Drink up that can of coffee, water, or ginger ale, and leave your money tucked away, champ!

US Airways has figured out that the bad press it received for being the only major U.S. airline to charge for soft drinks wasn’t worth the revenue it collected for coffee, water, and soda. So it’s no longer charging the soft drink fee, effective Saturday.

Not to mention the fact that clever passengers were getting around the fee by paying with $20 bills…

No wonder US Airways flight attendants released this statement:

“Flight attendants are safety professionals first and foremost,” [Mike Flores, president of the US Airways' unit of the Association of Flight Attendants] said. “This decision by the company will help return us to that status rather than being salespeople in the aisle of the airplane.”

This gives Southwest one less piece of ammunition with which to relentlessly mock the competition.

It’s a small gesture, and a minor but nonetheless appreciated act of restoring dignity to air travel. So thanks for bringing it back, US Airways.

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(via Reddit; thanks rcjordan!)

Downgraded: The fates of whistleblowers who look out for passenger safety
A cold day in Calgary, and three US Airways flight attendants notice ice building up on the wings. After much wrangling, they convince their flight crew to de-ice an aircraft. After landing safely, they report the incident to the FAA. Then the fun begins.

After the trio reported the incident to the Federal Aviation Administration, one of the flight’s pilots fired back at them, hard. He sued all three flight attendants for defamation, demanding $2 million.
[...]
But what makes it even worse is that the cost of a trial, much less any jury verdict, would come out of their pockets. At this point, their airline has decreed that they’re on their own.

According to their union contract, US Airways is supposed to foot the legal bill for any flight attendant sued for something she did as part of her official duties. The only caveat? If the flight attendant has shown “willful misconduct,” the airline is off the hook.

And effectively accusing the flight attendants of misconduct, the airline isn’t paying one cent in their defense. Read the whole story. And if you want to help them out, they’ve started a fundraising drive.

Upgraded: Spirit Airlines flight attendant uniform hijinx
Also Upgraded: The ethical sanctity of your tray table advertisement
Spirit Airlines flight attendants are objecting to wearing an advertisement for Bud Light on their uniforms. (Ads for bloggers not quite in the works yet.)

Meanwhile, Spirit has decided that some advertisers are off limits: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “Spirit has rebuffed PETA’s attempts to place the ad, which features fluffy yellow chicks and urges passengers to ‘let birds keep their wings’ by adopting a vegetarian diet.”

Upgraded: Safety of your hotel points, for now
Your hotel points are safe, they say. Adam Kirby at the trade journal Hotels followed up on my speculation (or “paranoia”) that recent hotel bonus promotions were the sign of devaluations to come. Both Hilton and Marriott assured Adam that no such devaluations were afoot. Good, but that’s really easy for Marriott to say: They devalued their points just two weeks ago! (Thanks, Adam!)

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Reader Mark, who just flew US Airways and experienced firsthand how a small bottle of water now costs $2, reports that passengers are none too happy about having to pay for soft drinks. He sends in this anecdote:

I sat next to an off duty flight attendant and she told me people are rebelling by only paying with $20′s. Since they have no change, the flight attendants end up comping the drinks. Unique, at least…

Ouch. Exact change is even more appreciated now, I bet.

I feel bad for the flight attendants who have to enact the policy and deal with surly (or wise-ass) passengers. And having to explain to management why the till is empty has to be no fun, either, just another layer of hassle for the already beaten-up and subsequently disaffected inflight staff.

But I admire the passengers’ spunk!

(And yes, I’m sure the airlines that haven’t yet rolled out card-swipe machines for buy-on-board will unveil them soon enough, so work the system while you can.)

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Dutifully playing follow-the-leader, and jumping into the proverbial meat-grinder, airlines are competing to make a bad scene worse. They’re piling on: adding fees, reducing benefits, and devaluing frequent flyer miles even more. And that’s just today. Yeah, it was a bad day.

Round one: Luggage fees
Barely wasting any time after American Airlines imposed a $15 fee for the first checked bag, United has followed suit. The new fee goes into effect “if you are traveling on or after August 18, 2008 on an Economy ticket or Economy award ticket purchased on or after June 13, 2008.” Yes, there are exceptions for elite frequent flyers (notably for all Star Alliance elites, and not just United elites) and premium-cabin passengers. Full details here.

Oh, and US Airways matched the $15 fee today, too. Who’s next?

