United PR

Hi Folks,

Keep an eye out for our second IPTE-reconfigured 777 aircraft, (we bet you can figure which is the second!) as we’re interested in your feedback regarding a new onboard option in United Economy that features a wider selection of movies, music, and other entertainment choices. For a small fee, customers seated in Economy can enjoy the same inflight entertainment programming as those seated United First and Business – $6 if a flight is under 6 hours and $10 if a flight is more than 6 hours. Simply swipe your credit card, sit back and enjoy.

Of course, customers in Economy will still have complimentary access to the standard On-Demand programming of several movies, television programs and audio options.

As more B777 planes get reconfigured, we’re planning to offer this option on more aircraft. Let us know your thoughts (like we had to ask!)

Thanks,

United PR

channa

Charging for TV in Economy? Taking a page out of CO's playbook I see.

entropy

dammit, I guess CO IS calling the shots at the New United.

Is this fee going to get waived for Premiers?

ua_to_ord

Ancillary revenue helps keep fares lower. And the new fee is for a truly new service offering, not for something that previously was free. It sounds like a smart move to me. ^

mudba

Can you give me an example of what is free vs what costs extra?

JohnnyJet

And the "ancillary revenue" will do nothing to keep fares lower...

channa

Ha! What world do you live in?

Never seen a fare drop because of bag fees, res fees, food feeds, etc. Not expecting any drop here.


It has nothing to do with new service offering. It has to do with what competitors are doing. If the VS's and BA's and NH's and SQ's of this world are offering comparable content for no additional charge, well, then UA is at a disadvantage here.

I think even DL comps the premium content for Y on their system.

entropy

do you think UA is going to charge -$0.20 per ticket on a pro-rata basis? The two are unrelated. UA thinks they can bring in more money without pissing people off enough to change. Do you think $9 beers keep baseball tickets lower too?

Pat Plus

The question is really: what is the 'standard on-demand programming' and what does the fee buy?

I am not completely opposed to this, yet I have no intention of sitting in economy, be it on an IPTE aircraft. But I have to ask whether the basic service is improving or whether United now wants to charge for something that used to be free. Customers used to have 9 movie channels and something like 20 music channels on the 777. Of course, movies were not on demand. Is the new free offer equivalent or better than the previous offer, or not? How does it compare to the offer on the 767?

PS: Customers who sit in economy on the 747 for more than 6 hours should get a voucher for free movies on their next trip on the 777

bbelovic

I just wish this was complimentary at least for TATL and TPAC routes. Those are long flights, and generally profitable routes, and this is where the competition has the strongest offering and this is where your really "need" good IFE.
I understand from the original posting there is some free content, but I wonder how much - I guess depending on how much one gets for free (well, not free, BUT included with their fare) this becomes more or less of an issue.
But given that even though UA new IFE in C and F is great, it still lacks in content/quantity behind some other carriers, I wonder if content in Y will be bare minimum.

kevincrumbs

I'm conflicted about this.

On one hand, I think that charging for any sort of extra like this makes UA seem minor league compared to the competition on this route. As others have noted, competitors offer much better IFE selections in Y without needing to charge their customers for it.

However, I can see how people are stating that the existing IFE product will remain free and that customers now have the option to purchase something that was once not available to them at all. If you don't like it, don't buy it but at least the option is there. In addition, is this so different than, say, NH charging for C snacks & food in the Y cabin?

gbsfo

I just had the pleasure of Y on a SFO-LHR trip on one of the new 77Q's. To be honest UA's AVOD is PITIFUL compared to other carriers, even their (sometimes much) older systems.

I believe we had the choice of 7 movies, or something close to it. Even in C/F there are not THAT many choices based on what I have experienced. By comparison SQ in old regional business class had about 80 movies on their old version of Krisworld, and I remember Emirates had hundreds for free in Y when I flew them from AKL-MEL a couple of years back.

If you fly often or go to the odd movie at the cinema then a choice of 7 is simply DIRE for AVOD, especially on a 10 hr flight.

ptspellman

I personally have no problem with this and, while like other posters, I avoid sitting in coach like the plague I don't mind paying for add on services. I had a CO flight with directv and I thought it was well worth $6 or whatever they charged.

If I had to load my iPad with movies it would cost me a lot more than $10. I'm sure United has to pay $ to Hollywood every time they load movies so someone has to pay.

It is more than that in C/F. Usually 15 or so movies from within the last year and another 30 or so beyond that. I can always find 3-4 that I haven't seen.

gbsfo

I meant there are not really that many in the grand scheme of things. Not that there are not more than 7. My last trip in Y was my only international sector in Y on UA for about 3 years, so I've been in C/F enough to know the movies.

BTW, there are never 15 new movies and 30 plus older ones in the new C/F IFE (45 different movies total, not inc. TV shows here, movies). You do know they repeat the same movies under different categories right?

Still pitiful compared to other carriers.

notquiteaff

So only the second aircraft has it for now and only some of the future reconfigs will offer it? If so, why the inconsistency?

Some more info on what the $6/$10 actually buy would be helpful. I don't think I have to actually fly on the aircraft to comment on whether I'd like it -- just show me a list of what's free and what costs extra