US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Envoy: Reduction in on-board service.

Had a fantastic return flight from MAD on the 20th - Great flight crew - Great food, yes belive it or not, Segovian lamb with potatoes, really very good. Was chatting with the FA's and they seem to think that the FA crew in Envoy will be reduced by one starting in June. The salad cart service is to be dropped, they were unsure about the dessert cart service. That would be to bad - the cart service is nice, adds a classy touch. As it stands I think Envoy is better than United's Business Class and easily comparable to Delta's Business Elite and Continentals Business First, Northwest's WBC doesn't even come close. IMO.

Envoy is an excellent product, but US simply can't command a yield premium for it.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by markg:
Envoy is better than United's Business Class and easily comparable to Delta's Business Elite and Continentals Business First, Northwest's WBC doesn't even come close. IMO.</font>

Ditto here. I took US Envoy product for the first time this month. I've flown over 50 UA International C sectors, and can tell you that Envoy service is much more in-line with what you would see in UA int'l F-class(well, minus the concierge, and UA has a better F-lounge)

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by avek00:
Envoy is an excellent product, but US simply can't command a yield premium for it.</font>

Got any hard data from US to back that up, or are you throwing it out there with no supporting data?

Based on my experience which includes working for two places that have corporate contracts with US and consulting for two others (for those that care: CCI, BAY, ETN, and GSK), US problem is not commanding a yield premium, it was/is the sizing of the Envoy cabin on the 330. With the F seats being sold as Envoy, it's 42 seats/plane. If they could reconfigure for 24-30, they would be in much better shape.


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Saving the world, one clue at a time.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ClueByFour:
Got any hard data from US to back that up, or are you throwing it out there with no supporting data?

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Hey, you're the moderator. You arent supposed to say that. You are supposed to wait for someone else to say it then shut down the thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Seriously, I would agree that Envoy is much better than UA C class. UA First is superior I think because of the First Suites. I dont know if they have any first class UA flights without suites. I think Envoy is superior to even the old UA first service but not the suites.

I flew Envoy class for the first time last week from CDG-PHL, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the experience.

Service was indifferent, FA's only passed through the cabin for the after-takeoff drink and meal, and dissapeared completely afterwards. They were making quite a racket in the galley and it was difficult to sleep.

The food was OK, anyways, it is an airline meal. Desert was very good.

The seat and IFE were excellent.

It really was the crew that seemed to be only going through the motions.

I never thought I would say this, but Air Canada's Executive First on their A330's is miles ahead of the Envoy class experience I had. I know, it is only one flight, looking forward to my return PHL-CDG to see if there is any difference.

Can someone who has recently done the trip give me some idea of what envoy service is like on the 767? I'm doing PHL-PIT-LGW in August...Did I waste 80k on the ticket?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by sfeinberg:
Can someone who has recently done the trip give me some idea of what envoy service is like on the 767? I'm doing PHL-PIT-LGW in August...Did I waste 80k on the ticket?</font>

I had it last Nov to MAD on a 767 and it wasn't bad at all. Our flight crew was a entertaining and fun group and enjoyable in both directions, with food that was good enough for me, and I enjoyed sleeping with the larger seat and footrest. Preferably it would have been a 330, but in Envoy the difference between the planes probably isn't as significant as it is in coach.

For a disclaimer, I'm the traveler you see get on the plane with a hiking backpack like normally seen with people riding the trains in Europe. (Some of the looks from business travelers when I get to upgrade ahead of them are priceless, but I give the airline a bunch of money too for my flights on relatively cheap tickets.) I can be happy with just about anything, including a 10+ hour flight IAD-EZE on United, when I didn't even get up to E+ (they weren't recognizing USAir status at that point). As such, none of it really bothers me all that much, so I'll go with whatever is there.

That reminds me that I need to schedule a trip or two to Europe to use up some of my Envoy upgrade passes.

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


Seriously, I would agree that Envoy is much better than UA C class. UA First is superior I think because of the First Suites. I dont know if they have any first class UA flights without suites. I think Envoy is superior to even the old UA first service but not the suites. </font>

Envoy is definitely better service-wise than UA C (except maybe with some NRT-based crews...), but UA C still has some things in its favor.

I still prefer the UA C seat, and as much as I love the 330s, there's nothing like the upper deck of the 744 for those long transpacific flights.

Also, for me as a vegetarian, UA's special meals are far superior to US's meals, even in Envoy.

[This message has been edited by kv99 (edited 05-29-2003).]