United.com now guarantees the lowest fare (sort of)
Feb 7, 2005, 10:20 am
#1
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United.com now guarantees the lowest fare (sort of)
Following in AA's footsteps, united.com is offering a low fare guarantee (with several restrictions).
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51216,00.html
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51216,00.html
Feb 7, 2005, 10:50 am
#2
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3. Tickets must be the least expensive available on united.com or flyted.com for the chosen itinerary at the time of purchase. The guarantee is valid only for published retail fares available on the Internet for the exact same flight(s), travel date(s), and travel itinerary for the same number of passenger(s). Fares must be in the exact same cabin(s) (First, Business, Economy) and carry the exact same fare rules and restrictions. Tickets must be purchased with a credit card and valid United States billing address and travel must originate in the 50 United States.
Feb 7, 2005, 10:59 am
#3
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Not much of a guarantee. 
Feb 7, 2005, 11:44 am
#4
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Chicago
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Posts: 789
Sounds a lot like the guarantee on aa.com...
http://www.aa.com/content/urls/guarantee.jhtml
The guarantee is valid only for lower fares found online for the exact same AA flight(s), exact itinerary, exact date(s), exact cabin, exact same class of service and same fare rules and restrictions and available for purchase on the same day as the original AA.com online purchase.
Feb 7, 2005, 3:06 pm
#5
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UA is simply copying AA´s move without doing their homework first.
UA.com is not reliable in getting the best price, quite often, shooting up to a higher bucket.
Other sites get the correct bucket and price the fare correctly.
UA.com will only say their fare has less restrictions - so what ? I didn´t ask them !!! With this, they´re off the hook.
And, if finding bugs in UA.com only warrants $50, towards a future flight, plus the possibility of having customers generating higher revenue, then it´s an excellent price to pay - I´d dare say UA immediateely dismiss any debug consultants and have your customers doing the same job for a lower price, they´ll be only able to redeem if they fly again.
UA.com is not reliable in getting the best price, quite often, shooting up to a higher bucket.
Other sites get the correct bucket and price the fare correctly.
UA.com will only say their fare has less restrictions - so what ? I didn´t ask them !!! With this, they´re off the hook.
And, if finding bugs in UA.com only warrants $50, towards a future flight, plus the possibility of having customers generating higher revenue, then it´s an excellent price to pay - I´d dare say UA immediateely dismiss any debug consultants and have your customers doing the same job for a lower price, they´ll be only able to redeem if they fly again.
Feb 7, 2005, 4:36 pm
#6
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Looks like UA wants to cut their systems development/test costs further by having their customers do the testing/debugging of their website. 
Feb 7, 2005, 4:50 pm
#7
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Hmmm. This offer should not be discounted out of hand in all markets.
As I posted on another thread UA is offering Fares from OZ to LAX or SFO for $A999 plus taxes.
Add $A99 round trip and you can extend it to SEA. PDX, LAS, PHX etc.
Total on website:
$A999 + $99 = $A1098 + tax to SEA
Got an email today from Best Flights offering same Seattle ticket with same rules and dates to SEA for $A989:
http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bi...indetails=2206
This is typical here - whatever UA offers, mainline travel agents offer at 10-15% less for same fare basis.
Fare difference $A109, plus $US50 ($A66) compensation offer - $A175 saving AND I'd get the 1000 booking miles etc, which I rate as being worth 3c a mile or $US30 (=$A40).
UA charges $A1,098 and the offer takes it to $A923 to Seattle. That is a clean 16% discount PLUS 1000 bonus miles.
Hardly something to sneeze at.
IMHO
Glen
As I posted on another thread UA is offering Fares from OZ to LAX or SFO for $A999 plus taxes.
Add $A99 round trip and you can extend it to SEA. PDX, LAS, PHX etc.
Total on website:
$A999 + $99 = $A1098 + tax to SEA
Got an email today from Best Flights offering same Seattle ticket with same rules and dates to SEA for $A989:
http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bi...indetails=2206
This is typical here - whatever UA offers, mainline travel agents offer at 10-15% less for same fare basis.
