USAirways has jumped the shark

[spitfire1500]

Do you get free drinks at McDs when you order a bigmac? What kind of freebies do you get at the hotels? Do they give you the bottled water($4), free food(way overpriced), cocktails($5-7 beers), local phone calls(.75) 800#s(same) internet($9.95+). You get my drift? Look the airlines are finally doing what every other industry has been doing for years. Nickel and diming your ass Get used to it. You are buying transportation nothing else. If you don't like the cost of the coke, buy one in the terminal.

Or just choose not to fly like the public will start doing. When I'm flying on an airline it isn't McD's and almost every hotel I stay at has free breakfast and free dinner time orderves along with free drinks (including beer and wine). "If I don't like the cost of the coke" .....I'll ride another airline....the funny part they will be cheaper and give me the coke. I started flying JBlue from CLT to NY switching from LCC same exact price and I can watch SAT TV and they offer multiple snacks and drinks they even encourage me to take more than one....Whats next having to pay to wipe your arse...$1.00 to get the door open to the john and buy a pack of toilet paper for $1.00...I think I know where the inflight magazine will end up!

 

[Cobra17]

Why not just increase fares by $2. Then everybody pays whether they order a soda pop or not?

 

[CA1900]

I can think of one passenger airline that is doing quite well and doesn't nickel and dime people to death.

That would be the one that doesn't show up on the travel sites, and thus doesn't get pushed down the list when the customer does a "sort by price" and realizes they're not the cheapest!

That's not a coincidence... to have the reputation of being the cheapest fare, without actually being the cheapest, is a good reputation to have.

 

[PCL_128]

Why not just increase fares by $2. Then everybody pays whether they order a soda pop or not?

Because the other airlines won't match the fare increase, and then you lose your customers. All it takes is $1 to be pushed to the bottom of the list on Orbitz, and then you get no customers. The pax are a bunch of cheap bastards.

 

[Ocity]

Because the other airlines won't match the fare increase, and then you lose your customers. All it takes is $1 to be pushed to the bottom of the list on Orbitz, and then you get no customers. The pax are a bunch of cheap bastards.

A Seat to Chicago is a Seat to Chicago. Travel has become a commodity no different that a bushel of corn.

Why would you pay one extra dollar for a bushel of corn?

Frequent flier programs end up being useful for only a handful of pax. People go for the lowest price because, just like pork bellys, there is no difference between two different coach seats to Chicago.

 

[Hamburger]

Why not just increase fares by $2. Then everybody pays whether they order a soda pop or not?

The best part is, if you have a direct flight and the $2 cheaper flight has two connections and takes 11 hours to cross nine states, they still go for the $2. Business models are driven by the stupidity of customers.


A seat to Chicago is not a seat to Chicago when you have to stop in Kansas City and Las Vegas on the way.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Why not just increase fares by $2. Then everybody pays whether they order a soda pop or not?

Because the average pax is dumber than dirt! Yous gettem into the plane, lock them down, and steal their lunch money. They(pax) should consider themselves lucky to not have received a blue swirly). Thats the price they pay for expedia.com and "lowest" price.
Fukkem, I say charge them for bags of "purified"air, they are just dumb enough to fall for it.(I would fart in the bags for free!)
PBR

 

[Rizzo]

Well, it's not free, but included in the price (this is why the nice hotels have "free" breakfasts but cost more)

LOL....nice hotels give nothing away for free. It's the Days Inns of the world that offer free breakfast and free internet. At the Hiltons/Sheraton/Marriotts, you have to pay for internet, $7 for a bagel, and $4 for a bottle of water.

 

[BoilerUP]

LOL....nice hotels give nothing away for free. It's the Days Inns of the world that offer free breakfast and free internet. At the Hiltons/Sheraton/Marriotts, you have to pay for internet, $7 for a bagel, and $4 for a bottle of water.

Unless you count the Hampton Inn which is free internet and breakfast, or the free internet provided at Courtyards or HGIs, or the free breakfast at a Springhill or Embassy Suites.

