US Airways Retreats On Ticket Policies, UAL Details Changes

Sticking to its original decision to further restrict reuse of nonrefundable tickets, US Airways today backed off accompanying policies that had drawn sharp criticism from many throughout the industry. Rather than completely disallowing passengers on nonrefundable tickets from flying standby on the same day of departure, US Airways, as of Jan. 1, 2003, instead will charge $100 for that flexibility. American, Continental, Delta and United airlines had adopted similar measures, though some reportedly will waive the $100 charge in certain circumstances. Northwest Airlines, though matching the others on the general nonrefundable policy, will not impose the $100 standby fee.

US Airways also said frequent flyer mileage earned on nonrefundable fares will continue to count toward Dividend Miles tier status credit, a reversal of an earlier decision. "We heard from many customers about our changes, and we are responding in a way that should please most of them," said B. Ben Baldanza, US Airways senior vice president of marketing and planning. "Reinstating tier status credit on low-fare tickets is something very important to many customers, and people are open to paying a small premium for the ability to stand by for other flights when using a nonrefundable ticket."

Meanwhile, United today detailed its new ticket policy changes. Like the other Big Six carriers, it will disallow changes to nonrefundable tickets after the originally scheduled departure date, effective Oct. 1. Confirmed changes can be made prior to departure for a $100 change fee, otherwise the ticket will lose its full value. United also will charge passengers holding nonrefundable tickets $100 to stand by for alternate flights on the ticketed date of travel.

However, United followed Northwest in excluding higher priced nonrefundable fares from the new policies. They include ME101N and ME141N coded fares. Northwest excludes its BizFlex fares from the restrictions.