Staff Travel Legalised Theft

[Trafalgar]

I'm sick of this institutionalised rip-off know as 'Staff Travel'. This airline gouges it's staff on the cost of traveling to a degree unheard of in the industry. Just flew back from London. Paid almost 300 gbp for a seat. My colleague who works for Delta (left CX last year) pays exactly 1/15 of that amount. CX has turned their own employees into a profit center. There is almost NO incremental cost to filling an empty seat (meal, admin), so basically they are profiting almost 700 % on each employee flying. That is disgusting. And shameful. It's time the AOA started to aggressively confront the company on this issue, as it is a way for the company to 'steal' back the income they pay us. The fact that it's an expat airline means that most of us have to use this service to stay in touch with our home countries and families. To gouge those same employees in that process is inexcusable. It is especially unfair on the lower paid staff who need to travel on a regular basis. Let CX explain why our staff travel costs are over 10X that of our other competitors? I think we all know the answer to that.

[mngmt mole]

Oh, well that makes it all completely acceptable then :bored:

[mngmt mole]

The point Traf is making is that 'most' of our competitors charge their staff far less for travel privileges than CX does. Yes, there will be other airlines that gouge their staff just like we do. And Traf is correct, many of our competitors charge their staff only a small percentage of what we pay. But go ahead and try and score points against Traf instead of recognising that our own company treats their staff as a profit center, which as he correctly points out, is disgusting.

[Arfur Dent]

I find staff travel on BA is far more 'user friendly' than dealing with CX. Use IdDeals.com. You can email Iain, the owner, and he will be very helpful re seat availability etc. Don't bother with CX - pain in the arse and useless anyway.

[Natca]

Traf is right, its a benifit and needs to be fixed at somepoint. Im tired of paying through the nose to sit on a jumpseat and then have to make a mad dash through the terminal to the gate because we cant even standby or get a seat change st the gate. Funny part is we have about 6 people at the gate counter to load an a330 and delta can do it and handle staff with maybe 2-3 people.

[Dan Winterland]

Air Passenger Duty from the UK to HK is currently GBP 150 for business class/premium economy and GBP 75 for coach. This is probably whyyou paid so much. it's the British tax man ripping you off, not CX.

we have about 6 people at the gate counter to load an a330 and delta can do it and handle staff with maybe 2-3 people

United need a few more than that in case of offloads!

[Average Fool]

Its a benefit all right.

For the company

[STN Ramp Rat]

Trafalgar
I don’t think its CX on this occasion, it’s the UK government. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-excise-duty-air-passenger-duty/rates-and-allowances-excise-duty-air-passenger-duty The current Air Passenger Duty charge is GBP150 in C/F and GBP75 in Y. the tax is paid on the class you travel in not the class you book in so if you have a Y upgradeable to C and you are upgraded to C or F CX has to pay the UK Government GBP150, there are other taxes to be paid as well such as the Airport user fees. there are no exemptions for staff travel.

A while ago I travelled on a free ticket long haul ex LHR where we had to pay taxes only. The total tax bill was over GBP600 for the two of us. It is not uncommon for me to travel Y to the US where the fare is less than the taxes.

The UK government takes the opinion that if you can afford to fly you can afford to pay taxes. Sadly numbers of passengers have risen since the tax was introduced proving the government right.

[mngmt mole]

Ok. Everyone is missing the point. Different example: LAX $380 usd. Delta pilot, $20 (yes, $20). We are being ripped off, as Traf said.:ugh:

[8driver]

My ex-wife is a Delta ticket agent, so I've seen how this is with other airlines. The Delta employees fly free inside the US, and listing is automatically for first/businesss class at no additional charge. Traveling overseas they pay taxes only. Kids age nine and up can travel in first/business. Fifteen? LMAO. They have buddy passes. I have been told we had buddy passes at Cathay many years ago but local staff tried to sell them. Don't know if that's why we don't have them or not. The system is pretty transparent, you can see seats available and where you sit on the standby list. Heck, its on a screen at the gate along with seats available. Even as a Cathay employee I can see that list and where I sit, which is usually dead last.

What else? They get "rewarded" with high priority passes. If they get a good letter from a customer or something like that. My ex is good at her job, so she meets her sales goals and gets a free vacation each year. Called the Delta summit or some such. This past year was in Jamaica. They can buy discounted full fare tickets.

But hey, we have our FOCs which I've never even tried to use in 13 years. Because they are f***ing useless.

[MENELAUS]

Who did your ex take to Jamaica ?

[8driver]

Her current boyfriend. Make no mistake, our staff travel system is the biggest joke out there. Its basically non-existent.

[ExSp33db1rd]

British Airways arbitrarily "removed" a promised Staff Travel life time "concession" ( and there's the rub, it is a concession, not contractual ) from "older" retirees about 7 years ago, and allowed employees to take a "travel companion" and change that companion every 6 months, so theoretically, if working from age 20 to 65, they can take 90 people who have never even passed through the B.A. doors. To achieve that they kicked out those who had helped forge the once great airline that they now have the privilege of working for. Nice.

All I can do now is ensure that. B.A. get none of my money when I buy tickets.

I'm sorry you feel that you are being scalped on staff fares.

[Trafalgar]

I don't "feel" i'm being scalped on staff travel. I AM being scalped on staff travel.

[sergiokl]

So I'm KA.... tried to get my wife out of HND... CX all full so I booked her ID Y class in ANA... she checks in the night before online and gets Premium Economy... this would never happen in a hundred years on CX .....

