Originally Posted by
HNLbasedFlyer
No.
And, if you are strictly a price shopper, you aren't a target flier of UA - or, DL or AA or SWA. You are more a target of Frontier or Spirit.
Who isn't a price shopper these days, outside of corporate clients, especially on routes where more than one airline has a hub on either end? Scheduling isn't often a big issue for these trunk routes as multiple airlines have multiple flights/day. Points have been so devalued that it isn't really a reason for a casual flyer to choose one airline over another -- something I used to do around the turn of the decade -- keep all my flights within *A due to the 1:1 mileage earning.
F9/NK offer a true ULCC platform -- they often are the low price leader -- as long as you know what you're buying and can fly their sometimes limited schedules and limited ability to solve IRROPS issues.
I'd be curious who the people are who are filling those UA E seats -- late purchases where BE isn't offered anymore? Captive audiences? People not smart enough to realize it's cheaper on AA, DL or WN if they're buying up? Corporate clients? MileagePlus card holders (free checked bags)?
As someone mentioned, some of the search engines are now including the option to add in bag prices or only see fares that allow carry-ons. This means someone would have to actively *want* to pay more and choose UA, assuming competition on the route.
Edit: It totally makes sense on hub-spoke routes with no direct competition -- easy upsell since you don't have competition. What I'm getting at is it's on all routes... which makes them not really competitive with the other majors.