leisure fare, business travelers are going to, by nature, find a way around it! I usually drive to my client the first Monday and then buy tickets originating on Friday from the client and returning on Monday back to the client, thus getting the Saturday night stay and the "leisure fare". (this tactic is clearly spelled out in our corporate travel policy and we *must* get prices with Sat. night stays). Just because I am flying for business, doesn't give the airline the right to collect $thousands more from me. Enough with the milking of the business traveler... the ma and pa get the same product (flight from A to B)... The US Execs time is better spent devising a more realistic pricing model!!!

[This message has been edited by uschpr (edited 09-04-2002).]

Baldanza believes that leisure travelers don't fly enough to earn elite status.

Clearly, he has never read FlyerTalk :-).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
... This creates and uneconomic situation for us since frankly leisure travelers do not need the same-day standby nor do they travel enough to ever earn
their way into the elite levels of the Dividend Mile program.

That said, we are considering modifications to our position given that the tier status approach has been enormously emotional and has angered many. On the one hand, this absolutley confirms our worst economic fears about who the "leisure travelers" really are. ..

Ben Baldanza

</font>[/B][/QUOTE]

What does this mean? Leisure travelers DO want to standby when they can, and leisure travelers DO (truly) earn their way into elite levels.

So they want to make business travelers pay more by removing benefits for leisure travelers. Why not increase services to business travelers without removing benefits for leisure travelers? The truth is, they can't think of anything extra to offer business travelers that they would be willing to pay for. So their solution is to remove benefits for leisure travelers so that things suck so much that business people will be willing to pay more? Is that JetBlue's business model?

Really, I hope they don't back down from their changes. I want an example of a failed airline to protect my other Elite memberships. So, here's a quote for Baldanza to use: "I really like your changes. Please do not give in to the limited negative response to your new Elite qualification or ticket expiration policies".

The bottom line here, U has to understand
its best interests.

1-- keep current flyers flying.
2-- keep support of its supporters.
3-- made new supporters wherever possible.
4-- create the best environment for its
customers today.
5-- keep cash coming in, at least the same levels as in recent months.

all of these are best served by recinding the
policy changes. We are all interested in
making U viable. But you wont make it on these changes. Overall, these are revenue
and capacity negative. So, what is the point?

Mr. Baldanza doesn't fully know his customers.

While I fly on USAirways for both business and leisure travel, I can and do qualify for Chairmans on my leisure travel alone. I requalified this year in July. 100 segments or 100K miles, even at cheapie fares, represents a lot of business. What should matter to Mr. Baldanza is volume and predictability - it's a lot easier to grow an existing high-volume customer relationship than to attempt to gain a new one.

Mr. Baldanza also forgets that many business travelers who are building towards tier status will favor the airline with their leisure travel, especially if the addition of such leisure travel helps them cross the next tier.

And if the rules stay tightened, few new customers will be incented to go the distance with US Airways to earn tier status when they can do that a lot more easily on other carriers such as NW, CO - on which my leisure travel alone earns top-tier status as well... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

------------------
==
/globaldude

[This message has been edited by globaldude (edited 09-04-2002).]

It should be obvious to Baldanza how the combo of leisure travel (for me typically weekend shuttles)and business travel makes people like myself loyal to US.

My strategy has been to collect segments by flying short haul on US to gain silver status -- for business it is usually expensive Y class in miserable RJs or worse. I collect miles on intl and long haul domestic to gain status on UA.

Today I flew back after an overnight trip to IND -- normally I would fly US. I selected UA and US missed out on $776.

However, on Friday I fly to LGA for $116 on US. That's the only type of business US will get from me from now on....

" We didn't realize the business travellers were buying discounted fares??" (More a paraphrase than a quote...)

I am disgusted at the "turnaround" team for their admitted lack of insight to who their flyers are. Do you mean to tell me that they haven't gotten on their own planes to look at the carry-on bags, suits and ties of who their flyers are?? If I had anyone in my company make a decision based on a prices paid and ASSUME they were of one profile, and then make an industry-changing, and company-killing decision, that team would be fired with the most expediance possible. Come on Ben, the only people that could possibly make that mistake are so far removed from the company's day to day operations, they would have to be in accounting.

