US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Need Help from US Faithful

I'm finally looking at leaving DL. Between no segments, 1/2 MQM, and now the price differential of K fares; I realize I would be pretty stupid to stay around.

I am now looking at US. I guess I have avoided them as I still call them Agony Airlines. I would like some advice as to whether I am heading from the frying pan into the fire.

I fly MCO-DCA around 36-40 times per year. I am fine changing plances in CLT. Therefore, looking at non-stop up and one stop back for about 110 segments a year. I priced out an itin in January at $187 for a V fare. Looking at the website, that appears to be upgradeable. From my initial research, it seems that I can pay less than $200 a week, pick up enough segments to still qualify for CP, and get upgraded every week. This picture looks too good to be true. What am I missing? Are V fares usually much higher than that? What fares besides M, H, K, Q, V, and L (all upgradeable according to website) actually exist where I can get stuck in coach? How is the service (I saw post about lack of glass in FC)? How are the planes? Should I be worried moving to US? How difficult to get comped to CP (I have averaged 150 segments a year on DL for four years)?

Any advice would be helpful.

thanks,
marc

All domestic tickets you can buy from US are upgradeable, you're not missing a thing. At CP you'll get unlimited domestic upgrades and you should be upgraded most of the time (worst case, 98% I'd say).

US' program is as good as DL's was back before DL started with L fares ... then U fares ... then T fares ... then no more SWU's ... etc. ... etc. ... etc.

Beckles, thanks. But will it last? Didn't US try to make major changes in Dividend Miles last year? Were they as drastic as Delta's?

thanks for the input,
marc

Edited to add:

PS USAirways site won't let me enroll, keeps rejecting email address. Is this a sign of their technology?

[This message has been edited by Marq (edited 09-24-2003).]

Marq

Welcome to US!! I think you will be very pleasantly surprised with US. The DM program is beyond compare, and to be frank, their employees are the best in the industry.

Regarding the comp, I don't think they will comp you to CP, but they will likely start you at Gold, and they MIGHT give you some sort of challenge for CP. Once you get there, you'll be hooked.

The clubs in MCO and DCA are nice, and the staffs are very friendly and helpful.

Give US a try-- I am sure you will be happy. I did a couple of years ago, and I never looked back--year to date 0 MQM DL on 0 segments, US 118K miles and 117 segments!

Welcome!

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IT'S THE FARES, STUPID!!

Regards,

Art at ISP

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marq:
Beckles, thanks. But will it last? Didn't US try to make major changes in Dividend Miles last year? Were they as drastic as Delta's?

thanks for the input,
marc ).]</font>

They tried to make similar changes, and due to the outcry from the loyal customers, they rescinded them in about 10 days.

They listen!!


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IT'S THE FARES, STUPID!!

Regards,

Art at ISP

[This message has been edited by Art234 (edited 09-24-2003).]

Art, thanks. Main thing I will miss will be the CRC and their staff. Free membership, free booze, and tons of help during irregular ops. I will try out the clubs, probably as a trial membership to see the benefits.

Website finally recognized my email address. Now I have the most convoluted number I have ever seen. It may take me 10 years just to memorize my DM number!

I will contact service center when I get back from vacation (nice thing about DL was easy BE seats to europe). If I have to start as Gold, that is fine. Would prefer some form of quick challenge. If I fly 30 segments in a quarter, would that be fast enough to try to get CP prior to actually flying 100 segments?

thanks,
marc

20 segments or 20,000 miles in a quarter will do it. They give you 90 days.

14 segments or 10,000 miles to hit Gold in a challenge.

10 segments or 6,000 miles to hit Silver in a challenge.

I started as Silver through a challenge in March, then hit Gold in July through another challenge. And now I am well on my way to Chairman's through what should be my third and final challenge (all within 12 months).

Best customer service in the industry in my experience. The executives seem to be out to kill the company, but the employees are great.

