Originally Posted by Firewind
itsme: I totally agree re the "E-fares" not being great deals... but many, if not all, S and T fares can only be purchased on the web.
Interesting. If you should see an S or T fare on united.com but not want to book through united.com, a reservationist might not be able to do it for you? Sometimes one just can't get united.com to show flights options that do exist or get the combination of outbound and return flights one is after. I didn't know that what I was seeing through united.com might only be available through united.com, with the exception of those E-fares.
This brings us back to that question about reservationists vs. united.com - why "internet only" fares and other inducements to book online rather than with a reservationist? Are the $10 or $15 fees for going through a reservationist insufficient to cover UA's costs, so they must do still more to push us away from people and toward the internet? If they are so keen on pushing us toward the internet, why not improve united.com? Would it be out of the question for united.com to allow us to enter the particular flights we are after and see about availability and price rather than showing us what they want to show us, that varying according to whether we go with queries by "schedule," "price" with or without "flexible dates," or "multicity"?