US Airways executives discuss fees, amenities

— -- US Airways CEO Doug Parker and President Scott Kirby laid out their desire to merge with American Airlines during a meeting Wednesday with USA TODAY's Editorial Board. They also addressed consumer issues, such as baggage fees and cabin amenities, in a question-and-answer session that has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: People used to enjoy flying more than they do these days. Will a merger do anything to change this and make airlines compete on things other than price?

Parker: Well, not exactly accepting the premise, but nonetheless, I'll answer the question. Does it have airlines focusing more on the amenities of the product? The answer to that, I believe, is yes. One of the things you're going to need to do to get business travelers to pick one of your networks is to make sure you have the things business travelers value. You're starting to see some of that already at United and Delta, where you see some enhancements to the amenities of the product — lie-flat seats and things like that. And I think you'll see more and more of that as we go forward.

Kirby: I think deregulation has been a home run for consumers, and while the product isn't arguably as elite as it was (before airlines were deregulated in 1978), fares are approximately 50% lower in real terms than they were.

Q: One concern we hear from our USA TODAY Road Warriors is that their hard-earned frequent-flier benefits could be in danger in a merger. Can you assure them that they would not lose any benefits?

Parker: Absolutely. There's never to my knowledge been a merger where anyone has lost their frequent-flier (benefits). All this does is make those miles more valuable.

Q: There's been an unbundling of amenities that used to be wrapped up in first class. When you had first-class seating, you got a number of amenities. Do you see a breakdown of the old traditional first class, business, coach? Is the amenity structure changing?

Kirby: There's certainly something of a blurring of the lines between various products. Airlines are experimenting with what consumers want. There's various ways of charging for bags and all the other amenities you talk about. I think it's the free market in action. We experiment.

Q: Customers are carrying on more bags. Would you consider either charging for the carry-on or charging much less for that first bag than you do now to alleviate what a lot of people think is a big problem?

Kirby: I think we will continue to experiment. There are a lot of different models out there. We acknowledge and recognize that there are more (carry-on) bags on the airplanes than there have been historically. As an airline, we've invested in an operations crew to run the operation better but it still creates that anxiety. I'm not sure what the right answer is. The right answer also depends on what the competitive environment is.

Parker: There are indeed bags that are getting down to the aircraft that should have been checked. We acknowledge that we've created the problem. We're not trying to blame the customer. We created this problem by charging for checking and not charging if you bring it on. People will do things to avoid paying that fee.

Q: Some airlines have been charging fees to pick certain seats so that some families find themselves paying extra to sit together. Do you do that?

Kirby: If there's seats to be paid for, of course families can buy those seats and sit together if they choose. If families don't … we try to seat them together. We continue to work with some of the groups that are interested in this issue.