Originally Posted by
Unitedloyalflyer
and given the fact that the seats are usually sold out up front without upgrades, isn't that a sign UA is not charging enough for the front cabins?
HNL and OGG are the very definition of premium leisure routes where people are willing to pay a premium.
I've long argued those routes would have enough demand for an international F cabin and service. Maybe an F-O-Y config would work there
Just because the fares in Y are dirt cheap, does not mean the upfront fares also need to be
Hawaii has a relatively unique demand curve as there is almost no business travel when compared to almost any other market. A cabin sold or mostly sold 14 days in advance is often all the demand they will get, whereas for a more typical route the lion's share of the revenue hasn't booked yet at the 14-day mark. So looking at "far out" loads for Hawaiian markets can be very misleading.
Keep in mind that EWR-HNL is longer than almost any TATL operation except the West Coast (DEN-FRA is barely longer than EWR-HNL). People are absolutely
not going to pay a meaningful premium to a leisure destination, especially a domestic leisure destination. How many $8,000 round-trips do you really think UA can sell? First fares to Hawaii would be front-page news in Premium Fare Deals if they were offered in international markets at the same stage length, which might help to keep it in context. If UA could easily and reliably collect $8k D fares by the bundle, they would be doing this and flying Polaris equipment.