America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - "Our airline doesn't offer First Class"...?

While my wife was waiting at SLC in the clearly marked First Class Check in line, standing on a big mat that said "First Class", and flying on a First Class ticket, she noticed that the agents seemed not to notice her and were calling up people from the standard line. She simply asked an employee assisting nearby if she was in the correct line for FC passengers.
He answered that that "America West doesn't offer first class, it's more like a premium ticket". ? Anyway, she convinced him to let her go to the next available window. I'm just wondering if anyone else has heard comments like this. I know that HP First class is nothing to get excited about, but they DO offer it, along with the normal FC/elite airport perks, right?

ROFLMAO. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif I haven't flown HP in a while (they only have seasonal service to AK) but last time I heard, they offered First Class.

They call it First Class.

that deserves a call to HP!

I've heard things like that over the years out of small airports served by props or RJs, where they say we offer "one-class" of service. But, then again, they never had a FC line either http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I agree with the previous poster. Your wife should call HP and report the incident. Given that those flying in FC either pay full fare or are frequent HP flyers, they should not be treated that way. It sure sounds like an isolated incident, but I think the agent could use a reminder that potentially high-yield pax should not be ignored.

Just to clarify: The guy was not rude or anything like that and he was an older gentleman (if that really matters). He may have simply misunderstood or was misinformed. I'm more upset at the agents working the counter for ingnoring the people in the FC line.

Does America West operate its own ticket counter/gates in SLC or are those operations contracted to another airline/services company?

It was a small counter, wedged in with the other small carriers in terminal one, but it had all the HP signs and markings along with uniformed HP employees.

I would agree with that statement. All America West offers is two different seat sizes.

I agree, but it's all I got. All of my business travel is exclusively PHX - SLC and my company of course tries to save as much $ as possible when it comes to buying tickets. So I've got Southwest, America West, and sometimes Delta which now flies almost all RJs on this route.

I was a CO Gold Elite and was at a CO counter in TPA getting ready to take an HP flight. I got an upgrade no problem and asked for one for my wife who was traveling with me. The agent responded, "Sure, why not, their FC is like coach on any other airline anyway..."

Ouch.

But you can get int'l FC through their partners a lot easier than on CO or its partners!

enough with bashing hp. i am a regular ua flyer and agree hp has service problems.

BUT when in a pinch, hp offers some of the least expensive airfares of any US airline including southwest.

so, when i need them, they can be there, wider seats and all

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