Joanna2360

The new US Airways policy asks passengers who must fly a filthy, bumpy, no-frills Express Flight in and out of the hubs to do so without the small bonus of some extra preferred miles that used to make the flight seem almost tolerable.

In effect, US Airways is asking us to abandon the Express Flights and either drive to the hub or find another airline.

Has anyone in management ever taken a TA flight into PHL, waited for a late Express Flight at the far end of Terminal F, where there is no food, not able to go to the Club, because they tell you, no, you must wait by the gate, and then boarded the flight hungry and thirsty with no hope of getting even a glass of water on the flight, during your 18 hour trip, because "due to the shortness of this flight there will be no beverage service"--no service for the next hour--and even if there were beverage service the little plane is bouncing like a bronco, as it almost always does during the low-altitude flight to upstate New York.

Please. Take my miles. Take All Of Them.

Unimatrix One

Japanese airlines have this policy. It's kind of a bummer considering that most Japanese domestic flights are under 500 miles. The only saving grace is that they give double EQMs for domestic flights.

Quip

I fly two segment lengths: short & shorter. I haven't flown a segment longer than 500 miles in two years!

BostonMark

I've supported US on many things... but this is just stupid and bad business. People like me who go for elite status on US with miles now have no reason to pay a little extra on those short haul flights just for the mileage.

So next time I have to fly from BOS-LGA I won't care about the 500 miles and elite status - I'll fly the lowest price possible. Previously i would have spent 20 or 30 bucks more on a US ticket for the 500 miles, the bonus miles and a first class seat (and Biscoff cookies.) Some extra Biscoff (and Delta has them too) just don't matter...

US, this was a stupid decision that I suspect you'll regret. I think they're overestimating the value of segments to short-haul flyers vs. the need to give them miles too.

Incidentally, Air Canada's lowest fare category you get 25% of the mileage - that's it. You also have to pay $20 to book a seat in advance, $150 for same day airport changes, $25 to have your ticket serviced at the airport...
BUT they will take $3 off your ticket if you check no bags, $3 off your ticket if you don't take Aeroplan miles and $5 off your ticket if you promise not to change your ticket.

ClueByFour

nevermind. not worth it.

ClueByFour

AC's domestic competition is exclusively provided by LCCs. US has other legacy carriers to deal with. Apparently, their line in the sand is to stop trying.

I predict that DL's shuttles are going to be a lot busier.

sefrischling

I am still locked into US as they are the only carrier at HVN and they only fly PHL from HVN

Looks like I will be flying more and more from BDL/PVD and crediting more to BMI.

Anyone know if I'll get 500 miles for HVN-PHL on BMI or UA FF programs?

BoeingBoy

Expect something in the next day or so. In the meantime, here's some handy email addresses:

[email protected] - Phone number is 480-693-2341
[email protected] - Vice President, Reservations and Inventory Services
[email protected] - Vice President, Sales and Marketing
[email protected] - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
[email protected] - Senior Vice President, People, Communication and Culture
[email protected] - President
[email protected] - Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
[email protected] - Senior Vice President, Customer Service reported to be a bad address - Jim
[email protected] - Senior Vice President, Planning and Alliances
[email protected] - Senior Vice President, East Coast, International and Cargo Operations
[email protected] - Vice President, Philadelphia Operation also reported to be a bad email address - Jim
[email protected] - Vice President Customer Service Planning
[email protected] - Vice President, Revenue Management

Like others, this makes absolutely no sense to me for the following reasons:

- This will provide zero additional direct revenue - the miles are carried as a liability on the balance sheet until redeemed, when they show up in the P&L as an expense.

The number of "unflown" miles/segment is relatively small (from 1 to 410 using DOT mileage) - it would take a lot of short-haul segments to earn enough "unflown" miles for any type of award.

- This will affect the short-haul elite who is often providing a high yield already (as has been said) and also often on a RJ or turboprop without the "normal" perks of elite status - a few "free" miles is a small bone to throw them.

- At the end of the day, US controls the expense of miles redemption - award availability.