[Freehills]

That Premium Economy has been a failure for ANA in the region...? I get it for long haul flights, but thinking that people will pay for PE for a 3-4 hour flight is Cathay like ineptitude

[ExSp33db1rd]

I don't "feel" i'm being scalped on staff travel. I AM being scalped on staff travel.

I "dream" of being scalped by Staff Travel - wanna swap ?

[SandL]

British Airways arbitrarily "removed" a promised Staff Travel life time "concession" ( and there's the rub, it is a concession, not contractual ) from "older" retirees about 7 years ago, and allowed employees to take a "travel companion" and change that companion every 6 months, so theoretically, if working from age 20 to 65, they can take 90 people who have never even passed through the B.A. doors. To achieve that they kicked out those who had helped forge the once great airline that they now have the privilege of working for. Nice.

All I can do now is ensure that. B.A. get none of my money when I buy tickets.

I'm sorry you feel that you are being scalped on staff fares.

we are sooo angry about this the severence deal was staff travel for length of returement then they said it's a concession that can be removed at any time.
I am amazed the union has not taken this up. but as a pensioner we are not members of the union ,,, maybe ABAP will take it up ... legally
I would be happy to join a fighting fund
"staff travel" as a "product" still exists , but by splitting off pensioners it is discrimination it's also part of a contract so specific performance should come into it ... or compensation..

[swh]

So I'm KA.... tried to get my wife out of HND... CX all full so I booked her ID Y class in ANA... she checks in the night before online and gets Premium Economy... this would never happen in a hundred years on CX .....

A lot of CX staff don't bother with CX anymore as the flights are so full, or people who don't even work for CX get higher priority.

Often other airlines have availability and are cheaper as they don't charge the additional $120 fuel hedging tax from outports.

[Trafalgar]

Anotherday. I take comfort from the fact that when you waste time on PPrune, writing your inane and inflammatory comments, you are at least preoccupied sitting there in your little management cubicle and not engaged in doing real damage to the pilot group. And your comment shows your ignorance: If the seat is full, we don't get on anyway. Our issues are in regards to how bad the entire staff travel system is in the first plaee. Perhaps you might want to spend some of your 'ohhh' so productive management time and study how other more successful airlines structure their programs. Of course, studying other successful airlines seems to be the one thing CX management aren't capable of. Probably because the harsh glare of embarrassment would be a bit too uncomfortable for you group of luvvies.

[Oval3Holer]

It's wrong when other airline employees can fly standby on CX for the same price CX employees pay to fly standby on CX.

[Freehills]

Not if there is reciprocal agreement (in my view) I.e. if (say) the agreement is with JL, if we can fly with them at the same price JL employees pay to fly standby on JL (albeit with different priority) then OK with me

[sergiokl]

Can't really understand how you ACEs (anti company employees) are upset because the flights are sold out. News flash, it's an airline not an aero club, it needs to sell seats to remain in business.

I'm no way ACE... and I'm happy we have full loads... what I'm unhappy about is the fact that I get reminded on a daily bases that even though we have full loads we can't make any money... and the fact that we just get treated better as ID on any other airline than our own....

[raven11]

Trafalgar,
I wish there was a thumbs up or like button for your last post.
Spot on!

[raven11]

Anotherday,
We are all aware that the airline is in the business of filling seats with as many full-fare paying passengers as possible. Normally, that is a good thing and something we all work hard to achieve (Profit share notwithstanding).

However, our staff travel exudes bureaucratic malaise. It is a system of arbitrary and byzentine rule changes, combined with unworkable technology and computer apps, imposed by managers seemingly out of touch with their front line.

How out of touch you might ask? Well, when you slur us by calling us ACE's (anti company employees), one is reminded of the "let them eat cake" slur muttered by another out of touch member of the aristocracy. Bravo Anotherday, bravo. You are an inspiration to us all.

Remind me again of the strategic genius behind your massive fuel hedging decision and how that bit of business acumen has contributed to the bottom line? Do you think any management bonuses will be held back for a year or two? After all, the Company is a business....revenues still need to exceed liabilities.

Anti Company Employees...indeed.

[Dragon69]

Can't really understand how you ACEs (anti company employees) are upset because the flights are sold out. News flash, it's an airline not an aero club, it needs to sell seats to remain in business.

He's not management, he's that imbecile that keeps posting pro company rhetoric on the AoA forum. With his narcistic two faced personality why should he care when he's got few more years left. The irony is that we will read about him in an NTC in three years, and no one will even bat an eyelid.

[Trafalgar]

:D...........

[Flex88]

Recently a CX "sponsored" survey was conducted re our Staff Travel sys and results were as expected (BTW same as the type results as the Food Court) - Everybody is not satisfied !!!
So I finally have a good tip to help in the "Time To Win" crusade; Stop wasting (throwing away) hard earned cash on Sisyphean surveys.
They are only worthwhile if you actually have even the smallest intention of following through and affecting changes to improve the topic of the survey.

We all know they will (think FOC's) not change a Fu***** thing. History proves.

[AQIS Boigu]

What about the engagement survey - we got the results but what improvements did we see?

Come on Anna!

[Hongkie land]

that's nothing. didn't you guys know that senior management was issuing duty travel tickets for friends and families............................ and still icac did nothing about it :sad:

[Natca]

that's nothing. didn't you guys know that senior management was issuing duty travel tickets for friends and families............................ and still icac did nothing about it :sad:

Ya know we could just do what our passengers are doing and just fly on other airlines. Its both cheaper and better service.