I cannot believe Dave, after flying around and getting involved with daily operations issues and the unions input, could have had a discussion with the FA union, the pilot's union, and the TA union and asked a question that said, "Hey, we're looking at making a big money decision that would be totally new to the industry, and possibly jeopardize those leisure travellers that seem to be buying a lot of the low margin tickets. What do you think?" Any one of those three unions, or his own 2 eyeballs if he was flying (or anyone on the mgmt team that thought this a viable option) would have said....hmmm these people on these planes don't look like vacationers....they're all dressed well, carrying a briefcase and one carry-on, have elite tags on their bags, and Club membership tags...

I swear, if I listen to one more MBA type walk into my company, and quote me Keyes laws of economics in replying to how to salvage a company from BK or gain more customers, or higher profits i would shoot myself. Theory is supposed to reinforce reality in mgmt decisions, not replace it. Make a tough decision with some real world knowledge, not some Ivory Tower concept of profitability.

Dave, you have a real chance to become a wizard of change in an industry that has traditionally limped through the past 20 years. Lee Iacocca and Chrysler would be comparable as far as turnaround of an ailing company in an ailing industry. The big 3 vs imports in the 80's would be similar fights. Japanese automakers no longer sell on price, it's quality and price. Try to find real world aspects in your own industry and capitalize on growing your base and profitability.

Use some common sense and your ears, listen to your customers, make your employees feel like they're involved and the team of everyone will fix this problem. You started doing that, don't drop the ball now. A fight like will get your employees, your customers, your vendors, and, believe it or not, the press behind you. poor reference but..."You're the rightful leader of this company and there is strength in you, I see it. Unite us Dave, ...unite the clans"

&gt;"frankly leisure travelers do not need the same-day standby nor do they travel enough to ever earn their way into the elite levels of the Dividend Mile program."

I am precisely that loyal customer; I take frequent vacations (such as the UK several times a year)and earn my status. I am really annoyed that the opinion of the leisure traveler is reflected as such. I often go standby to optimize time off and will be looking for other options.
I have written several times to the aforementioned leaders. They have yet to respond.

Jane in PHL

Translation of the letter which makes a lot more sense once you replace "leisure" with "cheap-fare" and replace "need" and "earn" with "deserve".

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Dear Thomas,

As you probably can guess, I have heard from many customers who share your views. Few of the letters have been as polite and well-reasoned, though, and I thank you for that.
These changes were made in response to a very real change we have seen in buying behavior. Today, fares that have been designed for and priced for cheap-fare travel are the primary fares used by business travelers. This creates and uneconomic situation for us since frankly cheap-fare travelers do not deserve the same-day standby nor do they travel enough to ever deserve their way into the elite levels of the Dividend Mile program.

That said, we are considering modifications to our position given that the tier status approach has been enormously emotional and has angered many. On the one hand, this absolutley confirms our worst economic fears about who the "cheap-fare travelers" really are. On the other hand, we will not intentionally drive away good customers like you.

Thank you for your note, and I hope that the continued progress we make on our restructuring path will make you more comfortable with US Airways.

Ben Baldanza </font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JanePond:
"frankly leisure travelers do not need the same-day standby nor do they travel enough to ever earn their way into the elite levels of the Dividend Mile program."</font>

Wow, I must confess I missed that little nugget!

I just sent Mr. Baldanza a response addressing exactly that issue, since I too travel 90% for leisure.

You know what occurred to me though, is that those of us who are Preferred members and travel for leisure are really much more loyal than many other Preferred members. Not only are we spending thousands of dollars on US each year, the big difference is that money is coming out of our OWN pockets, not our company's or client's ...

Sure, maybe we're not as profitable, but I would argue we are in fact much more loyal ...

This is especially true when you consider those that travel heavily for business will often split their business among different airlines, whereas those of us who travel for leisure are much less likely to stray from our primary airline (heck, I'm elite on DL at the same level I'm on US and I still don't stray to DL from US).

Seems to me the fatal flaw in their logic is that you can't use a loyalty program to reward proftiability since the two are not one in the same ...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
...You know what occurred to me though, is that those of us who are Preferred members and travel for leisure are really much more loyal than many other Preferred members. Not only are we spending thousands of dollars on US each year, the big difference is that money is coming out of our OWN pockets, not our company's or client's ...</font>

Well said, Beckles.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
Sure, maybe we're not as profitable, but I would argue we are in fact much more loyal ...

</font>

Per baldanza, loyalty is only based upon total revenue- well actually $/ticket. Fly 16 trips on US on my own as I did last and it does not count, the 25-30 business trips may count but even those may not since some were nonrefundable or cheap (took a few BWI trips when DCA was closed).

