Phoenix, San Diego flights begin December 8
United Way gave us hope and
encouragement to go on. Through
their volunteers, we received the
care, love and support we desper
ately needed to give our son Denny
a purpose in life.
Captain Dennis A. Boyd.
GSO. with his 18-year-oid son
Denny who was born with
cerebral palsy
T\vo new destinations will go on Piedmont's
map w'hen the airline adds Phoenix. AZ, and
San Diego. CA. on December 8.
Piedmont will inaugurate nonstop serx’iee to
Phoenix (PHX) and one-stop service to San
Diego (SAN) from Charlotte on the December 8
schedule. In addition, we will begin nonstop
service from Los Angeles to San Diego, which
will provide travelers from our Dayton hub with
one-stop service to this California destination.
San Diego, which has a population of 2.1 mil
lion. is the 16th largest metropolitan area in the
United States. PSA. which is headquartered
here, began service at SAN in 1949 and today
has 44 daily departures at SAN. USAir began
serv'iee to SAN in 1983 and currently has four
daily departures at this airport.
Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, is the 23rd larg
est metropolitan area in the United States with
a population of 1.8 million. Both USAir and
PSA have served PHX since 1979, and today,
USAir has seven llights daily and PSA, six.
Piedmont's new service to PHX and SAN.
Flight 51. originates at RDU It will depart CLT
at 9:05 a.m. daily, arriving at PHX at 11:24 a.m.
(Mountain Time). It continues to San Diego,
arriving at 11:59 a.m. (Pacific Time). On the re
turn. Flight 44 departs SAN at 12:55 p.m.. ar
riving at PHX at 2:55 p.m. It continues to CLT,
arriving at 9:04 p.m., where it terminates.
Our new one-stop service from DAY to SAN is
a continuation of Flight 3 which departs DAY at
8:26 a.m., daily, arriving at LAX at 10:05 a.m. It
continues to SAN, arriving at 11:20 a.m. The re
turn service. Flight 4. departs SAN at 1:05 p.m.,
arriving at LAX at 1:45 p.m. It continues to
DAY. arriving at 9:25 p.m.
The new services, which utilize 727-200 long-
range aircraft, will give us two llights daily at
both PHX and SAN. The number of departures
at LAX will increase to five and at CLT to 242.
We will be handled by USAir/PSA at both new
destinations.
On September 21, the Administrative
l>aw Judge reviewing the Picdmont/USAir
merger recommended that the merger be
disapproved, contrary to the previously
announced positions of both the Depart
ment of'n-ansportation's Public Counsel
and those of the Justice Department.
Piedmont and USAir believe the Judge’s
recommendation is incomprehensible and
contrary to the decisions in every merger
preceding ours during the era of deregula
tion. Piedmont and USAir have until Octo
ber 5 to present arguments through legal
briefs to the DOT and we remain confident
that the DO'I' will avoid the travesty that
would result from the adojifion of the
Judge's recommendation. The final deci
sion is due on October 30.
volunne 38, nunnber 8 September ^987
Piedmont 1st class beats the best
passengers tell us through surveys
When Piedmont int.roduced first-
class service on June 15th. we
committed our Company to a stan
dard of excellence that would
satisfy the most discriminating of
flyers. It was a calculated gamble,
the success of which will be meas
ured in financial terms, but which
rests upon our ability to meet the
standard set by our customers.
Piedmont has been keeping close
tabs on our passengers' percep
tions of the service through ongo
ing in-flight surveys. The
preliminary returns suggest that
Piedmont is delivering on its prom
ise of excellence. The majority of
our first-class passengers not only
believe it is excellent overall, but
that it is even better than first class
on other airlines.
In the words of one long-time
customer, our first class is de
scribed as “. . .the best thing you
could have ever done to further en
hance Piedmont as the market
leader in travel — particularly for
those of us who have been loyal to
you through the years."
To succeed, first class had to
achieve several goals.
It had to be an artistic success.
Our service inevitably was going to
be compared with first-class service
offered by carriers with decades of
first-class experience in the mar
ketplace. With that experience came
the advantage of learning from both
their successes and their errors.
It had to be a financial success.
To do this, our first class had to be
priced and promoted in a manner
that would not just encourage pres
ent fliers with Piedmont to opt for a
more expensive service, it had to
bring travelers to Piedmont who
normally would have (Town other
carriers.
Shirlie Pazos. director-marketing
research, conducted the surveys
and says they demonstrate, clearly,
the artistic success of the service.
“By the end of July, virtually all of
the first-class travelers we surveyed
said that Piedmont's first-class ser
vice was as good as, or better than,
first class offered by other carriers.
The majority said that we exceeded
the service of other carriers. That's
remarkable for an airline with one
month’s experience," she said.
The people who provide this ser
vice, our flight attendants, received
great reviews. Of the passengers
surveyed, eight of every 10 respon
dents rated our flight attendants as
excellent, and seven of every 10
respondents believed our flight at
tendants are superior to those in
first-class cabins of our competitors.
‘‘This was very reassuring to us
in Marketing who are out selling
our product," Dan Brock, vice
president-marketing, said. "Our
people in the field as well as agents
at airports and in reservations cen
ters can encourage Piedmont cus
tomers to try this service with
great confidence in our cabin
crews.' ’
From a cost standpoint, the pas
sengers also gave us high marks.
Again, the majority of respondents
consider the transportation and
service they received as Piedmont
first-class passengers to be a better
value than on other airlines.
"The key word there is 'better',"
Pazos said. "It would have been
very reassuring to simply have
found our brand new first-class ser
vice considered equal to the value
offered by more experienced air
lines. To have a majority of our pas
sengers rate Piedmont's first class
as a better value is a tremendous
compliment to the people who put
this together and the people who
are serving our passengers."
A key finding of the research is
the amount of new business that
has been stimulated as a result of
first class. In the first month of ser
vice, 25 percent of our customers
indicated they would have flown
another airline if we had not offered
first class! The remainder had
opted to upgrade from coach.
"This was very surprising and
satisfying to us," Pazos said. "It
tells us that customers are coming
to us who would have preferred an
other airline. It also tells us that
some passengers, although they
preferred Piedmont, were changing
to other carriers when they had
first-class service available to them
elsewhere, but not on Piedmont.
We believe those passengers are
coming back to us."
In sum, from a financial point
of view, the survey says we have
continued page 4
"I can do it!" Thra tells us.
whether it means walking,
feeding herself, or any other
skills most of us lake for
granted. She attends The
Children's Center for the
Physically Handicapped, a
United Way agency in
Winslon-Salem. and we
thank the United Way for
stepping in and helping Ihra
to be the best she can be.
There are many little
voices that want to say "I
can do it!" and with your
support, they have the
chance to say "I did it!"
Flight Attendant Sara
McKoy. GSO. with her
seven-year-old daughter
Ihra who was born with
cerebral palsy