USAirways Sale to Santo Domingo

rbazan

New member
Apr 5, 2002
27
0
0
US Airways is pleased to announce a special E-Savers offer to Santo Domingo.

You may depart on Sundays to Wednesdays, between May 12 and May 29, 2002. Return travel is Tuesdays to Fridays, between May 21 and June 7, 2002. Travel is not permitted to Santo Domingo on May 20, and travel is not permitted from Santo Domingo on May 28. Saturday night stay is required. Tickets must be purchased by May 15, 2002.

For travel, make your reservations online at http://www.usairways.com/promotions/esavers/offer_sdq.htm These special fares can also be purchased for an additional $20 per ticket at 1-888-359-3728.

Tickets must be purchased at the time of reservation. For more information on Santo Domingo, please visit http://www.usairways.com/travel/destinations/caribbean/sdq.htm

ROUNDTRIP
FROM: TO: ONLINE FARE:
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Albany, NY Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $245

Baltimore, MD Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $235

Boston, MA Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $235

Buffalo, NY Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $245

Burlington, VT Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $245

Hartford, CT Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $245

Manchester, NH Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $245

New York LaGuardia, NY Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $235

Philadelphia, PA Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $225

Pittsburgh, PA Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $235

Portland, ME Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $245

Providence, RI Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $245

Rochester, NY Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $245

Washington Dulles, DC Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. $235


Fares shown are based on roundtrip Coach travel on US Airways/US Airways Express, during the period specified above. Depending upon your travel needs, alternative routings may be available at the same fares, with part of the service on regional aircraft operated by US Airways Express carriers Allegheny, Air Midwest, CCAIR, Chautauqua, Colgan, Mesa, Piedmont, PSA, Shuttle America or Trans States.

For travel, make your reservations online at http://www.usairways.com/promotions/esavers/offer_sdq.htm These special fares can also be purchased for an additional $20 per ticket at 1-888-359-3728.

Reminder: Make sure your Dividend Miles account number is in your E-Savers reservation, so you can earn miles for worldwide award travel on US Airways and our partners. To enroll in Dividend Miles, go to http://www.usairways.com/dividendmiles/index.htm
To earn even more miles, book E-Savers using your US Airways Dividend Miles Visa card. To apply for the Dividend Miles Visa card issued by Bank of America, please visit us at http://www.usairways.com/dmcreditcards

Please note: Online booking mileage bonus does not apply to E-Savers.
 

rbazan

New member
Apr 5, 2002
27
0
0
I just came back from SDQ and used my dividend miles. I still have about 40,000.00 to use. What will happen to my miles if they go bankrupt? The service was good and hope they can still be in business.
 

Janice

New member
Jan 12, 2002
299
0
0
Rbazan

If US Air goes Belly up and no one buys them out (highly unlikely) your dividend miles become worthless :-(

Janice
 

Latino2002

Bronze
Jan 1, 2002
974
2
0
US AIR

US Airways' Bankruptcy Filing Would Hurt Many, But Not Travelers
Source: St. Petersburg Times
Publication date: 2002-05-15


May 15--US Airways' frequent fliers and ticket holders probably won't get stung if the airline lands in bankruptcy court, aviation experts say. Employees, creditors and shareholders won't be so lucky.
Weighed down by high costs and huge losses, US Airways said last week it might be forced to file for bankruptcy court protection to reorganize its finances.

The airline, which has a major presence in Florida and the Tampa Bay area, hopes to avoid a bankruptcy filing by winning concessions from employees and creditors to lower its costs and by persuading the federal government to guarantee loans that would finance a recovery plan. Deadline for loan guarantee applications is June 28.

US Airways is expected to disclose its restructuring plan this week. But the mere mention of a possible bankruptcy has caused investors to dump shares and made customers jittery about their frequent-flier miles and future travel plans.

Consumers, creditors and employees all get burned when airlines shut down. But in a reorganization under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy law, US Airways would keep flying while a judge oversees efforts to get the company into the black.

Carriers trying to stay aloft traditionally honor miles their frequent fliers earned and keep awarding more, said Randy Petersen, editor of InsideFlyer magazine.

