Originally Posted by
emcampbe
The simple reason is that 25 people decided saving $25 each way upfront ..... Seems to indicate to me that it's successful for UA, at least on the metric of will people buy these fares.
No one has ever suggested that people will not Buy a BE fare. If United is offering MCO-SFO for $139 ow in BE, and $169 ow in Y, lots of people will bite for BE. Those who will not are those with elite status, who want (a) status credit, (b) a chance at an upgrade or an E+ seat.
United will probably just say "we won" without counting people like me, who is looking at a $299 fare SEA-SFO in BE, and a $314 fare in Y, while Delta/VX/AS in Y is $299. Well Delta got that sale.
I am not really interesting in having "status" in an airline that will charge me $15+ more each way to use that status.
It takes people a while to figure out they are being ripped off, but once they do you lose them as a customer. Since those hit by this are elites, they will ultimately be the people who give up on UA.