DCA writer

I thought this morning's "Tell us about your travel experience" e-mail was the usual survey from UA, but it was a lot more detailed about potential service add-ons and what I might be willing to pay for them than anything I've seen before.

I'm assuming the survey being delivered on April 1 is a coincidence, because none of these ideas seem too outlandish.

The survey pages were coded to prevent copying and pasting, but I took screenshots of most of them. Notable new or new-ish options (the survey also mentioned standbys like FareLock, UC day passes and RDM/PQM accelerator), paraphrased for the sake of brevity and with occasional commentary:

Baggage valet: You'd hand over your bag at the gate or in a UC, and a United rep would then stow it in the overhead compartment above your seat.

Weather delay protection: You get priority phone service, a hotel reservation if you're delayed overnight and "highest priority rebooking" if the flight's cancelled.

WiFi voucher: What you'd expect, and what they should have offered long ago. Maybe they can't today because they have so many different WiFi vendors?

Premium Economy cabin seat and experience: New, wider E+ seat with a leg rest and separate from the rest of Y that comes with priority boarding, extra checked bag, same meal as C, an amenity kit, UC access, and extra RDM.

Pre-ordered meal: They've tried this before, right? The description said some meal choices would be "exclusive" to the pre-order site.

Drink voucher: Maybe they've noticed how many get traded on the Coupon Connection? This, too, would come with some online exclusives. Can we hope for a return of the Sunrise Sunset?

Economy Plus enhanced experience: Same seat as today but with an extra checked bag, same meal as in C, amenity kit, UC access, extra RDM.

Prepaid change fee: This would come at a discount compared to the usual $200 and up.

In-flight networking: This "Web-based platform" for professional networking struck me as a poorly-defined fusion of VX's in-flight chat with LinkedIn.

VIP airport experience: Concierges usher you through your departing and arriving airports, with UC access in between. AA already sells this, but only for C and F passengers.

The rest of the survey asked about my willingness to buy these things. I was asked to fill in numbers suggesting what I'd pay, after which came a round of screens in which I could vote yes/no on purchasing these on a hypothetical four-hour leisure trip with friends or family. Most offered a discount for buying two or three of these add-ons. Sample prices: wx delay protection $21, $30; prepaid change fee $70, $100; baggage valet $18 $25, $33; WiFi voucher $6, $8, $10, $17; Premium Economy $140, $200, $260; enhanced E+ $88, $125.

The last question asked was if there were any other new extras I'd be interested in paying for. What would you have suggested there? And did anybody else get this survey?

Bonehead

This one is intriguing:

Prepaid change fee: This would come at a discount compared to the usual $200 and up.

entropy

they used to have special meals.. lol, no more... AA does this now, I think most people appreciate the prebooking.


If it was the GS process and mercedes transfer... and IFL...



that would be nice, you're really getting the GF meal

MarkyMarc

Yep, I got this one last week. Basically, trying to gauge my price-point on up-sells and willingness to purchase other ancillary services. I found no value in some of the offerings and minimal value in others.

dcsnowwake

what do premier folks get then? a possible seat assignment withing 24 hours, ha

goodeats21

Yes, I got the same survey.

The pricing exercise was stupid when it came to the bundling. Buy 3 items and get 45% off? Sure, one Premium E+ at big bucks, then a drink and WiFi voucher to save hundreds. LOL

Also hard to give a standard answer at the beginning about how much premium E+ is worth when they don't indicate a distance/flight time.

One thing is certain...United is all about ancillary revenue.

MSPeconomist

Some of the questions suggest that UA is considering a Premium Economy separate cabin, with distinct fare classes, either to replace Y+ or in addition to Y+ on at least some flights.

This mirrors somewhat the recently announced DL decisions to enhance its Y+ experience (now called C+ instead of EC) starting March 1. Arguably DL is moving toward a separate Premium Economy cabin too with these changes. Although so far DL has apparently resisted this, they now sometimes refer to C+ seats as "upgrades."

DCA writer

And who isn't in the airline industry, WN aside?

I don't have a huge problem with an airline selling shortcuts around some of the inefficiencies of air travel as long as those inefficiencies aren't ones it created and those shortcuts don't cut into elite benefits. So I'm completely fine with UA selling discounted drink vouchers in advance as long as my humble Plat status gets me five for "free." Discounting UC access might not be so great--but if selling day passes helps pay for better food and (dare I dream?) better booze, that could be okay.

I should add that I was disappointed not to see any mention of options to prepay a small share of construction costs for a new C/D concourse at IAD.

elitefreak

Wow - free drinks in DL Comfort +? That's a change I would love for UA E+.

escapefromphl

I got this this morning. The message I got from it is that they want to make everything even more transactional, so everything is an add on and your loyalty is worth even less. Basically open your wallet.

wharvey

I found some of the options interesting... but almost all the price points were more than I would pay.

JBord

I just finished the survey. I agree completely. They obviously knew my status as certain items showed as "free". It made me think they're going to reduce benefits for elites, make us pay to add on those benefits, and offer them to non-elites at the same price.

Also clear to me is that even more than market testing potential products, they're really trying to zero in on optimal pricing.

The one I didn't understand was the PQM. How can I respond with what I would pay if I didn't know how many PQMs they were offering me? They kept offering different prices so I only said yes to the lowest price.

tealeaf99

Yes! According to Delta,

Enjoy an upgraded experience with more of the perks you need in Delta Comfort+. Take advantage of your time in the air with access to Sky PriorityŽ boarding1, dedicated overhead bin space, extra legroom, superior snacks, free drinks, and complimentary premium entertainment.

Yes, beer, wine and spirits are free. Also, the FA brings by a snack basket just to the C+ rows. The basket contains chips, chocolate, bananas and a few more items. It is similar to the basket that UA passes around in domestic first class.

PaulMCO

Maybe its a UA April Fools Joke

MSPeconomist

Yes, although the name has changed from Economy Comfort to Comfort Plus.

AA offers free snacks/drinks to EXPs in coach regardless of where they're sitting. Under the DL system, even DMs who don't book early enough to get a C+ seat--or who pick a preferred aisle over a middle C+ seat--lose, especially since DL has discontinued the free drink coupons that would print with coach boarding passes for elites and no longer allows the elite package free drink coupons to be used for snacks instead of alcohol.