According to an employee thread on US Aviation and a blog post by Arizona Republic reporter, Dawn Gilbertson, the non-alcoholic drink charges on US Airways will be dropped effective March 1, 2009. Ms. Gilbertson writes,
You heard it here first: US Airways plans to reverse its decision to charge for soft drinks, water and coffee.
The airline plans to tell employees tomorrow and announce it publicly Monday, I’m told. They will go back to being free on March 1.
The airline, the most aggressive on the fee front, has repeatedly said the charges for soft drinks haven’t been a big money raiser.
But, reportedly, they said have made the aisles less clogged and let flight attendants provide better service. Still, US Airways is the only major airline charging for non-alcoholic beverages and flight attendants were never thrilled with the idea.
According to a letter posted on FlyerTalk that seems to be from the US Airways CEO, “with US Airways being the only large network carrier to charge for drinks, we are at a disadvantage. More importantly, this difference in our service has become a focal point that detracts from all of the outstanding improvements in on-time performance and baggage handling that all of us have worked so hard to achieve over the past year.”
Last year, the Tempe airline reversed its controversial decision to eliminate bonus mileage for frequent fliers after no peers matched. Now with no other major airline charging $2 for a soda or water, US Airways is backing down.
Stay tuned for more info.
Although it will be very interesting how US Airways spins this recent reversal in policy, the fact is, the company made a mistake in thinking that enough customers would be willing to purchase such beverages to offset any rising costs and losses in revenue.
I applaud US Airways for this move, if it is indeed true, but for some customers, it may be a little too late.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent scoop Elizabeth.
US Airways officially announced this morning that they were restoring “complimentary beverages to the coach cabin on all US Airways and US Airways Express Flights beginning March 1st. Passengers will be offered free soda, juices, tea, water, and coffee in flight. Beer, wine, and cocktails will still be available for purchase for $7.”
I knew about it for a month — but was sworn to secrecy. A good move and the right thing to do. Now, all they have to do is give their pilots a raise and I’ll be really happy! LOL
Best,
Anita
Since this has been forthcoming for a month, it’s too bad they did not reverse this sooner!
I agree, one of the next steps for US Airways is to solve their labor issues with the pilots, flight attendants, and any other work groups they have that still have separate US Airways and America West contracts.
And while they are in the process of re-evaluating their policies, if US Airways continues to charge “legacy carrier” fares for some routes, their product should better “match” the price paid. I’m still not sure if they want to be a legacy or an LCC.
Anita: Just be happy that your husband has a job in this economy. I flew US Air, for the first time in 3 years and was very pleased with the service and on time arrivals. I will probably fly them again as they seem to have the lowest prices coming out of CLE then any other airline, even if it means me having to do a layover.
It is true that US Airways appears to be improving all around, which is a good thing for customers, because we need the airlines to survive this economy. I fly from an airport that only has Delta, Northwest, US Airways, and Allegiant, so less competition would be devastating to us.
Elizabeth Smith said:
And while they are in the process of re-evaluating their policies, if US Airways continues to charge “legacy carrier” fares for some routes, their product should better “match” the price paid. I’m still not sure if they want to be a legacy or an LCC.
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Simply put, if their fares do NOT cover their “costs”, they go out of business. This next year is do or die for them.
A 25,000+ per year flyer on USAir for 8 years, I’ve almost stopped flying with them in the past 6 months because NWA is 40% lower on most of the routes I fly.