Round two: Free stuff isn’t free anymore fee
American introduced a $5 fee for booking a free ticket online. Purely spiteful, as Gary Leff argued when this first arose. Online distribution was intended to lower costs, but now it’s just a profit center.

But American’s $5 fee seems downright generous compared to US Airways’ announcement today. There’s a double-whammy of “award ticketing fees” and “award processing fees.” The ticketing fees consist of $30 surcharge for U.S/Canada tickets, and $40 for international itineraries. But then there’s the “processing fee”: $25 continental U.S./Alaska/Canada, $35 Latin America/Caribbean, $50 Hawaii/international.

Extortionary.

Round three: Free trips will cost more miles
American jacked up the number of miles necessary for many free tickets and upgrades, thereby making it harder to reach your award goals. No surprise, alas, given the oversupply of miles chasing a shortage of flights in an age of increasing airfares. But still annoying.

So far, no other followers… yet. Give it a day or two, and it won’t be a surprise if others devalue your miles the same way.

Round four: We will kick elites like dogs, and you’ll like it
US Airways will piss off thousands of its elite frequent flyers with its new “enhancement” to the Dividend Miles program: “US Airways is also eliminating its bonus miles program for Preferred status Dividend Miles members. Preferred members currently receive mileage bonuses based on their status level. The Preferred bonus program will be discontinued for tickets purchased on/after Aug. 6, 2008.” Ouch. So, elites who previously accumulated miles more quickly can now kiss that benefit goodbye. How many elites will be kissing US Airways goodbye? (Hat tip to Benet Wilson for pointing this nugget out to me first!)

Rounds five through infinity: Everything else.
Beyond that, the fees just keep on coming. US Airways is adding fees for all soft drinks, including water. Excuse me, that’s “a new in-flight beverage purchase program.” Ooh, a program! Groan. They’re raising the price of booze, too, to a whopping $7. United is increasing various ticketing fees, across the board, too many to name. And US Airways is shutting clubs and arrival lounges. Satire just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Is there a silver lining in here anywhere? I can’t seem to find it.

Related:
- Copycat: US Airways mimics United, starts charging for second checked bag
- Death by a thousand cuts: US Airways edition

Thanks for your patience while the missus and I took some time off. Like Richard Nixon in 1968, I’m tanned, rested, and ready, as promised. Some observations on the trip itself — which was to the Turks and Caicos, incidentally — later. I don’t normally give trip reports, per se, but this one will deserve some special comment.

While in the T&C, I was blissfully disconnected. No laptop, no e-mail, and only one unfortunate check of the cellphone’s voice mail. The occasional TV showing CNN was too much information.

But even in this low-information environment, I learned about American Airlines’ imposition of a $15 fee for the first piece of checked luggage, effective June 15, 2008. In the a-la-carte travel environment we’re increasingly living in, this is no surprise, alas.

But it’s still stupid, especially doing it piecemeal, with a new fee every month. It’s bad PR, it cheapens the AA brand (making them seem even more like the much maligned Spirit Airlines, which has been charging for all luggage domestically for a while now), and it has negative ramifications for anyone getting on an American Airlines plane.

Anyone? “But hold on, I never check luggage! This won’t affect me!” you exclaim. So you would think. But you’re wrong: Now EVERYONE will be trying to squeeze their junk into their carry-ons to avoid the fee. The one-carry-on business traveler is now competing with the fee-avoiding vacationer. The battle for the bins is about to get much, much worse.

(FYI: While Alaska and Delta have said they don’t plan to follow suit, we’ll see how long that promise lasts. Read Chris Elliott’s post to see why others — such as Continental and United, who are considering it — are likely to add the fee soon.)

But wait, there’s more devaluation of the travel experience! It’s minor, but perhaps a suitable coda to our vacation, which had us flying on US Airways, not the aforementioned American. US Airways, never content to be left out of a story of PR or declining customer service, has eliminated the free 12-gram packages of pretzels from its domestic flights, effective June 1.

Isn’t air travel glamorous?

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…And a housekeeping note:
It turns out I wasn’t the only one to take a vacation, recently. My e-mail inbox took a vacation without letting me know it, and also came back from holiday this weekend. That is to say that my “unread” folder has ballooned to several thousand messages, with some messages going back several weeks. Not sure why they weren’t delivered until now, but I’ll be slogging through in coming days. I was wondering why there weren’t any outraged messages re: the luggage fees when I checked mail on Saturday, but now I know. (The messages are all there now.) If you were expecting a reply to something and didn’t get one, this may be why.