The Spin

It is probably safe to assume that at some point over the past few months an executive at all these legacy carriers raised his or her hand and said something along the lines of, “I understand we are hemorrhaging money. But, if we start charging for everything, then what does our brand stand for? What is our product?” At that point in the meeting, everyone turned back to the slide showing fuel costs as a percentage of average fare. But, since my hypothetical straw man asked the question, it is interesting to look at US Airway’s wrapping around its changes.

The link on the website reads, “Changing how we are doing business…” and if you click on it you learn that US Airways is:

...transforming [its] business by initiating a 'pay-for-what-you-use' model
for items like baggage and beverages. Combined with new Dividend Miles policies,
a headcount reduction and a reduction of flights, we expect these changes to
help us return to sustained profitability.

The formal press release is a bit more blunt noting, "US Airways accelerates business model transformation."

Kudos to US Airways for admitting it is now, overnight, a different beast. With old American West leadership at the helm I bet this is a bit easier to swallow. In fact, its probably what they wanted all along. They now have the numbers to force it down everyone's throat.

As for our more proud legacy friends, United and American are acting a bit more discrete about the complete overhaul. United for instance notes it is "tailoring our products and services around what our customers value most and are willing to pay for." It is clear that these Giants have fallen and it will be a while before they find themselves. As the service continues to decline (I'm not sure what else could be taken away), the pressure from LCCs with better on-board products and, frankly, better attitudes will continue to rise. As Southwest puts it, "LUV is freedom from fees."