Fare difference $A109, plus $US50 ($A66) compensation offer - $A175 saving AND I'd get the 1000 booking miles etc, which I rate as being worth 3c a mile or $US30 (=$A40).
UA charges $A1,098 and the offer takes it to $A923 to Seattle. That is a clean 16% discount PLUS 1000 bonus miles.
Hardly something to sneeze at.
IMHO
Glen
Last edited by ozstamps; Feb 7, 2005 at 4:53 pm Reason: Math!
Feb 7, 2005, 4:56 pm
#8
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Chicago
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Posts: 848
not exactly the same...
One difference between AA and UA is that UA requires a difference of $5 each way. Also, AA's fine print stipulates that the flights must be in the same "cabin and class," while UA's is more vague.
Delta should be pleased that at least some airlines remain dedicated to confusion.
Delta should be pleased that at least some airlines remain dedicated to confusion.
Feb 7, 2005, 5:26 pm
#9
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Originally Posted by ozstamps
Hmmm. This offer should not be discounted out of hand in all markets.
As I posted on another thread UA is offering Fares from OZ to LAX or SFO for $A999 plus taxes.
Add $A99 round trip and you can extend it to SEA. PDX, LAS, PHX etc.
Total on website:
$A999 + $99 = $A1098 + tax to SEA
Got an email today from Best Flights offering same Seattle ticket with same rules and dates to SEA for $A989:
http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bi...indetails=2206
This is typical here - whatever UA offers, mainline travel agents offer at 10-15% less for same fare basis.
Fare difference $A109, plus $US50 ($A66) compensation offer - $A175 saving AND I'd get the 1000 booking miles etc, which I rate as being worth 3c a mile or $US30 (=$A40).
UA charges $A1,098 and the offer takes it to $A923 to Seattle. That is a clean 16% discount PLUS 1000 bonus miles.
Hardly something to sneeze at.
IMHO
Glen
As I posted on another thread UA is offering Fares from OZ to LAX or SFO for $A999 plus taxes.
Add $A99 round trip and you can extend it to SEA. PDX, LAS, PHX etc.
Total on website:
$A999 + $99 = $A1098 + tax to SEA
Got an email today from Best Flights offering same Seattle ticket with same rules and dates to SEA for $A989:
http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bi...indetails=2206
This is typical here - whatever UA offers, mainline travel agents offer at 10-15% less for same fare basis.
Fare difference $A109, plus $US50 ($A66) compensation offer - $A175 saving AND I'd get the 1000 booking miles etc, which I rate as being worth 3c a mile or $US30 (=$A40).
UA charges $A1,098 and the offer takes it to $A923 to Seattle. That is a clean 16% discount PLUS 1000 bonus miles.
Hardly something to sneeze at.
IMHO
Glen
Feb 7, 2005, 6:37 pm
#10
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Originally Posted by ozstamps
Hmmm. This offer should not be discounted out of hand in all markets.
As I posted on another thread UA is offering Fares from OZ to LAX or SFO for $A999 plus taxes.
Add $A99 round trip and you can extend it to SEA. PDX, LAS, PHX etc.
Total on website:
$A999 + $99 = $A1098 + tax to SEA
Got an email today from Best Flights offering same Seattle ticket with same rules and dates to SEA for $A989:
http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bi...indetails=2206
This is typical here - whatever UA offers, mainline travel agents offer at 10-15% less for same fare basis.
Fare difference $A109, plus $US50 ($A66) compensation offer - $A175 saving AND I'd get the 1000 booking miles etc, which I rate as being worth 3c a mile or $US30 (=$A40).
UA charges $A1,098 and the offer takes it to $A923 to Seattle. That is a clean 16% discount PLUS 1000 bonus miles.
Hardly something to sneeze at.
IMHO
Glen
As I posted on another thread UA is offering Fares from OZ to LAX or SFO for $A999 plus taxes.
Add $A99 round trip and you can extend it to SEA. PDX, LAS, PHX etc.
Total on website:
$A999 + $99 = $A1098 + tax to SEA
Got an email today from Best Flights offering same Seattle ticket with same rules and dates to SEA for $A989:
http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bi...indetails=2206
This is typical here - whatever UA offers, mainline travel agents offer at 10-15% less for same fare basis.
