unavaca

As someone who's flying on their own dime, the ability to fly across the country for less than $400 is amazing.

I think the reality is that the number of people willing to pay for those experiences are dwindling and appear to be best served by the private/fractional jet companies these days.

jasondc

they had those flights way after deregulation - through the '90s and early 2000s..

Madone59

Because they clearly arn't thinking of FTers I'd hop on that flight every chance I could.

burlax

What's caviar?

vnatraj

What happens when there is a flight change at the last moment from a 2-class to a 3-class plane? In that case how does the CPU work? Are only those who purchased FC tickets eligible for UG to F on the 3-class plane, and premiers who purchased economy tickets get added to the UG list for C?

golfingboy

Yup. Basically, those who purchased F or C will now be eligible to upgrade to F, and premiers in Y who were on the waitlist for F/C will be transferred to the waitlist for the C cabin.

1KPath

I hear what you are saying...I was paying an advanced purchase fare of $375 to $400 from LAX-BOS in 1973!...and just paid $389 on B6 from LGB-BOS for Mrs. 1K and me to attend a wedding next month. But I disagree that the private/fractional jet options are options, especially for small and medium sized businesses...just too rich for our blood...while it is a better option for those businesses that are able to pay for full F fares for their staff, those of us that are limited to pay "only" full fare Y are stuck with the limited service options aimed at the discounted fares of the Kayak flyer! There is too big of a gap between the two levels of service. Fortunately, most of my flying is international these days...usually on foreign carriers, so the service in Y is at least decent compared to the US counterparts!

unavaca

Yes, and the airlines were losing money hand over fist at the time. They had aligned their prices with the deregulated environment, but they hadn't re-aligned the product.

It is, indeed, amazing. For the curious, $400 in 1973 is equivalent to $1,940 today after accounting for inflation. Truly amazing.

golfingboy

That is why we need a time machine. So I can go back to 1950-1960 and I won't have to work

Beerman92

This will depend on the F fare purchased. Many F fares (F) will book directly into first on whatever United plane is used - no need to upgrade.

Discounted F fares (P, A) frequently book into business. Before the merger they used to book into D (I think) which could be upgraded but at some point there was a change where they started booking into Z which could not be upgraded.

Given the current state of United it would be a good idea to check the fare rules on any premium fare purchased to see what should happen on a plane swap so you can improve your chances of actually getting what you paid for if there is a swap.

fly747first

Really? I find the F seats on the UA 763s to be more slanted than on the 744 and 772s and thus aren't my favorite.

golfingboy

You are right. I think A will book into the front cabin as it is still considered an F fare, at least according to UA.

As for upgrades, Z is eligible for CPU/RPU/GPU on domestic routes.

FlightNurse

Yes, those who paid for the seat get's the FC seats, and of course it goes depending on fare type too, once F is full then those who didn't make it to F go to the J seats, at times and it all depends on the time frame on the swap. if there is time, the flight might be catered as a 3 class flight, but mostly it depends on the notice of the swap. The flight would be catered as a 2 class flight so the people in the J seats would just benefit from the nice seats.. Happened to me a couple of times... On both AA and UA.