US Airways will no longer give the 500 nm minimum (on flights of less then 500 nm) for frequent fliers.
azcentral.com/arizonarepubli … 15-ON.html
You got to think that either all the legacies will respond or US will drop this stunt.
I don’t see others matching this. To airlines like DL, AA, and NW their customers in smaller communities are some of their most valuable customers and they view retention of them to be key to success.
Hence nwa’s qualifying segment program. If you flew from Fargo to MSP 3 times a week, it would take forever to build up to 20k. However, you get the same rewards in terms of elite status as someone that flies MSP to Boston with the exact same frequency.
On flyertalk their is now posts on how much longer will US stay in Star Alliance. I hope they never do cus then Lufthansa more then likely would leave Clt 
Where would they go though? Skyteam?
They will also be eliminating glassware in first class. Some of these things they are doing are not very smart if they want to keep some of the heavy amount of business travel on the east coast.
they only had glassware on west flights anyways.
Just one more way USAir is taking themselves out of the game. they already have on of the worst “customer service” policies of any airline.
I’m a corporate pilot based in Philly. I find myself more and more trying to get on Southwest flights because I can simply jump on another airplane if I miss my flight, or in the rare case I’m early, I can jump on the earlier one. FOR FREE!!
There has been many times I have gotten to get home early from PBI because of timing, where on USAir I would feel bad about spending $100 to get on a flight a couple of hours earlier.
I also know that on SW I am getting on a 737, on USAir, I might be getting on an RJ.
Back on topic, I have ten of thousands of mile on USAir, and have never even been acknowledged as a “Valued” customer. In contrast I have several free round trip tickets on SW which I am able to sell to my company at 100% fare. In this business a couple of hundred bucks counts for us.
I’m not looking for a pat on the back, just maybe an upgrade for spending
~$10,000 per year on your airline.
I do think AW got screwed in the deal, a good airline took the lead from a flopping failure of an airline.
My 2 cents.
Not to emulate other users too much, but there were some factual errors in that last post. I fly US Airways quite frequently (I have little choice, really), so I know most of their cutomer policies pretty well.
The cost of reserving a seat on an earlier same-day flight on US Airways is $25. If you just fly standby for a full flight, it doesn’t cost anything.
To fly on an earlier same-day flight on Southwest, you have to pay any applicable fare difference, which may or may not exist.
This Sunday I was surprised to discover that US Airways had rerouted my flight to IND through a different airport because I wouldn’t have been able to make the connection on the flights I reserved before I was aware of that fact myself. Plus, they left a human voice message on my voice mail, which explained the rather surprising experience I had when checking in. The seats I had were awful, but at least I didn’t have to actually do anything to get on the alternate flights. This was the first time something like this had happened, plus it’s probably because I have flown enough to be a “Valued” customer, but I was still pleasantly surprised.
That being said, the ending of the 500 mile minimum doesn’t make me too happy.
A lot of customers are used to paying $200+ rt for a seat on a ~100-200 mile flight on other competing regional airlines. A lot of these are very profitable routes which break even after a couple of seats.
These folks probably “pay more” qualifying for MVP/accumulating miles than someone who took a couple cheap mid hauls that year.
I’d highly doubt any regional carrier would punish their frequent customers by removing the 500 mile round up. Its not like it costs much.
Yeah but there are not a whole lot of people that redeem on the regionals. I mean, how many people who live in Lehigh Valley Intl (KABE) will redeem miles to make a much anticipated trip to Philadelphia. Most will redeem on routes farther away, to get the most for their buck. Plus, the residents of Lehigh Valley will most likely drive to Philly. Just had to find 1 example of many.
But maybe this is okay. A lot of large airlines have small counterpart regional operators. If i paid top dollar on profitable regional flights and even if i used those miles for use on a longer, more competitive round trip (probably at the same price), there wouldnt be much of a difference.
I live in Scranton (KAVP) and frequently I fly AVP-PHL on US (119 miles). My only other US choice is to CLT. If I can’t pick up the 500 going through PHL I won’t do it anymore. It’s a pain anyway i.e. two legs cross country and the first is 20 minutes with the second 3.5 hours.
I agree. I know a lot of people that only fly the short flights to hubs to get the mileage. US may see their smaller regionals lose traffic, as travelers save money and drive. I know for sure that the US shuttle will lost a lot of traffic from this incompetent decision. Plus there is always the issue of missing connections which is less painful if you drive to the hub.
The only problem with your statement is that AW’s management took over the airline. They are now based in Tempe, AZ.
Ever go to americawest.com to book a flight? When’s the last time you got on an airplane with AmericaWest painted on the side? Tempe and Phoenix are worlds away from eachother, but I believe usually the buyer keeps the headquarters. Boeing is headquartered in Chicago, but last time I was in Seattle, they sure had some big airplanes coming out of that place.
Tempe is a suburb of Phoenix.
Here’s what I said about the America West/US Airways merger in another posting:
It was America West who purchased US Airways, not the other way around.
America West Holdings Corporation (owners of America West) announced in April 2005 that it was talking with US Airways Group (owners of US Airways) about the former purchasing the latter. In May 2005, a merger announcement was made. America West’s shareholders approved the merger in September 2005. In the same month, the US Bankruptcy court (US Airways was in bankruptcy at the time) approved a Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization that cleared the way for the merger.
On September 16, 2005, the US Bankruptcy Court approved USAirways Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization, clearing the way for the merger to be closed as soon as September 27, 2005. For the merger approval announcement see Plan of Reorganization Approval
The Wall Street Journal said about the merger: “[It offered] a huge break to US Airways and potentially [carried] big risks for America West…” (America West was in better financial shape).
Although the new airline would take the US Airways name, management would still be in the hands of America West managers and the headquarters would be in America West’s Tempe (Arizona) headquarters.
The merger required America West Holdings to be merged into Barbell Acquisition Corporation (a subsidiary of US Airways Group Inc.) with America West Holdings being the surviving company. This was done in September, 2007, the same month that the two airlines operating certificates were combined.
The full discussion can be found here.
oh. snap.
Well here’s my deal with this whole US/HP thing…
While the New USAir paint is much nicer that the old Stealth black, come on …They have Murdered the TEAL AND FRIGGIN ORANGE!!! FIRST AA TAKES THEIR GENERIC BLUE WHITE AND READ AND TAGS EVERY BEAUTIFUL NEW PAINT TWA BIRD OUT THERE, NOW THEY TAKE AWAY THE TEAL AND FRIGGIN ORANGE!!! IF I WAS IN CHARGE AT ONE OF THESE AIRLINES…AND WHAT ABOUT THE CRJ’S WITH THE TEAL WINGS AND STABILATORS!!! NO MORE,THESE MARKETING DEPARTMENTS!!! ARGH
Stop whining about what has already happened.
I am pretty sure the paint scheme has nothing to do with marketing…Although some schemes are more pleasing then others, a paint scheme really doesn’t matter in a merger. US Air had a bigger more known name then America West; they get to keep the name. America West got to keep the idiots from Tempe around.