I do agree that we are more loyal because we chose which airline to fly even when the service is a Dash 8 rather than an RJ or mainline.

Ben is making my point from the other day. They will cave on elite requalification, probably in conjunction with this on line appearance he is planning with the Washington Post tomorrow. That said, they still think it's our fault. In effect, it will be a hollow victory, because they will do everything they can to make sure a leisure fare gets nothing. Talk about denial...now "we're confirming his worst fears". It IS the passengers, after all. Sure is a good thing the company doesn't have to worry about the highest seat mile costs in the industry, the lack of a national route network, no DM partners, any lowfare operators targeting their monopoly markets, or an operation they pissed away, thinking United would have to pay the bill. These guys have the easiest situation n the industry. Just stop those customers!

This marketing guys are nuts.
The worst marketing move in aviation history.
Mr.Baldenza should get a prize for it.
The first marketing trick no reasonable man on earth can understand.
Offending 95% of your very best customers in a moment of crisis is out of this world.
Yes to many customers just hurt when you are loosing them by the millions.
I just paid 3000 USD fo a business ticket and domestic B class from MUC to MCO and back. Do xou realy think my next private trip will be in B class because of this new policy of no status miles all the way to H class?
PEOPLE fly a mixture of business and leisure fare and some mostly leisure fare they are paying your job!
If you stick with this policy it will be suicide for this decent airline.
A loyal flyer for 10 years who has been on the Gold level for 8 years in a row.

The biggest full service airline in the world which is not member of any global alliance uses its marketing resources to come up with this great plot how to get rid of the fools who are still travelling on them.
Mr.Baldenza the reason for a very agressive tone in many letters is probably that no living VP of Marketing has ever come up with something as much out of touch with his customers. This is a marketing desaster of epic magnitude and the only way to rescue anything is to withdraw from it as fast as possible. Otherwise you will make marketing history in a huge way.

As mentioned above- I sure can't put people in boxes labeled "business traveler" and "leisure travelers."

Using myself as an example:

- When I'm flying for work, I'm a business traveler.

- When I'm flying for leisure, I'm a leisure traveler.

Given the current Elite system- I throw all my eggs into the same basket at AA. If AA ticks me off, they'll lose all my biz, throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I have to ask myself exactly how much analysis went into these decisions? Did they truely analyze their database of traveler information to understand the type of traveler they serve? I think not. I think I am fairly representative of at least some portion of the loyal DM member.

I travel every week for business (national sales rep for fortune 500 company)based on the east coast with customers primarily east of the Missisippi River and HQ is Chicago. So US has had the best route network for me from Norfolk.

I have been CP for six years now and always choose US unless I can obtain a substantially lower priced fare that fits my travel times, schedule etc. Most of my fares are Y but at least 40% are deeply discounted (in the markets where they compete with SW or DL and sometimes AA).

As I read elsewhere recently, the benefits of DM elite status certainly increases in value when you have a 6am flight outbound for a day trip and return, with a connection, at 11pm that same day.

Being able to enjoy priority boarding, a first class seat, bonus miles and elite qualification for the flight certainly makes the pain a bit more bearable.

Take these things away and I will find an airline that still provides them.

And don't even get me started on the no standby BS. I might book a trip 4 weeks out and based on my plans at the moment, book a late afternoon return home. Well, by the time of the trip, my schedule has changed and I can get home much earlier than planned. US is going to make me sit in a **** airport for say, six hours, let emply planes depart and force me to wait for my schedule flight. Oh, they say I could pay the $100 fee, well heck no. My boss won't approve the expense and since I fly weekly that could get quite expensive to pay out of my pocket.

US needs to poll some CP's for the real scope of what the business traveler demands. Why don't they hold a forum of say the 15 most frequent flyers for a couple hours and ask them. They might be surprised what they find.

I have plenty of ideas that should help make them profitable and not offensive to someone like me.

James

------------------
US-CP; UA PE; AA Plat; Hilton Gold VIP; Six Continents Gold

I am new to this website, the recent USAirways decision was the catalyst to my registration.

Well said to all....but i need to vent, so my apologies if I make a point already made

1. 75% of my frequent flyer miles are earned from personal travel.

