From this mornings Philadelphia Inquirer,

"The US Airways leaders said they don't believe that the fees have prompted many customers to avoid the airline and instead fly on Southwest, which is running a marketing campaign centered on its no-fees policy.

What's more, Parker said, having fewer checked bags has cut down on lost luggage. And with only 25 percent of passengers now buying $2 soft drinks (compared with 95 percent who wanted one when they were free) flight attendants can get the beverage cart out of the aisle faster, giving them time to deal with passengers one-on-one if needed, he said."

Brilliant! And if fewer people flew on the planes there would be fewer passenger complaints as well.

..... if you ground half of the fleet, you save 50% of maintenance and fuel costs.

You have a great future in management.

Back from my cubicle days...

"Everyone is promoted to their own level of incompetence!"

I am sure Dougweiser is looking forward to how many pesky pilots he can eliminate under this plan also.

So for 2 bucks, do you at least get the whole can?

OK, so here are a few subjective observations from a current Airways customer. I use USAir exclusively now to DH to and from Purple assignments. I will say a couple of things, from the customer's perspective, about these changes.

Baggage fees. I pay them with the company card so there's no impact on my travelling USAir from that perspective, however I have noticed one important improvement. The time to get my bag at baggage claim has improved incredibly. PHL, CLT and PHX have all shown vast improvements in my experience and we all know how bad PHL and CLT were in the past.

Drink fees. Coffee is a buck with free refills (I don't like soda). The nicest part of this is that the FA's want to get rid of the leftovers, whether they dump it in the lav or pour refills. I have noticed that they are much more attentive and responsive to customer needs in the cabin.

Again, this has been my experience in the last month or so, but I have noticed a change from the customer's point of view.

Your mileage may vary, but I will continue to fly them for work purposes. I stopped using NW and others a year ago and haven't looked back. For leisure travel I'm still driving. Now if they could only work on their on-time/lateness we would really be in business. All-in-all the airline is providing an improved product from my perspective anyway.

The reason the checked bag situation has improved is because everyone is trying to carry their bags on now. Trying to fit 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag. It is resulting in ticked off pax, harried gate agents trying to get the overage gate checked, fierce competition among the pax and delays.

When the pax get fed up and flock to Southwest, think of all the fuel savings from lighter airplanes.

Hey, more room for non-revs. Yahooooooooo! (sarcasm)