US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Alone (almost) in First

Yesterday I had the rare experience of being the only revenue passenger in the first class cabin of a 757 from MIA to PHL. My only company was the flight attendant (an even more than excellent job as I had practically his undivided attention), and a deadheading captain a row or two behind me.

As I boarded through the #2 door, the FA was standing to the left, and as I made the turn to the FC cabin, he said "I think you're my one and only today".

The coach cabin was only about 1/3 full, but the plane arrived absolutely full. I guess the southbound holiday migration is in full force!

On the way down Monday night, the back was almost full, and there were only 5 of us up front.

I guess this is the reason why US plans to reconfigure 757's with 8F and 193Y by August.



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Regards,

Art from ISP

You are seeing anecdotal evidence of the yield problem. They appear to be filling the back with a lot of junk traffic, probably Priceline, Hotwire, etc., but there isn't much of that with status to upgrade. The briefcase crowd is staying away. As a result, outside of peak travel times, you continue to see upgrade inventory available on day of travel, and actual empty seats onboard.A couple of recent flights I have taken have had oversell volunteers. This is causing young children to turn up in the front cabin, often with disruptive behavior. In those instances, if I were a full fare customer, I think I would be most unhappy. As a mooch on an upgrade, I just turn up the headphones on my MP3.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Art234:

I guess this is the reason why US plans to reconfigure 757's with 8F and 193Y by August.

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NAH!?! You'll be flying in the lovely new RJ's that USAirways plans on adding to the fleet. LOL Gone will be the days of those nice mainline jets.

deelmakur, I wonder if you're reading a little too much into this particular instance. Seeing that it was a Wednesday in the middle of a holiday period-- when business travel is probably taking a small dip but leisure travel is focused toward the weekends, I think it was something of a fluke that Art's flight was empty in F. Just like with averages, you're bound ti hit the low spot at some point.

Art, glad you enjoyed your trip-- sorry it wasn't longer. One of my best ever flights was being the only F passenger on a 3 1/2 hour MEM-LAX years back on NW when there was a meal _and_ a movie!!

Viajero, I commute into DCA every other Thursday on a launch flight out of Florida. We have had open F seats almost every time. One of my kids is UA 1K, and had no trouble upgrading at the gate on a Friday out of DCA into PBI (7PM) a few weeks ago.Just look at ITN, and check available upgrade inventory. It's all over the place, on many flights, well within the lower elite tier advance windows. What I am seeing is structural, not occasional.

Last Wednesday took the 5:45 PHL-PHX with an nearly full front cabin - one empty seat if I remember correctly. Generally a full plane. However, the PHX-PIT red-eye on Friday night had several empty seats up front.

I had a similar experience a year or two back. Was flying F LAX-PIT. It was on a holiday (July 4) so I was alone in F, or maybe one other pax.

Service was essentially non-existant. She gave me the meal and that was about it. I had to track her down and ask for anything else.

It's not always a good thing to be alone in First.

Alone in First?

One of my best US Airways experiences was as a newly minted "Priority Gold" in the mid-90's. I had just begun my flying career and was an afternoon MIA-PIT-DCA mid-week. It was probably about the third time I'd upgraded in my life. I was alone in F on the 737-200 in 1F. The FA's were great and after the full lunch service one of the FA's (and a cute one at that!) sat down and played cards with me. I drank wine while she drank a bottled water. She must have been ex-Piedmont. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

With another 900 F/A layoffs, the reception is apt to be a little chilly up there these days, regardless of how many chairs are filled.

Thursday morning early TPA-DCA only three seats taken up front, 2/3 in the back. No better service than usual due to the light load in FC.

Thursday evening late DCA-TPA, overbooked and desperate for volunteers.

It's really amazing.

I've not been flying as much for work domestically. Flying on the weekends at all hours has shown that F is usually jam packed, and often coach is oversold.

On the rare occasion that I fly midweek, I find that F is rarely full, even on longhaul transcons (eg, PIT-SFO/LAX/SEA etc).

1 or 6 or so Envoy legs this year has been full. That was LGW-PIT on a Sunday.

The leisure flights are full, the "business" flights are not, and this is what is killing the airlines right now.

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Saving the world, one clue at a time.