Originally Posted by
MatthewLAX
False alarm...for now.
United told me:
Thanks for reaching out ^
Confirms the filings are indeed a deliberate attempt to offer E+ as a fare, and the obvious fact that this is a limited rollout/test. Since there is no "Economy Plus" column yet on searches in those markets, I'm guessing the web design team is late with the front-end parts (too busy "improving" the seatmaps I guess
).
Originally Posted by
jsloan
It doesn't, yet. I think that findark started this thread because the use of B as a pseudo-E+ fare code is similar to DL. When DL made C+ a separate fare class, they also changed the way that they give it to Medallion members. Instead of selecting a C+ seat at booking, DL Medallion members have to be upgraded into C+. DL Platinum and Diamond members can get upgraded "shortly after ticketing" and seem to have last-seat (or near-last-seat) C+ availability. Gold members may be upgraded starting at T-72, and Silver members may be upgraded starting at T-24. And most DL Gold and Silver members can tell you how they lost their preferred C- aisle seat in favor of a C+ middle that they didn't really want.
Yes, I don't at all mean to imply that E+ at booking as going away for any elites - there just seems to be a lot of doom and gloom these days
That being said, I think a few things are extremely likely.
(1) This "test" is going to be successful and they will slowly roll out E+ as some kind of branded fare systemwide. Exec comments on earnings calls seem to make it clear they want to head in this direction.. perhaps market research and/or Delta-envy makes them believe they can make more E+ sales with it as a column at booking versus an upcharge on the seatmap. Perhaps in this economy with many more people willing to pay for a "premium experience" that's true.
(2) Overloading the B fare class like this is not sustainable. I don't think they can continue giving away PN space for the cost of a K fare plus the E+ differential, and so they probably need a long-term solution. The use of the ZZP fare type, piggy-backing on PE delegation to B, and auto-free-E+ all reek of "quick hack". It's unclear what the long-term solution is, but DL is probably a good model. It's worth noting that I don't think means moving E+ at booking up to Plat is imminent, just the cost-benefit tradeoff of it technically being a "cabin upgrade" rather than a seat selection (SDC bugs during rollout, "does a Silver want to be 'upgraded' to a middle seat?" etc).
It's also worthy of being a new thread solely to point out that a savvy FTer can force this new B fare before UA was "ready" for it if the cost is good for
(a) E+ access cheaper than on seatmap (I'm guessing this is unlikely, but it probably happens)
(b) extra 50% PQM
(c) instant upgrade
(d) much better SDC options since the app usually doesn't do the second inventory check