Originally Posted by
Chevelter
UA currently flies three direct flights ORD>AVL per day, at 8:47am, 1;10pm and 7:50pm. As of October 26, the first two direct flights will be discontinued, leaving only a 7:30pm direct flight left. This is very odd, since all the flights to Asheville have been packed in my experience.
When searching flights ORD>AVL for October 26 and beyond, only two options show up online. 7:30pm flight direct to AVL arriving 10:27pm for $166, or 9am connecting flight through Newark arriving AVL 3:22pm for $800+
This is all about the loss of yield and network. System wide United has badly trailed Delta and AA in yield growth, and while it used to be higher than both, is now lower (by a lot) than DAL, and I think AAL as well.
This has happened by a loss of High Value traffic to DAL and AAL. Those buying lots of last minute flights, paying 25-50 c/mi, have switched away from UAL in large numbers. United offers an overall sub-par travel expereince, and the RJ expereince is particuarly poor. DAL offers some mainline, and people switch.
This is especially so in the SE, once US left, as the network is too thin to retain many folks who have stuck with United, despite all the cuts. So at this point, with many fewer HVFers, running expensive RJs is a big looser. Unable to compete United tries to cut frequency, and hopes that the few remaining HVFers it has (now on three flights on that routing) will now be consolidated on one (or two) and it will suddenly be profitable.
But we all know how this story ends. More of United elites throw in the towel, switch to DAL or AAl (or SW) and then the one (or two flights) become equally unprofitable, and United also looses those fliers on connecting flights as well, system suffers more relative loss of yield.