Mileage incident bugs some US Airways fliers By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY There are no secret handshakes or funny hats in this travel club. Members of an informal group of US Airways' frequent fliers recognize one another by the plastic cockroach pins on their lapels. They call themselves cockroaches because they say US Airways made them feel unloved. The group grew out of heated postings on the Internet forum flyertalk.com last year after US Airways announced plans to reduce frequent-flier privileges for those paying low fares. US Airways dropped the policy, but the episode left bitterness. A quote by US Airways executive Ben Baldanza in USA TODAY last August didn't help: "Someone who flies a lot isn't necessarily loyal if what they're doing is buying the lowest-priced ticket every time they fly," he said. "That's not necessarily the kind of loyalty we want to reward. We want to reward those people who pay a premium for the services we offer." The idea for the cockroach pins came from Bob Johnson of Mystic Island, N.J., who says he takes pains to fly US Airways despite a corporate policy that makes him take the lowest available fare. He sometimes spends an hour on the Internet to find US Airways' best fares to his destination. The group started a Web site, us-cockroach.com, and 500 cockroach pins were made. About 400 were sold at $3.50 apiece. The pins do get reactions. "The flight crews all noticed them," says Jacksonville dentist Sol Brotman. "We told them cockroaches were in support of them. We know management has made some really bad errors, but that we support the frontline employees." US Airways says it never meant to offend customers and points out that it dropped the policy. "Whether you travel on a $200 ticket or a $2,000 ticket, customers generally have the same ability to earn for free travel and preferred status in our Dividend Miles program," says US Airways spokesman David Castelveter. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************