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CAR TO AIRPORT
If you don't want to slum around in a taxi, the hotel uses ExecuCar (Tel: 602-232-4600) car service, which costs $20 more than a taxi.

US AIRWAYS MEDIA DAY
No matter how you feel about US Airways, you have to give them a lot of credit for opening their doors and allowing a bunch of travel journalists to peek into their daily lives. They've been hosting Media Day for six or seven years now and to my knowledge, they're the only airline man enough (or smart enough!) to do so. They let us know what their plans are for the coming year and why they did certain things in 2008. When I attended for the first time last year, I gained so much respect for them and the industry after learning their rationale. This year was even more newsworthy because of flight 1549, "The Miracle on The Hudson", which we heard some inside stories about.



US AIRWAYS' HEADQUARTERS
Walking into US Airways' headquarters in Tempe, about a 10 to 15 minute ride from the Phoenix airport terminals, the first thing I noticed was that there were no pilots striking like they were last year. One journalist quipped, "I guess they feel lucky to have a job," and I think they might have been right. The main building has a line of model airplanes the size of motor scooters, each painted with the airline's previous designs and/or company logos they have acquired along the way (Alleghany, America West, Piedmont, PSA). In the building next door is US Airways' only ticket office left standing and a gift shop, both open to the public.

BACK TO SCHOOL
In their main conference room, they had eight to 10 round tables set up for six to eight journalists and/or staff members. Each year they do a different theme and this year the theme was Back to School, so they handed out notebooks, pencils, scantrons and hall passes. I was seated at the "Shop table" next to Lisa Davis and my next closest friend was frequent flier Randy Petersen (Webflyer.com). The US Airways executives are young, most in their early 40s and they have a good time poking fun at each other. Every time one of them went up to speak, they put a fake high school year book picture and bio on the three overhead screens after playing a clip from a popular movie depicting their personality: Legally Blonde, Animal House, Karate Kid, Old School.

CEO DOUG PARKER
The seven top US Airways executives were in the house, including Chief Executive Doug Parker who spoke for about 30 minutes on the airline and the industry. Each one had a PowerPoint presentation and we saw a total of 109 slides. Surprisingly, Doug said the industry is in a very good position because of the 2008 oil crisis (prices went from $147 to $38 a barrel). Since crude oil prices were so high, it forced all the airlines to make aggressive changes (capacity cuts, layoffs and ancillary revenues ...) before the real economic crisis hit. Because of this the airlines may be profitable as an industry in 2009 even if passenger revenue should fall 15 percent. He also added that the airline industry must convert the airline business into a real business. A key factor is consolidation. He said it is very hard to generate returns since there is not one single airline with more than 25% of market share. He suggests the industry revise its business model and that U.S. airlines also work together. Another key factor involved is improving labor relations, which he says is the management's responsibility.

SCOTT KIRBY
President Scott Kirby said ancillary revenues brought in $165 million last year ($116.5 million coming from the first bag fee, $37.6 million from the second bag fee, $5.3 million from the Choice Seats program and $5.7 million from increased beverage fees). This year, they're predicting it could bring in as much as $500 million and there has been very little consumer pushback to the fees. The only one was the beverage fee, which no other airline matched so it forced US Airways to scrap it in fear of a negative image. They were very disappointed since they think it's the way to go.

DID YOU KNOW?
With each $1 raise/drop per barrel of oil, it will cost/save the airline $33 million dollars annually. The current 2009 forecast is $2 billion dollars lower than 2008.

NEXT GEN
The baggage fees not only brought in more money but it made US Airways a better airline because there were 20% fewer bags checked, which helped with loading and on-time departures. In fact, US Airways went from the worst on-time arrivals in 2007 to the best in 2008. Part of that was offering $50 bonuses to each employee if they made their monthly goal (to be in the top three of the 10 competitive carriers) for on-time departures/arrivals. They paid out over $18 million ($500 to each employee) over the course of the year. They said the weather will prevent them or any airline from ever being on-time 100% (which is why Hawaiian airlines usually have the best overall record). They said the new Next Generation Air Transportation System would make a huge difference in terms of on-time and safety and the media needs to start putting pressure on Washington. They also need to get Washington to start treating airlines like regular companies and not tax them like they do vices such as tobacco and liquor.

LUNCH BREAK
We took a lunch break and the fairly tasty BBQ was catered by Cooperstown. I later learned it's owned by legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper, which explains why the servers had Kiss-like make-up on, which I thought were freaky facial tattoos.

FLIGHT 1549
None of us who watched the "Miracle on the Hudson" unfold will probably ever forget where we were when it took place. I was in Florida at my sister's house -- I think (just kidding). I couldn't believe my eyes or hold in my tears of joy, when I learned that everyone had survived. It had such a huge impact on US Airways that they dedicated the whole afternoon to talking about flight 1549. They started out by showing an emotional video, which left pretty much everyone inside with tears in their eyes. One flight attendant even left the room.

LEARNING ABOUT THE FLIGHT
One of the most interesting things to come out was that CEO Doug Parker learned about it like most of us – from CNN. He was in a meeting with financial people when one of the other execs whispered in his ear. Like me, he had no idea at first if there were survivors because by the time we both turned the television on, all the passengers had been evacuated. Hero Captain Chesley Sullenberger ("Sully") called the operations center to verify that all 155 people aboard had gotten off safely as he was trained to do. The airline practices these drills so everyone knows how to act and what to do when these sorts of disasters take place. When Sully called the operations center, the manager answered the phone and said, "I'm sorry captain, I can't talk to you right now. We're real busy. We have an airplane down." Sully said, "I know. I was the captain" and he didn't get hung up on.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
US Airways is introducing five new flights this year: Charlotte to Paris on April 21 (seasonal daily service on a 767); Philadelphia to Birmingham on May 12 (seasonal daily service on a 757); Philadelphia to Oslo on May 21 (seasonal daily service on a 757); Philadelphia to Tel Aviv on July 2 (year round daily service on a A330-200); Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro (set tentative for fall 2009). One way they would like to improve customer service, says COO Robert Isom, is to alert people of delays and teach them that because there is clear weather in the place they are and where they are going still could mean a weather delay because the plane is coming from a hub that has bad weather. Does this make sense? It did when I heard it live.

NEXT WEEK
A visit to our nation's capital and the story behind Obama.

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Note: This trip was sponsored in part by US Airways and Montelucia Resort & Spa.





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