Originally Posted by
jsloan
Is this a close-in flight?
There have been a few examples of this, where UA is trying to compete with a low-cost ULCC fare without destroying their pricing power for business travelers. So far, they've all been 0-advance purchase G-BN or K-BN fares that don't have a corresponding regular economy fare.
Basically, it's an example of UA attempting to use BE for what they said it was for -- ULCC competition -- instead of simply as a fare increase.
Likely the case here. As an example, UA294 today SFO-DFW is showing a $61 BE fare with a massive $444 upcharge. They aren't really matching a ULCC, though, but it does make sense to capture the last minute non-biz travelers I suppose.