This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Enjoy new investment freedom! Get the tools you need to successfully manage your portfolio from Harrisdirect. Start with award-winning research. Then add access to round-the-clock customer service from Series-7 trained representatives. Open an account today and receive a $100 credit! http://www.nytimes.com/ads/Harrisdirect.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ Another Call for an Overhaul of Air Fares May 31, 2002 By EDWARD WONG Airlines have to narrow the gap between walk-up fares and leisure fares that has widened in the last several years and has driven more business travelers to buy cheap tickets, the chief of US Airways said yesterday. The fare gap has deepened the airline industry's crisis, the executive, David N. Siegel, said in an interview yesterday afternoon. "The gap is so large," he said, "we're trying to figure out a fare structure that's more rational and more consumer friendly," The goal, he said, is to create fares between the last-minute tickets that cost thousands of dollars and the advance-purchase tickets that cost hundreds. He added that US Airways was looking at a couple of different fares that it might introduce. He did not go into details about them. Federal law prohibits airlines from publicly discussing such matters because of fears of collusion. But Mr. Siegel joins a growing chorus calling for an overhaul of the complex air fare system that most of the major carriers have adopted. Business travelers have traditionally accounted for about 40 percent of revenue in the airline industry. But with the economic downturn, and with the increased perception of security delays at airports after Sept. 11, many business travelers have chosen not to travel or to use alternative transportation. A survey of 184 companies and large organizations, released by the Business Travel Coalition in April, showed that 74 percent of participants said their travel budget cuts were permanent. The number of passengers taking the US Airways shuttle between New York and Washington dropped 30 percent between the first quarter of 2001 and the first quarter this year. Many business travelers in the Northeast have flocked to the high-speed Acela Express train. The Acela is much slower than flights, but is also much cheaper. Other travelers are buying tickets on low-cost carriers like Southwest or JetBlue. "At a certain point, if you don't price your product not only fairly but what the customer perceives as fair, you will fail," said Joe Brancatelli, an advocate of lower fares for business travelers. "You can't sustain losses like this forever. And you can't sustain a system like this forever. The market has said no." Mr. Siegel's comments about air fares came the same day that Continental Airlines raised most of its round-trip leisure fares by $20. It is the third time this year that a major carrier has tried to lead a leisure fare increase. On the previous occasions, Northwest Airlines refused to go along with the increases, forcing the other airlines to revert to lower prices. Raise for Attendants Bloomberg News CHICAGO, May 30 - Flight attendants at United Airlines, a subsidiary of UAL, will receive pay raises totaling $48 million, which will make their compensation better than the average of four rivals, the company said. An arbitrator called for the pay increase after an annual review stipulated by the workers' contract, according to the airline and the attendants' union, the Association of Flight Attendants. The raise will be retroactive to April 1. The increase comes as the airline is seeking to reduce its labor costs, the industry's biggest expense, through concessions from its worker groups. So far United's attendants have said they are not willing to provide concessions. The pilots are discussing pay reductions. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/31/business/31AIR.html?ex=1023895702&ei=1&en=6a8c949617c593db HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company