Fare difference $A109, plus $US50 ($A66) compensation offer - $A175 saving AND I'd get the 1000 booking miles etc, which I rate as being worth 3c a mile or $US30 (=$A40).
UA charges $A1,098 and the offer takes it to $A923 to Seattle. That is a clean 16% discount PLUS 1000 bonus miles.
Hardly something to sneeze at.
IMHO
Glen
You would not receive any compensation under the Best Fares Guarantee because what you're buying from that agent in Australia is a consolidator fare. It may have the same fare basis code, but you should check the booking class - it should be different from the fare basis code. With the exception of Q-UP and Y-UP fares, the booking class of each segment should be the same as the first letter of the fare basis code for each segment, otherwise you're likely buying a bulk (consolidator or wholesale) ticket.
The Best Fares Guarantee does not cover fares that are not obtainable directly through United. Moreover, as stated above by another poster, your trip must originate in the U.S.
Feb 7, 2005, 7:11 pm
#11
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I can find United fares on itasoftware.com that are lower than anything on united.com. But I can't be certain the itasoftware fares are real, since I can't book flights there.
Feb 7, 2005, 8:10 pm
#12
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Originally Posted by UnitedSkies
Glen,
You would not receive any compensation under the Best Fares Guarantee because what you're buying from that agent in Australia is a consolidator fare. It may have the same fare basis code, but you should check the booking class - it should be different from the fare basis code. With the exception of Q-UP and Y-UP fares, the booking class of each segment should be the same as the first letter of the fare basis code for each segment, otherwise you're likely buying a bulk (consolidator or wholesale) ticket.
The Best Fares Guarantee does not cover fares that are not obtainable directly through United. Moreover, as stated above by another poster, your trip must originate in the U.S.
However here this system often occurs via UA OZ - UA's fares are sold at a lower price by the main travel agents as UA does.
Same offer, same rules, same fare class - just 10-15% cheaper.
Best Flights offer is precisely the same as UA has, and is also in "S" class. Surely that would qualify is the "starting USA" wording was not there?
Just not valid for the price guarantee if it starts from oz exception it seems.
Glen
Feb 7, 2005, 8:25 pm
#13
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Originally Posted by ozstamps
Yes, I did miss the 'starting in USA' fine print.
However here this system often occurs via UA OZ - UA's fares are sold at a lower price by the main travel agents as UA does.
Same offer, same rules, same fare class - just 10-15% cheaper.
Best Flights offer is precisely the same as UA has, and is also in "S" class. Surely that would qualify is the "starting USA" wording was not there?
Just not valid for the price guarantee if it starts from oz exception it seems.
Glen
However here this system often occurs via UA OZ - UA's fares are sold at a lower price by the main travel agents as UA does.
Same offer, same rules, same fare class - just 10-15% cheaper.
Best Flights offer is precisely the same as UA has, and is also in "S" class. Surely that would qualify is the "starting USA" wording was not there?
Just not valid for the price guarantee if it starts from oz exception it seems.
Glen
Feb 7, 2005, 8:38 pm
#14
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UnitedSkies - probably as it is such a small market here I guess? Not a lot of major travel agents, so they might not need to bother for these kind of fares.
I phoned Best Flights before my last post and they indeed are "S" fares for all segments. So my guess is the fare basis is identical to what UA sells.
United DO offer "bucket shop" fares now and again to Europe from here, which are WAYYY under the official UA rates.
But seldom to the USA. Which is neat, as using the '25% off' EB coupons means you are getting 25% off close to the lowest price in the makret. They only work to USA, not to Europe.
I phoned Best Flights before my last post and they indeed are "S" fares for all segments. So my guess is the fare basis is identical to what UA sells.
United DO offer "bucket shop" fares now and again to Europe from here, which are WAYYY under the official UA rates.
But seldom to the USA. Which is neat, as using the '25% off' EB coupons means you are getting 25% off close to the lowest price in the makret. They only work to USA, not to Europe.
Feb 7, 2005, 8:40 pm
#15
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And seeing Feb/March and Oct/Nov are traditionally THE quietest travel months out of here, UA might just be pleased to see planes fill up in the low season?
Glen
Glen