New dividends at US Airways

05-28-2006

 

US Airways has unveiled new looks for its Web site and Dividend Miles program, both of which reflect the influence of its merger with America West, even though both carriers will continue to function independently until next year.

A quick scan of the redesigned site, www.usairways.com, shows many improvements. Graphics are simpler, and the layout of information options is easier to navigate. The keys for check-in, flight status and trip files are more prominently placed and intuitive to use.

Searching for low fares has also become less complicated. In place of the old, often frustrating menus of fare prices and calendar options, users can make a departure/return date selection and get a helpful graph of price options for a given date, as well as one day earlier and later. Select a given fare combination and you're presented with a comprehensive list of flight options for a chosen date, with departure times and seat availability clearly designated.

A selection of advance purchase fares do seem to be lower-priced, and the difference in the range of cost between advance purchase and last-minute fares seems smaller.

In another interesting change, special fares for travelers 65 and older have been revived. For example, a search for a round trip to Phoenix in July produced fares of $420 for regular adult fares and $278 for seniors.

On the other hand, there's no mention of the popular eSaver weekend special fares, which have been eliminated from the US Airways lexicon.

But the Web site does have some glitches.

Individual pages seem slower to load and expire quickly once you've moved on, making it difficult to back track to recheck information or make changes to your request. Other features don't seem to work quite right. The reservation booking form had trouble recognizing destinations when I quickly typed them in, and the airport finder function wasn't working.

Also prominently displayed is announcement of the New Dividend Miles Program. Members must re-register the first time they log in to the site, but those who belong to both US Airways Dividend Miles and America West Flight Fund programs can now combine their mileage rather than transferring between accounts. There's a new platinum level and a variety of perks for preferred members, including automatic First Class upgrades.

One change less prominently displayed is a stipulation that as of Dec. 1, mileage will expire when a Dividend Mileage account is inactive for 18 months. To avoid that loss, members must either take a flight on US Airways, fly on one of its 17 Star Alliance or four Go Caribbean partners or six other code-share carriers (including Virgin Atlantic and Qantas) or make a purchase on a US Airways credit card. Mileage also can be extended for an additional 18 months, if a $100 fee is paid. If an account is inactive for 36 months, it will be automatically closed and all mileage forfeited.

Fees of $100 also are assessed on other transactions, such as when mileage on unused frequent-flier tickets is redeposited into an account.

Other nice features include a straightforward chart showing mileage needed for trips to destinations around the world and another that clearly shows blackout dates that apply to free trips for regular members, although not for those with Silver, Gold, Platinum or Chairman's preferred status.

On the whole, these improvements represent many steps in the right direction, and the many passenger-friendly features bode well for the future under this new management team.

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