Sen. Casey Bashes U.S. Airways

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57334204/airline-hikes-fare-600-draws-senators-ire/?tag=stack

 

USAir is pretty ballsy in their public statements and actions. Might be a bit smoother to gradually raise the fair and say that the cheaper seats are sold out.

 

I wonder what would have happened if US had pulled out of the market instead of WN. Would they have raised the fares? To a similar level as US now?

 

Maybe Sen. Casey needs to talk to John Mica????

 

Yes. While they maintain an image of always low fares, and their full fares are often capped at more reasonable levels than many legacies, they really aren't usually any cheaper and they have plenty of $399 one-way fares.

No, they would have raised them less.

 

But would they have done that because they would have expected overall higher revenue/profitability at somewhat lower fares because they would sell more tickets or because they feel a moral responsibility or because they'd want to avoid damage to their carefully crafted image of a low fare airline?

 

I think it's (c) avoid damage to their carefully crafted image of a low fare airline
I think they'd generally follow their normal model of good fares in advance, not as low as previously, and high fares for last minute or full flights or changes, but not outrageously high which USAir is willing to do shamelessly and always has been (Delta also, and probably CO, and now UA too). WN is willing to sell all the seats at $299 or $399, and not try to sell a few for $1000

 

seems like a very fair statement by US Air. US Air should be able to charge whatever fare they feel like, does Casey expect US Air to subsidize a route?? Oh yeah, he's in government, of course he does.

 

Absolutely. If they can't fill the planes at that price, US Air will lower prices until they fill the flights. It's always surprising how many people champion for capitalism and then complain when people are following basic economics.

 

I've never understood why anyone begrudges an airline the opportunity to make a profit, given that it happens so rarely. Like it or not, airlines aren't public transportation. Does it make for bad press when an airline raises the fare this much? Probably. Do they have the right to do so? Of course they do.

There are several alternatives here:

1) US Airways can't find enough passengers to pay the higher fare and lowers it.

2) US Airways can find enough passengers to pay the higher fare and raises it to what the market will bear.

3) US Airways charges the higher fare and a competitor swoops in to pick off low-hanging fruit.

Like it or not, as passengers, we are a hell of a lot better off now than when the airlines were regulated.

And so are politicians. B*tching about airlines is a great way to earn votes.

Mike

 

Here's a 4th alternative: US Airways can't find enough passengers to pay the higher fare, so the route turns into an employee shuttle.

 

I hope they don't jack the PVD - PHL route too high once WN pulls out.

 

The most likely alternative is that US maintains the new BloFares and lowers capacity because O&D traffic cratered. That's what they did with PHL-BOS in the days between FL's departure from that route and WN's arrival (A319s were replaced with E190s while non-refundable fares for mid-week returns remained over $1100). I expect PHL-PIT will see a lot of E170s and E175s.

The only possible competitors that might seize the "low-hanging fruit," as you put it, are VX and B6, neither of which currently have any flights at PHL.

 

Too bad that there isn't more Amtrak service to make that an option

 

Yes. Until things settle down, US won't know how much to charge. For all it knows, there could be demand at $2k.

 

I'm pretty sure that Amtrak uses tracks that are owned by freight railroads between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Published times are absurd (driving is much quicker). Service from Philly to Harrisburg has improved dramatically in the last couple of years since the tracks were electrified and speeds improved.

This route is a perfect example of one that would benefit from high speed rail. Instead, one can enjoy the PA Turnpike or pay BloFares to US.

("BloFares" is in my iPad's spellchecker. Awesome.)

 

Posted already in here: http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/airline-hikes-fare-600-draws-senators-ire.23244/#post-957663

but this thread is getting the attention, so I'll quote myself. The short version is that the article linked is a shortened summary or another article, that for the most part misses the truth. Unless you're doing a same-day turn, the fare hike is much more moderate.

 

Truthfully, it may not hit PHL-PIT type levels, but it's going up big.

Mike

 

This reminds me of when JetBlue started flying BOS-PIT and fares dropped by hundreds of dollars. US matches and gave double EQMs, so everyone flew US Air to get the miles and status. B6 had a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce in Pittsburgh and basically said that the fares are only this low because we're here. If people don't fly us, we're leaving. And it worked, people switched up between the carriers and B6 stayed.

Considering what US did to PIT, their loyalty verges on Stockholm Syndrome.