Originally Posted by flyerbaby19

Frequency is great. Business travelers love the options. My most frequent route (non UA obviously) is PEK SHA. I rarely fly the flight I booked. I get there, go to the standby counter and take the next flight. The fact that it runs every 30 mins is fantastic. Sometimes they run every 15 mins. If an airline offered hourly frequency only, I would not fly that airline. And I pay full fare tickets for all my PEK SHA flights so I can easily make these changes.

So I think there is a premium that business travelers will pay for the frequency. That may not be why UA runs them so close together, but I have to think the benefit of it is part of the calculation somewhere.