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

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dsingerUNC
US Airways Gold Preferred

Marc

YGM

[This message has been edited by longing4piedmont (edited 09-24-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marq:
PS USAirways site won't let me enroll, keeps rejecting email address. Is this a sign of their technology?
</font>

Yes. Your experience sums it up nicely.

But even so US is a good place to be.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marq:
I'm finally looking at leaving DL...

I fly MCO-DCA around 36-40 times per year.
I am fine changing plances in CLT. Therefore, looking at non-stop up and one stop back for about 110 segments a year. I priced out an itin in January at $187 for a V fare. Looking at the website, that appears to be upgradeable. From my initial research, it seems that I can pay less than $200 a week, pick up enough segments to still qualify for CP, and get upgraded every week. This picture looks too good to be true. What am I missing?</font>

Everything is upgradeable. (BBB has that right!)

757s from CLT to MCO are being converted (some would say gutted...) to a "high density" configuration. The logic behind that continues to escape me. They currently have 24 F seats but starting any day now they'll be reconfigured to have 8. This will supposedly have no impact on your upgrade chances http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

The planes need attention. Especially the older Boeings. They're getting filthy and decrepit. That may be changing (lets hope so) as the paint lines have restarted and the 767s are being looked at for a cabin refresh.

Your upgrade chances depend a lot on when you travel. Peak times on busy routes are not the 98% that has been suggested. OTOH such misfortune is hopefully not in your plans.

Comps to CP are not unheard of. But they don't seem to be given out like candy either. I don't think that you'd be helping your case by announcing that you're going to buy V fares http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif A convincing case that you're planning to buy a years worth of Y fares (or at least B) would be another story entirely. But who would ever believe such an outlandish tale?

Thanks for all of the advice. Tom, you have a good point. I will just state my flying patterns and not how early I book.

thanks,
marc

The CRC is probably your only loss ... MCO was actually my second favorite CRC back when I flew DL because they had the best selection of beer (my favorite my home club in MSY, which had made-from-scratch margaritas ... mmmm).

Print out your DL activity online showing your status and your recent flights and fax it to the Dividend Miles service center at (336)661-8399 and ask them to comp you to Chairmans Preferred, including in the letter that you'll be moving your business to US from DL because of their ridiculous changes. Worst case, they'll give you Gold Preferred which should be fine for flying up and down the east coast until you earn CP (they'll probably offer you a challenge too as mentioned).

Also, you'll want to apply for the Bank of America US Airways Visa card ... over the past few years they've had frequent promotions for double miles for tickets purchased with the card, and if you get the Platinum version and spend over 25k per year you can get 10k status miles (just like the DL Platinum AX).

Beckles:

Since I will be qualifying on segments, status miles won't do a lot for me. Are those status miles also regular miles like with Delta?

As a gold, will I have a good success rate mon am thu pm on east coast runs? Or is it like DL where only PMs can upgrade out of dc on thursdays? At DCA, does US have special Preferred lines through security? For CP or all preferred?

I don't mind GP for 90 days until I can take challenge, if need be. I just don't want to have to stand in checkin lines and check my bag.

marc

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marq:
At DCA, does US have special Preferred lines through security? For CP or all preferred?

marc</font>

I could be wrong, but was there over the weekend and flew back Monday AM, and did not see any. And I was looking for them too!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TomBascom:
The planes need attention. Especially the older Boeings. They're getting filthy and decrepit. That may be changing (lets hope so) as the paint lines have restarted and the 767s are being looked at for a cabin refresh.

Your upgrade chances depend a lot on when you travel. Peak times on busy routes are not the 98% that has been suggested. OTOH such misfortune is hopefully not in your plans.

</font>

The dirty planes are the biggest negative IMHO. Some of them are in pretty bad shape. Plastic glasses don't bother me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I'm 97 out of 99 flights so far this year flying at peak times out of GSO. I've been told that GSO has the highest percentage of CP's per boarded pax of any station outside of Richmond of all places. And I was upgraded on the 98 flight after I had boarded the plane and it was too much trouble move my bags, so I stayed in the back with the riff raff.