2. I will not pay full fare for business or personal travel.

3. I can't believe that the goofballs at USAirways actually believe that employers are going to tell their employees "Gee, we understand that non-refundable tickets won't earn you elite status, so its okay to pay $2300 for a round trip full fare ticket to the West Coast instead of $450, because we want you to be able to check in at the business class window and maybe get an upgrade now and then."

4. I used to be a big USAirways fan. I felt that British Airways betrayed them and I always felt USAirways tried hard to please its customers. Not so anymore.

5. Where are the appropriate email addresses for the USAirways contacts mentioned here published?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Skip Middleton:
" We didn't realize the business travellers were buying discounted fares??" (More a paraphrase than a quote...)

I am disgusted at the "turnaround" team for their admitted lack of insight to who their flyers are. Do you mean to tell me that they haven't gotten on their own planes to look at the carry-on bags, suits and ties of who their flyers are?? </font>

With all due respect, you're being dishonest here. He said the reaction "absolutley confirmed" our worst fears about who the leisure travellers really are. That is not the same thing as we didn't realize business travellers were buying discount fares.

well, I for one sent an email to dave_siegel@usairways.com yesterday. I listed 5 reasons why I've retained CP status and traveled &gt;100k miles this year, and 5 actions I am taking; including no new U ticket purchases. I didn't go into the loyalty thing, but made it clear that since I am with many others who will not requalify under the new rules, I see no reason to stick with them any longer.

Now, the real tough questions, do we accept their "make-up" offer, and if not, where do we go next?

I too have been a lurker for quite a while, but am compelled to register.

I have been a US1 since the inception of the program in 1997. I am a cockroach, flying one well planned roundtrip per week at the lowest applicable fare. The availability of unlimited upgrades is very important to me, as I am 6'7" tall, and don't fit in ordinary coach seats very well at all. No upgrade possibility = none of my business. In the past 4 years, I have purchased &gt; $47,000.00 worth of these unworthy tickets. I really don't know if this amount of revenue matters to US or not. Well, I should say that I didn't know until last week!

Now that I know, I don't really think that I can ever hold US in the same high regard as before. Since I purchase a ticket every week, I have been buying my future tickets on NW. I am hoping to get comp'ed to an elite level so that I will have a chance at an upgrade over there.

One other thing...I fly from CLT. Schedules on non-US airlines really stink. CO and DL fly mostly RJs. Even NW flies a fair number of RJs. I don't fly RJs due to my height (reduced pitch). I am going to be connecting through DTW and travelling for 4.5 hours to avoid a 1.25 hour US nonstop flight. I don't care. I will not fly on US again as long as the cockroach fares do not earn elite status. Even if that changes back, I tend to agree with deelmakur: US is just going to find other ways to devalue the program.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by outtolunch:
With all due respect, you're being dishonest here. He said the reaction "absolutley confirmed" our worst fears about who the leisure travellers really are. That is not the same thing as we didn't realize business travellers were buying discount fares.</font>

Please tell me 2 things...1) What did that mean, unless you mean there is another class besides business and leisure flyers , and 2) show me the falsehood

I also mean no disrespect, but I never lie, at least to strangers...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Skip Middleton:
Please tell me 2 things...1) What did that mean, unless you mean there is another class besides business and leisure flyers , and 2) show me the falsehood

I also mean no disrespect, but I never lie, at least to strangers...</font>

What I mean is that the paraphase is dishonest because that is not what he said. The way I read your post is that U had no idea who their customers were and should have known before making such a decision.

What I believe Mr Baldanza actually said was that the reaction confirmed what they already knew; business travellers are buying discount tickets.

Does that make sense?

[This message has been edited by outtolunch (edited 09-05-2002).]

I'm with Skip -- confirming what they "feared" (rather than "knew") is pretty much tantamount to saying "we don't know our customers".

How hard would it have been to hop on a few planes and ask people a few questions?

10 years -- 0 customer surveys. (Other than the "isn't our web site wonderful" survey.)

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by outtolunch:
What I mean is that the paraphase is dishonest because that is not what he said. The way I read your post is that U had no idea who their customers were and should have known before making such a decision.

What I believe Mr Baldanza actually said was that the reaction confirmed what they already knew; business travellers are buying discount tickets.

Does that make sense?
</font>



[This message has been edited by TomBascom (edited 09-05-2002).]

They're full of crap. Any time you call, they can see every reservation you have, on the same screen. Your DM statement shows class of service. It should be no effort at all to call up information based on class of service, which would show them anything they want to know about who uses what type of fare.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TomBascom:
I'm with Skip -- confirming what they "feared" (rather than "knew") is pretty much tantamount to saying "we don't know our customers".

