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So what happened?
US Airways declared bankruptcy. In an effort to reduce costs and return to profitability, they enacted a massive change in ticketing policy.
US Airways decided to rid itself of policies that served as an advantage over low-cost carriers. It decided to make less expensive tickets the least attractive by removing the ability to hold onto a non-refundable ticket and use it as a credit for future travel. Passengers must change tickets in advance if they are not using the original dates and times booked for or lose the entire value of the ticket. And passengers now pay to standby for a different flight on the day that they are booked to travel on.
One supposes that the rationale behind the policy changes was to encourage passengers to purchase more expensive tickets and to keep passengers from making changes to less expensive tickets. However, with new restrictions, the question seems to be why would passengers choose US Airways over a low-cost or charter airline when they have removed some of the benefits of traveling on them - namely, being able to use an unused ticket as a credit towards unspecified future travel and being able to standby for other flights on the day that a passenger is booked to travel. US Airways' reversal of policy could result in more business for low-cost carriers as the advantages of purchasing tickets for travel with US Airways are reduced.
And now it appears that American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines have decided to adopt US Airways' new policies as well for passengers traveling from October 1st, 2002 and onwards.
Next page > The changes in brief > Pages 1, 3
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