 

[gutshotdraw]

Back to the thread starter: I'll let you know after tomorrow if USAirways has totally jumped the shark. I'm stuck on them (as a paying customer) for a one-stop, 7 flight hour itinerary to an undisclosed location. I think it will be a West crew for both legs so it might turn out okay...:bomb:

 

[CopilotDoug]

Charging a crewmember for a jumpseat and charging a passenger for a beverage aren't the same thing. Hell, I'd expect most captains to waive the beverage fee for a jumpseating pilot, just as many with a business or first-class cabin seat jumpseaters there if a seat is available.

The original thread starter sucked...

Boiler, I didn't mean the jumpseating crew members. I'm talking about the "free" ride the Captain and FO get. My point is, you can't compare the employees to the pax in this scenario.

The educated passengers aren't complaining about the $2 per coke.

It's the morons who write editorials to Newspapers b!tching about why a Pilot can make $150,000/yr to be little more than a bus driver. These are the idiots pissing and moaning about $2 for a coke...all while searching for the cheapest airfare.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Maybe someone should hire you into management since you seem to have it all figured out...

You ought to see these idiots bitch and moan with the US East Flight Attendants over at USAviation.com. Pretty pathetic bunch.

PHXFLYR

 

[OPECJet]

That's not an average fare. You've provided a red herring for an example. If most tickets were $800, then we wouldn't be having this conversation, because the airlines would be profitable. USAir can't serve the two coach passengers who paid a reasonable fare a free Coke while making everyone else pay. Want a free drink? Upgrade to first class.

Your logic is flawed. Most of the time when I'm riding in the back of an airplane, my company has paid more for the ticket than most of the folks in first. From what I'm seeing at the gate waiting to get on the airplane, a large number of first class pax are upgraded FF members. So what you're telling me is that my $800 full fare ticket isn't worth a non-$2 Coke while the guy who is sitting in FC for half of what was paid for me to be in coach gets free whatever he wants?

What needs to happen is the airline needs to charge what it costs to deliver the product.

 

[PCL_128]

Your logic is flawed. Most of the time when I'm riding in the back of an airplane, my company has paid more for the ticket than most of the folks in first. From what I'm seeing at the gate waiting to get on the airplane, a large number of first class pax are upgraded FF members. So what you're telling me is that my $800 full fare ticket isn't worth a non-$2 Coke while the guy who is sitting in FC for half of what was paid for me to be in coach gets free whatever he wants?

Yes, and they got that upgrade after spending many thousands of dollars on tickets to accumulate FF miles, just like you can. They've gotten their first class seat for being loyal to the airline.

What needs to happen is the airline needs to charge what it costs to deliver the product.

Can't happen in this deregulated market.

 

[CopilotDoug]

What needs to happen is the airline needs to charge what it costs to deliver the product.

I agree...but it cannot be so. The costs are high because Aviation in General is so heavily regulated (in large part due to safety)

 

[UALjan15]

What needs to happen is the airline needs to charge what it costs to deliver the product.

What do you do when you sold a bunch of tickets for this summer many months ago when there was no reasonable expectation for $135/bbl crude? It's not like you can ring those people up and raise their fares. They've got fully booked flights that will lose money as soon as they push back from the gate, so scrapping up some extra $$$ for luggage, food, drinks, etc. is the only hand they can play right now. Fares can be raised that will change next fall's revenue, but that doesn't help much for this summer, when most of the seats are already sold.

 

[get2flyin]

You ought to see these idiots bitch and moan with the US East Flight Attendants over at USAviation.com. Pretty pathetic bunch.

PHXFLYR

I quit visiting USAviation because that site is plagued with Frequent Fliers wanting to off duty crew members to tell them how wonderful they are and the worst cross section of our flight attendants and pilots. Regardless of what side you're on, there is no intellegent insight what so ever. It's just dreadful.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Well ,there's one thing we can agree on !!


:beer:

PHXFLYR