Don't be so sure about not qualifying on miles. While I qualify for the acceleration offers on segments, between my 10K bonus tier miles from the VISA and various double preferred/tier mile offers throughout the year (this is THE BEST place to find them by the way), I will easily hit 100,000 tier miles without actually flying that much. Been on some kind of double mile promo the whole year pretty much, plus the VISA tier miles.

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dsingerUNC
US Airways Gold Preferred

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marq:
As a gold, will I have a good success rate mon am thu pm on east coast runs?</font>

I can't speak to DCA specifically but Monday morning and Thursday evening is pretty much the red zone for upgrade chances all over.

Spend some time watching G inventory on ITN or whatever for the flights you think you'll be taking. If there are G seats after the 3 day gold window then you're probably ok because that means that silvers are still getting upgrades. If there are only the usual couple of F seats being held "just in case" you still might make it but your chances are much reduced.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by longing4piedmont:
...I've been told that GSO has the highest percentage of CP's per...</font>

Sometimes it seems like every station has some sort of spin on what an amazing number of CPs they handle -- I get the idea that someone in CCY spends a lot of time cooking up that sort of statistic http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Marq, welcome to the light side! You mentioned irregulary ops in an earlier post. I wanted to mention that I have found that the CP desk is absolutely fantastic during irregular ops. The last time (last month) I was mixed up in one they not only sorted the ops out but sorted me out (I was pretty frazzled).

Check your routings to see if they use Boeings or 319/320.

If you have an aversion to grime and filth then you will become unhappy quite soon if they run Boeings. Some Airbuses are starting to get somewhat dirty too and the infamous penmarks are starting to appear.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by longing4piedmont:
I could be wrong, but was there over the weekend and flew back Monday AM, and did not see any. And I was looking for them too!</font>

There aren't any preferred security lines at DCA, but in my experience you won't need them. I haven't waiting in a line longer than, say, 7 minutes in about 18 months.

An additional question:

Flying to Europe; on DL I've had PMUs which allow me to upgrade M (middle expensive coach) to Business. Does US have similar benefit for pax and companion?

marc

Marq

US used to give CP's four system wide upgrades (SWU's) that could be used by you and a companion. I have received them every year. I say used to, because when I just looked on the website to give you the link, this information is not on the site that I can find.

I am now wondering if they have secretly done away with this benefit for 2004. Can anybody else find it on the web site?

Marc,

If you are flying DCA-MCO there is no need to connect in CLT--there are up to four DCA-MCO non-stops a day--but you probably know that by now.

On your international question, you will receive system two one way system-wide upgrade certificates for you and a companion. They can be used on every fare class except for the very lowest "V" class. Sounds like a trade-up from DL and the A330 rocks!


<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marq:
An additional question:

Flying to Europe; on DL I've had PMUs which allow me to upgrade M (middle expensive coach) to Business. Does US have similar benefit for pax and companion?

marc</font>



[This message has been edited by NeoOfTheCRS (edited 09-26-2003).]

Neo:

If I fly the nonstops, I will not earn enough miles or segments to keep qualifying for CP. Thus the conundrum. If I connect thru CLT, DL schedule (thru ATL) better for me just because of the number of flights and times. If I go non-stop, US had great flight times. Oh well, decisions to make...

marc

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by longing4piedmont:
US used to give CP's four system wide upgrades (SWU's) that could be used by you and a companion. I have received them every year. I say used to, because when I just looked on the website to give you the link, this information is not on the site that I can find.

I am now wondering if they have secretly done away with this benefit for 2004. Can anybody else find it on the web site?</font>

AFAIK, the benefit was never listed on the web site. I think they do that to be able to designate the transatlantic upgrades an unpublished benefit. Mark my words, their logic will be that since it was never even an official benefit of being a Preferred member, they can easily take it away.

US Airways is the ONLY major US airline that has this benefit for ALL Preferred levels.