Originally Posted by
Kacee
Given there's no option to buy out of that, it's purely punitive rather than revenue producing.
This stuff really only makes sense if you view BE as a stealth fare increase . . . the "we want to discourage passengers from buying these tickets and instead opt to pay $20 more" theory.
At the risk of sounding like an apologist for UA, I will differ with that.
UA didn't start competing with ULCCs when they introduced BE. But they lowered the fare well before introducing BE because they really wanted to attract no frills ULCC customers, but they had no choice but to offer this cheap fare to regular customers as well.
The the idea of BE came along, and the price they felt they needed to charge for no frills customer remained the same, but the price that offered more than what ULCCs were offering, i.e. Spirit's et al Bare Fare was raised to what UA felt it should have been all along.
Originally Posted by
Kacee
And just to be clear, I'm not saying UA actually has a stricter IRROPS rebooking policy for BE fares, just that I wouldn't be surprised if they do (and that it would be permitted under the CoC).
UA along with AA and DL offer WAY more frequence than ULCCs. If Spirit does not fly, you don't have the luxury of catching the next flight (well you do BUT) because that could be a couple of days as not all routes have daily service @:-)
Originally Posted by
rbAA
Yes, it allows UA to show their true customer service side. Call security and have those pax dragged out of the gate waiting area.
Spirit has the most complaints of any airline IIRC, so in a way UA is offering Spirit type service to BE customers.
The second statement is a red herring. Ya, UA screwed up big time (and more than once), but their exceptionally poor judgment is unrelated to BE (which many feel is also showing poor judgment).