With all of the changes recently, I am convinced that the new United has completely lost touch with the over-entitled elite business traveler.
As I see it, the frequent business traveler has a number of specific needs:
1. Compliance with corporate travel policies
2. Reduce or eliminate as much down time pre- and post-flight
3. Maximize productivity during flight
4. Minimize the disruption of business activities during irregular operations
5. Manage the physical impact of flying
There are many benefits that United provides or provided that were designed to meet those needs. A great example of this is Economy Plus. To me, the greatest advantage of E+ is the ability to work on a laptop even when the person in front of me decides to recline. In E-, this is impossible. For a four hour flight, that is the difference between four hours of productivity and four hours wasted. For this reason, I'm glad United kept E+.
Many of the changes to United work great for infrequent travelers, but they raise havoc for the business traveler. For example, let's look at the new ability to price specific seats in a seat layout. This is a nice way of upselling seats, but what happens when you have irregular operations? Or if you need to change your flight because a business meeting was cancelled?
Speaking of irrops, one of the fantastic benefits of 1K in particular is the way that the agents had the flexibility to handle challenges, especially given the weather conditions that often plagued Chicago. As a 1K, I flew with confidence that even if something were to happen, someone would take care of me and make sure that I got to my destination as smoothly as possible. A less flexible reservation system means that irrops now have a greater impact on my ability to do business. I no longer have the confidence that United will do what is necessary to get me to where I need to be. If I have a three day trip, and now I will be a day late, that has massive impact to my business meetings etc.
For upgrades to first class, this is more than just a perk. Advantages of upgrades are a) increased productivity during the flight; and b) managing the physical impact of flying. For the frequent business traveler, these are very meaningful, much moreso than for the infrequent traveler. Likewise, if practically everyone can use the priority lanes in the airport for check-in and security, then that makes pre-flight downtime longer, since priority becomes less meaningful, and once again cuts into productive work time.
Downtime at an airport and on a plane means that I have to make up the work during my personal time. Multiple that by five or more flights a month, and you have seriously cut into time with family, time with friends, work/life balance, etc., some of which are already impacted by nights spent away from home.
Thus far, virtually all changes have been designed to maximize revenues from infrequent travelers while building replicable systems and processes. And I'm certain that they will win all kinds of consumer awards for their efforts. But in doing so, I believe United underestimates how much they are alienating their business flyer base.