US Airways to charge for pillow, blanket from 16, February, 2009
Buy the Power Nap Sack for $ 7 if you need a blanket or pillow on US Airways!
US Airways: Now pay for your blanket too!
For US Airways passengers, there are no more free free pillows. The low-cost airline headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, will start charging passengers for pillows and blankets from February 16, 2009.
US Airways, like most airlines, has been hit hard by the economic slowdown – and this is its latest move to raise revenue by charging for things which were provided free of charge earlier.
However, first-class passengers and business-class passengers on US Airways will continue to get in-flight pillows and blankets free of charge.
The pillow-and-blanket kit – called Power Nap Sack – includes a fleece blanket that measures 34 inches by 60 inches, an inflatable neck pillow, eye shades, and foam earplugs. All these objects would have a dark-blue drawstring bag with a US Airways logo on them, the airline said in a press release.
The kit will be sold online and on board aircraft for $7.
US Airways – which operates services to North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Europe – had, in 2008, started charging for checked bags, soft drinks, bottled water and select coach seats. These charges, US Airways said in the pres release, had earned the airline revenue to the tune of $100 million in the last three months of 2008. The total revenue expected on this account for the whole of 2009 is $400 million to $500 million.
So far, JetBlue Airways, the low-cost carrier headquartered in the New York City borough of Queens, was the only other major United States-based airline to sell a pillow-and-blanket kit. JetBlue Airways too charges $7 a kit.
Among smaller carriers, Allegiant, a budget airline based in Enterprise, Nevada, the United States, sells an inflatable travel pillow. Air Canada, Canada’s flag carrier and the country’s largest airline, sells a kit.
The website seattletimes.nwsource.com said a poll conducted by online travel agency Lessno in 2008, after JetBlue Airways started selling the pillow-and-blanket kit, had indicated that travellers disliked most the fees for pillow and blanket. The No. 2 in the passengers’ hate-list was charging for non-alcoholic beverages.
Meanwhile, US Airways has reported that its January 2009 traffic passenger traffic on non-commuter flights dropped by 6.2%. However, the 6.9% fall in seat capacity gave the airline a small increase in occupancy.
US Airways said that its load factor, or percentage of seats filled with paying passengers, rose slightly, by 0.6 of a percentage point, to 75.8.
Revenue per available seat-mile went down too, which the airline blamed on weak economy.
- US Airways to resume serving non-alcoholic drinks free of charge on board from March 1, 2009US Airways, the low-cost airline based in Tempe, Arizona, the United States, will resume serving non-alcoholic drinks such as sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water to economy-class passengers free of charge from March 1, 2009. However, the carrier will continue to charge fees for some other items, including in-flight blankets and pillows. Also, US Airways will continue to charge alcoholic drinks at $7 each. US Airways was the only major domestic airline based in the United States that started charging for non-alcoholic drinks, from August 1, 2008 – at the rate of $2 for sodas and juices and $1 for coffee. The carrier had also jacked up prices of beer, wine and cocktails from $5 to $7 from the same date. It may be noted that flight attendants at US Airways had opposed charging passengers for non-alcoholic beverages on the ground that the responsibility for selling them in-flight and dealing with “unhappy passengers” hindered their ability to ensure safety in the cabin. Doug Parker, chief executive officer of US Airways, said in a statement that making passengers pay for sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water had become “a competitive disadvantage” for the airline. US Airways, Parker explained, was compelled to add the fees in August 2008 after the price of aviation turbine fuel skyrocketed to a record $4.36 a gallon in July 2008. The cost of fuel has since dropped by as much as 70%. The statement said US Airways was “committed to its a la carte service style” where passengers pay more to check bags into the hold or for the use of a blanket and pillow. US Airways had earlier said that it expected to earn $400 million to $500 million in 2009 from fees charged on any services beyond the basic fare, including additional costs for select seats and also the plan to sell pillows and blankets in-flight. The fees for non-alcoholic beverage, Doug Parker said in the statement, had become “a focal point that detracts from improved on-time performance and baggage-handling.” Meanwhile, the United States Transportation Department said in a press release that US Airways recorded the best on-time performance in 2008 among the six large US-based airlines that use hub airports as a part of their networks. Earlier, US Airways had ranked either last or near-last in terms of on-time performance.
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Traveler said on Thursday, February 5, 2009, 21:31
Traveler,
After reading this article I would never consider flying them again, in the same fashion that only fly on American’s code share partners aircrafts. It is ridiculous to have to sit on an airplane for say 18 hours from new york to tokyo and then another 7 to singapore and have to pay $5 for a beer on top of the $1500 you paid for the ticket. The American carriers seem to forget this is a service industry and people dont mind paying for service, but this is outrageous. Now rather than $7 for a blanket they now get nothing including the price of a ticket.