Originally Posted by
FlyingBeanCounter
1. DL not only limited C+ to Platinum and above, but they limited the number of seats. I literally have to buy C+ tickets to get my family into C+. UA allows up to 8 right now. I would guess that they are trying to cater to their high dollar fliers without paying anything - make sure that C+ is available for that person spending $900 to fly ORD-MSY or whatever.
Right. DL seems to feel that this is necessary due to their smaller C+ cabins.
Originally Posted by
FlyingBeanCounter
2. I appreciate the screwing prior to Dec 31. I had already decided to leave UA, but if I had not this would have been a giant kick in the pants.
They've done nothing except create an E+ bundle -- something they've already had on their website for years. This entire thread is speculation about possible Premier devaluations.
Originally Posted by
FlyingBeanCounter
I am really confused by all of this - does UA not think their revenue will drop from this kind of behavior? Is there really that many people spending 20k+ a year traveling that they don't have to worry about the 10-20k people?
No matter what you may think of the motives of various corporate executives, none of them introduce a plan that they think will cause profits (not revenues) to drop.
Originally Posted by
STS-134
Only if no one buys the TOD upgrades to E+, which UA would offer for as little as $10.
They already offer E+ at whatever price point they want, first come, first served.
Originally Posted by
FlyingBeanCounter
So, either I am way wrong about the economics of air travel (which is possible) or UA is doing something extremely stupid and short sighted. Maybe the average air traveler will continue to fly whoever they fly no matter what. Maybe hub captive people will just accept everything the airlines force on them because they have no choice (in there mind). I don't know - but at some point this has to begin to look like a netflix-esque decision.
Again, they haven't done anything yet.
That said, UA is clearly betting on a strategy of "people will pay more to connect fewer times." While there is a great deal of competition domestically, there isn't much head-to-head, nonstop-to-nonstop competition.
Originally Posted by
j2simpso
Also and I could be mistaken here but I think DL’s equivalent of E+ is their PP so UA moving E+ to a separate cabin wouldn’t be a fare comparison with DL
You are mistaken. C+ and E+ are similar products. DL also has a PE product called Premium Select.