Originally Posted by
njcommodore
It's not exclusive to government fliers. Plenty of negotiated corporate contracts provide travel in full Y for a deeply discounted price. @:-)
The absolute highest corporate discount UA offers is 40% off Y fares, and that is probably only Fortune 250 corporations that are giving UA $50 million in business a year or more. The norm for $1-million plus spending is 20% and much higher might get 30%, and those don't book into Y.
The government fares are dramatically cheaper and book into Y.
Originally Posted by
chinatraderjmr
Enough w this govt fare nonsense. No one complains about employees of corporations that get 30-40% off Y & B fares so why complain about people on Govt fares. If UA feels the need to offer these fares to Govt employees & allow them to upgrade on them, that's their right & purely a business decision. If we don't like it, go to an airline that handles Govt fares differently. There is plenty to complain about I guess when it comes to CPU's (like TOD 's jumping the line, etc) but the Givt fare nonsense is just "over entitled" elites that think the world starts & ends w their upgrades. The more I read, the more I agree w that "over entitled" comment from last year even though most here on FT have taken what was said out of context & made it into a bigger problem then it is
This thread is about CPU rates and government fares jumping to the head of the line is a significant factor in causing the upgrade rates to decline.
A good example of whats going on - With Z Fares from LGA / EWR to Central America running apr $1000 r/t (including flights thru IAH & ORD) it's not hard to figure out why some upgrades that were always hard to get are almost impossible now (NYC-IAH / NYC-ORD)as an example). But I'd rather pay $1000 for a confirmed seat in F anyway then $699 for a W fare and the hope of an upgrade
Those are a very limited number of routes affected by Z fares. When I was a 1K in December and January, I couldn't even clear SFO-SAN. That wasn't because of Z fares.
Last year I was 31/32 for CPU's but aged 10 years
This year I'm 0/0 and a much happier person. I have my RPU's & GPU's for Hawaii & the occasional C-F on PS). the domestic first fares on the routes I take are so cheap now, I'd rather pay the few extra bucks and NEVER get another CPU in my life
Which is exactly what UA wants: dollars today versus long-run loyalty. At the same time, their customer satisfaction rate has dropped to the bottom of the barrel and profits are down. Yeah, they are doing a great job.
Originally Posted by
LarkSFO
Mods: please make it stop!
Just have one thread for people who would like to discuss - positive or negative - government fares! I personally will happily avoid that thread.
It is a significant factor on CPU upgrade rates. If you don't like it, you can just avoid all threads talking about CPUs.