Originally Posted by
Shareholder
AC is going this route on an interim basis to test the waters on two 777s, not fleet wide. It is reducing pitch and going 10 across in economy, so to appease critics it's providing this new in between Y and J cabin. AC's also made elite upgrading very restrictive.
E+ is too valuable for UA to change it. And now that DL and AA have adopted similar seating there's no chance of change. It, and other US carriers, substitute generous upgrading to C/J for elites over the true Economy Plus concept.
The long term trend for UA is to cut F and go with J only in front. With that as a given, let's assess the options.
For long-haul aircraft: What would be the pro's and con's of adding 6 rows of premium economy, then cutting a few rows of E+ and a few rows of E- to make up the difference?
Elites who want to pay Y can still get E+. Kettles still have E- at cheapest possible price. They can sell the Y(Premium) to some people at a higher price. They can peddle up-sell offers to everyone to get into Y(Premium). And, what they don't sell, they can upgrade elites from E+ to Y(Premium) for, say, half the miles it would cost to UG into J.
Seems to me this has something beneficial for everyone.