Originally Posted by
anc-ord772
I went free agent the past two years. I liked it. I was able to buy tickets on any airline I wanted at the best price/time/cabin. I'm still confused why that's good for UA, but it worked for me. Don't get me wrong, I still flew UA and star partners, but for a 75k a year traveler buying mixed fares and living in LA, loyalty doesn't make sense right now. I say that as a UA MM, so I have a backup.
I've been doing this for years. Why would anyone not book the lowest fare if the product is the same? However as an elite you still have several benefits that may cause you to pay a slightly higher fare on UA (you have to consider the TOTAL cost of travel and not just the base fare):
(1) E+ at time of booking. Some competitors do not really offer an E+ product (e.g. WN, AS) and for others it would be quite pricey for a family. I consider this a necessity and would value it at $50 one-way per person (maybe more for transcon or Hawaii)..
(2) Checked bags. For most vacations (except skiing) we average about 2 checked bags total for a family of 4. Free on UA, free on WN, free on AS and AA (credit card perks) so really only a strike against DL.
(3) EQM - I always need EQM so this has some value but only to me so a small factor when buying tix for a family of 4.
(4) CPUs - These come through more often than not to Mexico, less so on other trips. But this is really only a tiebreaker since it is not guaranteed.
(5) Nonstop flights - Can often get nonstops on UA from SFO v. connection on others. It's definitely worth $50 per person for me to avoid a connection, esp. for international flights.
So considering all these factors I will generally pay a higher fare to fly UA, but not significantly higher. Maybe $100 per person roundtrip. But this is also true for short flights on WN - I might pay a little more as the zero cancellation penalty is very handy (not to mention the value of using OAK though that's strictly personal).
Most years I fly a mix of UA, WN and sometimes AS (there is almost always a trip where the BofA $99 cert saves significant $$$).