I hadn't seen this before. Terrible. The RDU club is a welcome refuge in that airport and the staff there is terrific.

"-- First-Checked-Bag Fee: The airline announced plans to implement a
first-checked-bag service fee of $15. The new fee goes into effect
for tickets booked on or after July 9, 2008, and will apply to all
flights within the U.S., to/from Canada, Latin America, and the
Caribbean. The airline will waive the fee for its most frequent
customers including: all Dividend Miles Preferred members (Silver,
Gold, Platinum and Chairman's Preferred), confirmed First Class
and Envoy passengers at time of check in, and Star Alliance Silver
and Gold status members. The following customers will also be
exempt from paying the fee: military personnel on active duty,
unaccompanied minors and passengers checking assistive devices."

Tickets bookd on or after July 9. Does that mean travel July 9 or make the reservation July 9?

So if I make a reservation today for travel on August 1, do I pay the baggage fee?

No, you would not pay the fee as I read it. But keep a copy of your reservation/date and credit card posting date!

"The airline's frequent flyer program continues to be one of the best programs in the industry and presents the most generous upgrade opportunities". Oof.

Are they out of their minds?! Just how does it continue to be one of the best? I know it's Friday the 13th, but is this April fools too?

How generous can the upgrades possibly be when, for example, I don't think I was upgraded even 50% of the time when I was a Chairman? Oh but since the upgrades are generous, maybe the first class capacity is increasing. Ah, I crack me up.

And no more bonus miles? o.k., I guess elites should simply be happy they get to board first (now increasingly more important since people will engage in carry-on more often in lieu of the 1st checked bag fee) -- or has that been eliminated as well?

Sheesh...

Alienating the only group of people with less elasticity in their travel plans is stupid when fares are,as you point out, going to have to go up (and thus drive out the people with elasticity in their travel plans).

There is zero compelling reason (absent residence in PHX or CLT) for loyalty to US. None. Everyone else offers a better product, more perks, or less nickel and dime crap.

The key to all of this, as has been mentioned for years, is fares that are reasonable (and yes, that in adjusted for the cost of fuel). HP apparently did this right before the merger, and lost their mind thereafter.

Couldn't agree more. The problem is trying to figure out, who, if anyone, will follow next. I would be inclined to switch to UA but I'm not convinced that they won't do the same thing just like the 500 mile minimum. As has been previously mentioned I'm ok with the fee for the 1st checked bag it's everything else (especially the bonus mile elimination) that really bothers me. I guess I'll have to wait and see who follows and switch at the end of the year.

I couldn't be more disappointed since I'm someone, like BostonMark, who has been somewhat of a defender of US.

While Chapter 7 may be the best move to allow US to survive, wouldn't Chapter 7 wipe out all shareholder value? Or does it depend on the structuring?

Equity (shareholder value) is wiped out in Chapter 7 unless the sale of the assets is sufficient to pay the creditors. The order is: secured creditors, unsecured creditors, equity holders/shareholders. Fees to counsel and consultants are approved by the court and come off the top.

Given the assets here and the weakness of the industry, I can't see the assets having enough value to pay all the creditors....

I mostly agree with this - fares should move in lockstep with fuel costs. Fuel costs are now about $300 per person per flight, so US would need to raise fares much more from current levels to cover this. I believe that the ala carte pricing is an attempt to avoid jacking up fares a couple hundred bucks for everyone and instead tryiing to allocate charges where the are incurred (things that are heavier, like bags, drinks, etc.) The fees arent with fuel in mind, and albeit painful, are maybe being seen as less painful than huge fare hikes.

www.ffocus.org

Chapter 7 is liquidation - game over, gone, goodbye. Think Pan Am, Eastern, etc.

Chapter 11 is re-organization. Chapter 7 definitely wipes out shareholder value, while Chapter 11 could, depending on the restructuring format vis a vis the issuance of new stock.

So, I was about to compose that email to coair.com to "status-beg", but then I thought: what really prevents all others from matching it?

There was a HUGE outcry when AA started "first bag for $15" policy and many predicted that nobody sane will match it - and now everybody is.

So, again, why will others NOT match the "bonus mileage
kill" that USAir did?

I am a Chairman-level on US and I get upgraded pretty much every time, US miles are also easier to redeem than CO miles. Status-begging is fine, but if this is the new standard, then why bother?

In fact, USAir might not die as a result, but survive due to thinking about it first.... sad thought indeed.

Race to the bottom takes a whole new meaning. I click over to the USAirways forum periodically since they still have a big influence on Pittsburgh and I'm burning through my last set of miles. I will have about 20k left in one account. Now I really don't know if its worth trying to top off since I'll have to pay to use it even if there's availability.

I can somewhat understand all the changes except removing the preferred bonus. USAirways can print their own money (miles) and just keep devaluing the program while still giving 'elites' a bone with extra miles. Instead, they slap them across the face?

I just hope that last one doesn't spread like a virus to other airlines.

Welcome to FT! While you're correct that the second- and first-bag fee policies have been more widely adopted, the elimination of the 500-mi minimum is one thing that has not been (at least yet).

I suspect that a few other airlines may follow suit - those in the most trouble and whose business models do not focus on retaining high-revenue elite frequent flyers. For reasons I stated in another thread, the baggage fees actually provide an opportunity for increased elite retention, since elites are exempt. Cuts that affect elites and only elites, such as the elimination of bonus RDM, decrease elite retention. Apparently, a spreadsheet somewhere indicates that this will be a net positive for US profitability. We'll see...from the sidelines in my case.

You know the really weird part about this, from a 'burgh perspective? We Pittsburghers would all be stuck putting up with USAir if they'd stayed loyal to our hub setup. Now I'm feeling sort of thankful that they ditched us and let all the other airlines into our market!