Originally Posted by
3Cforme
Look at the rates of growth in RPMs over the last decade of JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier as a group vs. AA/UA/DL. Low fare carriers can't be ignored. Deride it all you want - DL starting making the effort with basic economy fares five years before UA did.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyl...at-assignment/
I would agree with this. The only difference is that UA's pricing strategy (at least for now) makes no sense if they intend to compete with ULCC's. BE's are far pricier on many legs on UA. There is no reason in the world that anyone looking for the best bare-bones price would even go with UA's excessive BE rates.
This is why I believe UA is using this as a rate hike excuse.... maybe after a while, they will adjust the BE prices down to be more competitive with ULCC's, but then leave the cheapest non-BE base fare at the raised rate... Hmm...