FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - United Adds 8 New Destinations for Summer 2025
Old Oct 12, 2024 | 6:20 pm
  #322  
hirohito888
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Originally Posted by Boraxo
FT members (and particularly those flying on OPM) are also the ones that make flights profitable. The "young of age" and expats visiting family typically buy the cheap seats. That will fill the plane but won't generate profits. This is one reason often cited for the lack of BKK flights (which would be more popular with UA MP members than all of these destinations combined)

I don't fault UA for adding new routes, I think we all celebrate that. I fault them for adding routes that IMO are inferior to other options given that every airline has a limited # of birds. But I don't have access to the market research.
But UA already makes revenue through their TPAC JV on routes to BKK. If MP members or FT members want to go to BKK, they will fly UA/NH to get there. If they don't like it and want a premium experience, they will pay to fly SQ/CX/BR. Will a SFO-BKK suddenly supplant and pull traffic away from SQ/CX/BR 1-stop? No idea. And how much more profitable will a SFO-BKK be compared to SFO-TYO-BKK? UA is not missing out.

And it's not very clear what makes a route "inferior to other options." Is IAD-DSS inferior? And compared to what? SFO-BKK?
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