How hard would it have been to hop on a few planes and ask people a few questions?

10 years -- 0 customer surveys. (Other than the "isn't our web site wonderful" survey.)



[This message has been edited by TomBascom (edited 09-05-2002).]</font>

Actually, now that I think about it, that they "knew"/"feared" who their customers are and made the decision anyway is worse than if the decision was made by clueless, out of touch executives (Yes I know I'm being redundant)who don't know who their customers are.

[This message has been edited by outtolunch (edited 09-05-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by deelmakur:
They're full of crap. Any time you call, they can see every reservation you have, on the same screen. Your DM statement shows class of service. It should be no effort at all to call up information based on class of service, which would show them anything they want to know about who uses what type of fare. </font>

Ok... but there's also a wealth of evidence to support the idea that they don't listen very well to employees. It isn't like Ben is pulling up those screens himself.

This was sent to "Dave Ja Vu" this evening. Let's wait and see what if any response we get
Dear Mr. Siegel,
Given the recent changes to the Dividend Miles program, please
provide me with a valid business case to continue to fly US Airways
given the following realities of my travel life.
A) My company REQUIRES the purchase of non refundable ticket whenever
possible.
B) of the 103 segments flown last year less than 30 would qualify for
Elite Status!
To be blunt Dave, What's in it for me??? Delta, Continental &
Northwest fly to all the places I need to go and my segments will
count towards Elite Status. Truth be told I am personally offened by
your complete and utter disregard for my loyalty over the past 27
months during which time I have flown approximately 274 segments
total, 214 with US Airways! Do you know I made the decision to fly
into SEA and drive 160 miles to Portland OR, in order to stay on your
system instead of Northwest! And this is my reward? That trip ended
up being cancelled but the point remains the same. When I do trips
with co workers I handle the travel and who do they fly? US Air is
who! I have personally steared over 30 segments to your airline and
this is my reward? With the company in BK do you really have the
luxury of alienating customers like me? You know the ones that fill
the seat every friggin week, pulling as many as 18 segments a month?
Instead of having some flunky respond to this with s!
ome politically correct babble that skirts and evades why don't you
call me up and tell me why I should continue to use your airline.
Explain to me how all of these changes are going to improve my work
life given the realities mentioned above. I would be delighted to
hear what you have to say.
Sincerely,
Robert Johnson
Chairman's Preffered
DM-xxxxxxx
Ph:xxx-xxx-1670

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TomBascom:

How hard would it have been to hop on a few planes and ask people a few questions?

10 years -- 0 customer surveys. (Other than the "isn't our web site wonderful" survey.)

</font>

C'mon guys it is obvious Skip and deelmakur are right. And they don't need surveys or to hop on planes to know their customers. Their very own DM program is a treasure trove of info if they chose to mine it! Tell me anyone with ten neurons and a quickie nighttime marketing course can't mine that database and separate the loeisure travelers from the biz travelers! Hint: leisure travelers don't do one day trips to CLE and DTW and all those garden spots.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by firstclass:
well, I for one sent an email to dave_siegel@usairways.com yesterday. I listed 5 reasons why I've retained CP status and traveled &gt;100k miles this year, and 5 actions I am taking; including no new U ticket purchases. I didn't go into the loyalty thing, but made it clear that since I am with many others who will not requalify under the new rules, I see no reason to stick with them any longer.

Now, the real tough questions, do we accept their "make-up" offer, and if not, where do we go next?</font>

If you're not going to accept their "make-up offer", why even waste your energy on writing them?

It's dangerous to believe everything that you think you see on a screen. I agree that they have a treasure trove of information available. But along with mining it they need to get out and walk around and validate their conclusions.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gardener:
C'mon guys it is obvious Skip and deelmakur are right. And they don't need surveys or to hop on planes to know their customers. Their very own DM program is a treasure trove of info if they chose to mine it! Tell me anyone with ten neurons and a quickie nighttime marketing course can't mine that database and separate the loeisure travelers from the biz travelers! Hint: leisure travelers don't do one day trips to CLE and DTW and all those garden spots.</font>

I would like to thank everyone who sent a 'well reasoned' letter, which lead to the reversal on teir miles.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gardener:
Hint: leisure travelers don't do one day trips to CLE and DTW and all those garden spots.</font>

Hey--I resemble that remark!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif