Well said. I see myself as a loyal flyer and not a fan. I choose to fly UA because I am based out of IAD. Obviously, a hub-based airline is going to offer me greater schedule flexibility.
However, I no longer give UA my business for all of my weekly travels. If an itinerary includes Mesa, I purchase elsewhere. If UA opts to price themselves at double or triple the fare of others, I bypass UA as well. All of my DC-NYC travels now go to jetBlue. My flights to ATL are DL and DTW/MSP go to NW.
It also irks me greatly that the morning flights between IAD-ORD do not serve breakfast in C/F class. Breakfast is served on UA every other east coast-ORD morning flight. I feel this is done because they do need to provide the meal due to lack of competition. Great way to treat your loyal flyers....
Originally Posted by
UA_Flyer
Good thread. I ponder about UA and my own loyalty to UA as I have experienced more flying on UA this year than anytime since I joined M+.
There have been a lot more negativities in this forum since UA came out of Ch 11. I've also begun to see some of the long time UA supporters and respectable FTers in this forum starting to be less supportive and have shown more frustrations.
I think some of us flying UA are not just based on airline loyalty anymore....some, as I have observed in this forum and at FT meets, are actually FANs of UA. There is a difference between a fan and a loyal flyer. A UA fan is no differnet than a fan of a sports team. A UA fan will live and die defending UA, flying UA and cheer for UA no matter what happens. A loyal flyer will switch his loyalty because there are more important things to worry about.
Anyway, my loyalty with UA is really on the fense. Either I turn into a fan soon or I will find another carrier and change my FT handle (to be less airline specific) soon.
