In a daring move, US Airways has raised — or perhaps lowered — the bar for other domestic air carriers by implementing what it calls a business transformation plan to offset rising fuel prices.
How will this controversial plan transform your next flight? In addition to a $15 fee for the first checked bag effective for flights booked on or after July 9, here is the list of other notable fees and changes. Most are effective on or after August 6:
1. “Free” award tickets will no longer be free. A $25, $35, or $50 processing fee will be charged for award tickets. I assume this is in addition to the mandatory September 11 Security Fee.
2. It will be even more difficult to earn the miles needed for an award ticket, as Preferred bonus miles will be discontinued.
3. US Airways will discontinue operating European arrival lounges in Munich, Rome and Zurich.
4. US Airways Clubs at Baltimore (BWI) and Raleigh-Durham (RDU) airports will close.
5. Fees for telephone and airport ticketing will be $25 for domestic tickets and $35 for international tickets. If you must book an award ticket by telephone, this means that your ticket fees will be upward of $50.
6. Drinks in coach will be $2 for non-alcoholic beverages (including water, coffee, sodas, and juices) and $7 for alcoholic beverages. Here’s how it could affect passengers.
While reading about the new beverage charges, I just had to wonder if I would be charged for water if I am stuck on the tarmac for hours. Would this not violate their policy of providing basic customer needs during a long wait on an aircraft? But I digress.
In addition, in the award travel section of the Web site, there are some other goodies tucked away. Award travel reissues and redeposit fees will increase from $100 to $150 for transatlantic tickets and $250 for transpacific tickets.
And these changes are on top of an 8 percent reduction in capacity, returning and/or reducing the number of aircraft in its fleet, increasing the fee for employee/family travel passes, and releasing 1700 employees.
Up until this announcement, other airlines have taken baby steps with their fees and policy changes, walking a fine line between increasing the bottom line and maintaining their customer base.
With US Airways’ new pay-for-what-you-use business model, the carrier has hit all sectors of their business at once, as the changes affect leisure travelers, frequent travelers, and employees.
Just who is the target market for US Airways?
Is US Airways still a low cost, full-service airline? Apparently not. Let’s just hope that the other airlines do not follow suit.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
US Airways lost this Gold Preferred member a month ago because of an impossiblely chaotic check-in experience in Boston.
Why US Airways thinks they can afford to antagonize their best passengers is because they operate mostly non-competitive routes. I am sure they are going to sink soon, so we are using up all our saved miles.
I feel your pain, Douglas. I am a longtime US AIrways frequent flyer myself. This time they have alienated their frequent and leisure customers, as well has lowered the morale of the front line employees. I can just imagine the chaos at check-in come August 6! I am afraid, too, that this ship may sink. Thanks for your comments!
I can’t agree more. As a long time USAir silver/ gold member (depending on the travel year), I’ve stuck with USAIR much longer than I should have. I fell into the preferred customer trap, enjoying what I once perceived as perks for my loyalty. Air miles are now almost worthless, travel fees hidden everywhere, upgrades are few and far between and rude airline staff is common. I’m almost afraid to use the restroom in the event I see a charge on my card.
I did read some interesting comments concerning these new fees: If my bag is lost, is the bag fee returned? If I had two bags and one was lost, which fee is returned? Is this added on top of the lost baggage reimbursement they currently are required to provide?
If on business travel, can I get a receipt for my water purchase? If they sell me a beverage on the ground, is it subject to state taxes and will it be reflected on my receipt? If USAIR is going to nickel and dime its customer base, we might as well ask every trivial question we can think of.
If a bag that one has paid to check is lost or delayed, the carrier would be in violation of their merchant agreement with the credit card company for not providing the service which was paid for. You would be well within your rights then to dispute the charge with the card issuer and send it back as a declined charge to the carrier. Thus, ONLY pay for checked baggage with a credit card…and let that be their incentive to make sure that it gets there…otherwise, not only do they incur the cost of carriage, they also have to sift through the accounting paperwork thereafter. Remember the immortal words of Calyon Securities’ Ray Neidl: “Airlines are run by buffoons who couldn’t make a profit operating a brothel outside of an army base.”
Great suggestion, Stephen! I agree that all services requiring additional fees, especially those involving checked bags, be paid for by credit card to assure the consumer gets what he or she paid for! If I must pay for my bag to be transported by the airline, it better arrive with me!
If other airlines don’t follow suit, I’ll be surprised.
Some of the majors have already followed suit with the additional or increased fees, the most recent being NWA today. However, none of them have started charging for non-alcoholic drinks (even water) or taken away Preferred or Elite bonus miles, and only two airlines so far have taken away the 500-mile minimum.