Originally Posted by
CPRich
...I don't see a market for that type of a ticket. I suspect that all that competition didn't exist 10+ years ago.
Thai, Singapore, Emirates, Cathay - why would I pay more and travel longer on the product offered by a US airline vs. these.
I used these tickets for 13 years and while they weren't really cheaper for the Continental Europe - Oz run, the flights had much higher luggage limits (3x70lb vs. 2x20kg in *A and nothing extra on OW and the flights were upgradable).
4 returns made you 1K on UA and then just one return had to be upgraded by miles ...
You are right for today's situation, for several years now, upgrades are hard to come by and US airlines are inferior to all the competitors I recently flew. So I don't do it anymore and hence don't miss these fares.
Heck I remember that AA had really cheap EU-SIN flights which earned you 7-8K miles more than the direct route ...