My hunch, and that's all it is, is that they're seeing a disturbing redemption trend - a higher percentage of miles being redeemed on *A/codeshare partners. I suspect that those redemptions are about the most expensive for US (other than possibly lost revenue from otherwise being able to sell an award seat on US). I'm guessing that they see this as an easy way to lower award redemptions going forward - short-haul is a smaller percentage of traditional HP flying than it is of the East operation plus most of the West short-haul is in competition to real lcc's and thus low yield. Just another example of their universe only existing west of the Mississippi.

Jim

DCAorBust

There's also the 1:1 transfer of points from Amtrak to CO after every 5th RT Acela...

mooper

Yes, and with fewer miles awarded, less expense = higher profit. (Not counting any effect of lost business otherwise - just looking at the static picture.)

If your point is that they won't be saving themselves many miles awarded, then the flip side is that the customers won't be losing many.

Being almost exclusively a US-longhualer, I'll be happy if redemptions competing with mine decrease. Not everyone loses here - like most things - it is a question of *who* loses and what the net effect will be. Probably a positive effect for them for my part.

BoeingBoy

First, the picture is never static (unless you're in charge of government revenue/cost projections). Second, as I said, there is no expense until the miles are redeemed. Only if these "bonus" miles make the difference between being able to get an award redemption or not, is there any expense. Then the expense varies depending on the redemption.

No, my point was that in the great scheme of things US we're talking about a relative few miles. For the individual short-haul customer, it can make a big difference - especially if that customer primarily flies Express without any of the "normal" perks of their elite status.

And therein lies the rub - a transcon passenger theoretically creates 6-20 times the mileage liability (and potential expense) of the short-haul passenger, yet often provides a fraction of the profit that the short-haul flier provides. It the bottom line is so important, which one would you screw? The low-yield or high yield passenger?

Jim

vysean

See my analysis below - there's no way this policy change will increase profit if even a few FFers walk out the door.

How about this example - PRC-PHX is 88 miles and let's say $200 r/t. Works out to $100 per segment.

If you're paying $1.14 or more per mile when US' CASM is around $0.10, is it really worth pissing you off by eliminating the $4.12 in bonus miles (@ $0.01 each) that you'd earn on that? After all, you're paying more than ten times the cost per mile to US, which increases to $0.11 if they factor in a very generous (to them) cost for miles. I can fly PHX-MUC in the off-season and pay $0.03 per mile - they're losing $0.07 per mile on me, but I'm "valuable" enough to get full mileage.

This new policy is a logical fallacy of the highest order, and I say that as someone who flew only 37 segments on US last year and made CP (read: transcon and TATL almost exclusively)

It's a positive until they go out of business because their high revenue, low cost, short segment flyers leave them.

Whether you fly US short or long-haul, this policy will affect you negatively.

GUWonder

Watch those who can ditch USAirways on the DCA, LGA, BOS Shuttle routes.

SPN Lifer

US is capable of sticking to a bad decision for a long time. Recall that US Airways Club life members must still pay extra annually for Red Carpet Club or Star Alliance club access. I agree, the latter is the big question. I doubt US would give 500 miles to UA flyers, or allow UA to do so, less US disincentivize travel on their short-hauls even more than this decision will do.

So I'm guessing that the answer is "no."

vysean

I could be wrong, but US doesn't have anything to do with UA's determination of who gets miles for what. It's up to each individual airline.

US may give only actual miles, but UA is free to give whatever they want for a US flight credited to them.

LH is a good example. LH gives their members 50% credit for an S-class fare. US only gives 50% credit. UA gives 100%. I have no idea how it works within the alliance - if you fly LH but credit to UA, does LH "pay" UA for the miles? Or do they figure it nets even over the course of a year?

Regardless, different carriers can have different policies.

Interestingly enough, US got their *A mileage accrual chart updated right away - in small bold print at the bottom it mentions the change to actual miles flown is effective May 1, 2008.

http://www.usairways.com/common/reso...crualchart.pdf