The reason is simple: The last people a struggling airline can afford to alienate are its most regular, highest-paying customers. Frequent fliers risk losing their miles only if the reorganization turns sour and becomes a liquidation of the company, Petersen said.

"There's no danger to frequent fliers in the next six months," he said. "All airlines in Chapter 11 have continued to honor miles awarded and continued to award additional miles."

Airlines in Chapter 11 honor tickets already sold, both to keep cash coming in and to reassure customers operations are running as usual.

But the bankruptcy filing provides leverage over creditors and employees. The company identifies contracts it wants to keep and the ones it wants to break.

Airlines hold onto contracts needed to keep operations going, such as agreements for fuel and airport gates and ticket counters. But they likely need to pay cash on delivery, said Michael Levine, a Harvard University law professor and former airline executive.

Bankruptcy law lets companies that lease or finance aircraft take back their planes if the airline doesn't pay. But few want to get stuck with planes that aren't producing income, Levine said, so most renegotiate deals at more favorable terms to the airline.

The US Airways fleet is either leased or committed as collateral. "If you have a lot of planes and the market's weak like it is now, it gives you some negotiating power."

The airline's union work force also is feeling pressure. Congress made it tougher for judges to throw out labor contracts after Frank Lorenzo took financially stable Continental Airlines into Chapter 11 in the early 1980s.

But with the highest costs in the industry, Levine said, US Airways would have little trouble convincing a judge that its recovery hinges on lowering labor expenses.

Shareholders usually get burned when the value of the shares plummet. And under bankruptcy law, they are last in line to get compensated in a liquidation.

"In a liquidation, shareholders get obliterated," said Paul Stephen Dempsey, a University of Denver law professor and author of books on transportation policy.

Frequent fliers would get off easily by comparison. But that doesn't mean they won't be inconvenienced.

Just the hint of bankruptcy sends frequent fliers scrambling to use up their miles, said Sheila Kittle, vice president of corporate travel for Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg.

"Everybody's rushing to cash in," said Kittle, who spent much of Monday answering questions from employees with US Airways Dividend Miles accounts. "You're not going to get your preferred destination or (travel) date. Everybody's in a panic."

-----

To see more of the St. Petersburg Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sptimes.com

(c) 2002, St. Petersburg Times, Fla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. U,


Publication date: 2002-05-15


? 2002, YellowBrix, Inc.
 

Latino2002

Bronze
Jan 1, 2002
974
2
0
US AIR

Business: Unions skeptical about US Airways' restructuring plan By MATTHEW BARAKAT, AP Business Writer


WASHINGTON (May 15, 2002 3:54 p.m. EDT) - US Airways' unions warned management Wednesday that they will cast a skeptical eye on the airline's pending restructuring plan, which is expected to seek significant pay concessions from employees.

Airline executives offered only the broadest outline of their restructuring plan at Wednesday's annual shareholders' meeting: creating partnerships with other domestic and international carriers, seeking concessions from labor unions and lenders, and securing a federally backed loan to stave off bankruptcy.

Details of the plan are expected Thursday. But union leaders who spoke at Wednesday's meeting said they want to see hard evidence of the plan's viability before granting any concessions.

"It just seems like it's not a long-range plan," said Karen Lascoli, chairman of the Association of Flight Attendants' US Airways unit. "It's a quick fix and then we're back to where we started."

Chris Beebe, who represents US Airways' pilots, said that "our pilots do not doubt that a guaranteed loan is needed, nor do we doubt that the company's financial situation requires immediate attention. However, if we are asked to invest in a plan that shapes our future we must believe in it. We must know that it will be viable and faithfully executed."

The airline industry suffered badly in 2001, especially US Airways. It entered the year with an offer from United Airlines to buy the company at $60 a share. Shares were up 9 cents at $2.94 a share in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The company lost $2.1 billion, a whopping $31.48 per share.

The Arlington, Va.-based airline reduced capacity by 23 percent and laid off 11,000 of its 46,000 employees after Sept. 11. US Airways suffered disproportionately following the Sept. 11 attacks - Reagan National Airport in metropolitan Washington, where it is the largest carrier, remained closed for several weeks. Also, because the company's core strength is short routes along the East Coast, many customers had the option to travel by car or train.

On top of that, the airline has the industry's highest labor costs. Most unions have contracts that guarantee parity with the nation's four largest airlines, plus 1 percent. The company has said it cannot sustain such high rates, especially now that US Airways has dropped from the sixth- to seventh-largest domestic airline.

Last week, the company warned that it might have to file for bankruptcy if it cannot obtain federally backed loans that were a part of last year's congressional bailout of the industry.

At Wednesday's meeting, the company's new president, David Siegel, said that seeking concessions from employees, lenders and others is "a painful process, nothing I like asking for. It's a necessity to ensure our survival long term."

Siegel received a vote of confidence at the meeting from the man who runs the company that now ranks as US Airways' largest shareholder. Jonathan Ornstein, CEO at Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, said he worked with Siegel at Continental Airlines in the mid 1990s, and that Siegel played a major part in reviving that airline.

Ornstein, whose airline operates under the US Airways Express banner, said his company has continued to buy stock even as the price has plummeted.

"I don't think there will be a bankruptcy filing," Ornstein said. "The airline industry has a very sophisticated group of lenders. They realize it's much better to do something outside of bankruptcy."
 

Latino2002

Bronze
Jan 1, 2002
974
2
0
US AIR

[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 5/23/02 ]

US Airways seeking loan guarantees
US Airways, trying to avoid having to file for bankruptcy protection, is seeking a way out of its financial predicament with federal loan guarantees, pay cuts and perhaps even layoffs.

"We're not making promises that there won't be any layoffs," US Airways Chief Executive Officer David Siegel said Wednesday in Charlotte. "We can't. . . . The objective is to save the maximum number of jobs, pay our employees as much as we can and still have a viable business plan."

Charlotte was Siegel's first stop on a "road show" in which he hopes to convince US Airways' 34,000 workers to agree to restructuring.

He was to meet with Washington, D.C.-area US Airways employees today. Other meetings include Philadelphia (Wednesday), Pittsburgh (May 29), New York-LaGuardia (May 30), Winston-Salem, where US Airways has a number of phone and other service centers (May 31), Boston (June 4) and Tampa/Orlando (June 5).

He said the nation's seventh-largest carrier needs to cut $1.3 billion in annual costs to qualify for federal loan guarantees offered as assistance following the sharp downturn in air travel following Sept. 11. He said $950 million of that needs to come out of labor costs.

The government has set a June 28 deadline for airlines to apply for the loan guarantees. US Airways says it needs $1 billion in guarantees to raise new capital.

On top of reduced labor costs, Siegel said the airline hopes to save $350 million annually by cutting management costs and seeking concessions from suppliers and others.

As head of the airline, he promised to take the greatest proportional pay cut, though he declined to specify what that might equal. Siegel's annual salary has been reported to be a minimum of $750,000.

Siegel said management will enter discussions with each of the airline's unions. John Carr, vice president of the International Association of Machinists Local 1725 said his union expects to meet with management Friday in Washington.

Carr said Siegel's speech to workers Wednesday in Charlotte was hauntingly familiar to US Airways veterans.

"Once again, we have this guy up there saying, 'This is a team effort, we're in this together, let's change our culture.' These are terms we've heard before," he said.

"Certainly there's some fear out there [among workers], but we certainly don't want them to prey on our fear."

Roy Freundlich, spokesman for the US Airways chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said his union was in preliminary discussions with a US Airways management team.

"The association is taking a position that it wants to work effectively with management and the airline and secure an effective recovery program that works for the airline and the pilots," he said. "We haven't passed any judgment on how they are planning to distribute the cost cuts."

Siegel said he expects US Airways to remain a strong presence at Charlotte-Douglas. The carrier operates almost 500 daily departures to 107 nonstop destinations out of its biggest hub.