JVPhoto

The agent at the LAX GFL rounded us all up and lead us out of the lounge to the flight from SYD about 15 min after boarding had started. She then walked up and had one of the gate agents move people aside, she had all of our stubs and handed them to them and then ushered us into the plane. ^

porciuscato

I don't know how many of you remember this: in the 90s, this is how it was always done. The agent with the red rose in her lapel would take you directly from the lounge to the flight at the last minute, blasting through the crowds. If the gate was far, they would take you in a cart. Sigh.

matrixwalker2012

UA certainly has the hardware to have a top tier intl F cabin. If they really wanted to, they can easily improve the soft product by having FAs assigned to GF be there based on merit rather than seniority, improve the catering so that it's not a glorified BF meal, etc...

halls120

Exactly. If they wanted to offer a competitive F product, they could do it. They just don't want to.

Bonehead

How many folks actually buy GF with $$$$ versus buy C and upgrade or use miles? If the percentage of people who buy is relatively low then perhaps UA should utilize the cabin space more efficiently. Significantly improving GF because people say "if it was a better product I'd buy it" is a roll of the dice on UA's part, in my view.

gengar

Only flights out the back door at C18.


Yep. Yet another reason it became easy to switch to OALs, even if said OALs do the same thing.


Glad to hear that UA is coming to some sense about int'l F preboarding. As Time traveller noted, it's pretty ridiculous to have F customers boarding with 50+ people in Group 1.


If UA continues to make the F product less competitive, then fewer and fewer. So can you identify the problem?

halls120

Given that the current management's idea of offering a competitive C product is to cut is so badly that your meals become a joke on Twitter, I think the bigger crapshoot is to believe that there is anyone at UA who knows how to offer a better GF product.

JVPhoto

On the LHR-EWR GF flight once I got to the gate about 7-10 min before boarding I didn't line up because I ASSuMEd they may call GS/GF...they didn't. I'll admit I tried to cut around to the 2nd podium where G2 would have gone through after some G1 people were already going in...the GA there then told me to go around to the back of the line.
I tweeted to UA saying I would have hoped that on 3 class flights that GF would have boarded before G1 and/or with GS. They just sent back the basic link showing boarding procedures.

tuolumne

In my experience the pmUA employees at pmUA hubs, having dealt with 3-cabin flights for decades, will allow one to cut to the line if they are ticketed into intl. United First. All of my GA friends think the way F boards with the entire group 1 is insulting and ridiculous, so they try and take matters into their own hands, either by pre-boarding, or allowing F to board at anytime.

Having used EWR for a few flights to Heathrow, I saw them actively turn back F passengers who walked up to the front during group 1 boarding. If anybody from UAL is reading this, you should be embarrassed by all of this.

kevanyalowitz

The problem with this logic is that it assumes high frequency J buyers (mostly GS folks I would guess) will continue to pay the same J fare on a 2 cabin plane. If there is GF and I don't buy A I will buy D/C/J and upgrade. If it's a 2-cabin cattle car, I'm buying the absolute cheapest P/Z fare (substantially less then D, let alone C or J) or upgrading. This needs to be modeled by UA before removing GF.

Always Flyin

While that may your plan, and while your travel patterns may allow it, I don't think it will be a major issue to this UA.

You already flying in C on the multitude of routes that are only 2-class. Are you presently buying P/Z fares on those routes? If not, why not?

I doubt you are regularly buying W fares and upgrading on those routes as you likely wouldn't requalify for GS if you did.

Are your travel patterns such that you can buy essentially nonchangeable P/Z fares? Do you buy those tickets far enough in advance to meet the advance purchase requirements of most P/Z fares?

Due to the pre-CO planes only having two class, and this airline run by pre-CO management, I suspect they have or will determine that they don't need Global F and those flying in C will continue to do so.

UA-NYC

Definitely the most logical & probable outcome :-:

Bonehead

I thought of that. Perhaps some folks who regularly buy J will chime in and indicate if they'll switch airlines if GF goes away.

Always Flyin

United is now a carrier for those locked into captive hubs, those on corporate contracts (and those contracts are diminishing in number), Kayakers, and those who just don't know any better.

If they have stuck with UA with all the declines since it became CO, those GS members aren't going anywhere else. If they would, they would have done so already.

They may not want GF to go away, but they are not going to leave the airline because of it. They are flying in business on all the CO aircraft anyway.

Plane-is-home

I regularly buy GF because even the pmUA BF seat is too short for me, the PMCO BF seat is way too short.
The downgrade in service has caused me moving as much spending to other carriers as I could manage and still keep GS.
The GF experiences this year make me think about abandoning GS and move all international travel next year.