Originally Posted by
halls120
I'm truly glad to hear that United is taking their new business class product seriously. That said, if they are going to continue to ignore premium economy, that isn't going to cut it. If I have to fly TATL or TPAC, if I can confirm an upgrade at purchase on United, I'll go that route. But if I can't, I'm going to pick the carrier that offers a reasonably priced premium economy seat, because if it comes down to having to sit in a 17.3 inch wide united economy plus seat or an 18-19 inch wide PE seat with 4 inches more pitch, that's an easy decision.
I agree and I think a premium economy product is becoming a competitive necessity between a full-flat business class product (sans F cabin) and a dense, slim Y cabin, even with extra legroom options available. United is able to gather good insight on the product from its JV partners and I am almost certain that we'll see plans for a W product once the Polaris rollout is completed.
From a sales and technology perspective, a W product seems to be a more difficult implementation because it involves an entirely new class of service, not just a refined version of an existing product. AA, for instance, is re-mapping its domestic fare buckets to accommodate PE booking classes, and it appears to be a major IT project. United, of course, continues to struggle in the IT department (with the latest example barely 12 hours old).
I'd rather see United focus its energy on hitting the mark with Polaris out of the gate, and once they are satisfied with that, shift gears to PE. Execution has been United's weakest point since the merger... no need to dilute things further with another massive project (a new class of service) until they prove they can get one big initiative right.