Less people flying Business class out of ORD?
Aug 22, 2012 | 1:08 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Colorado
Programs: United MM (formerly 1K), Marriott Lifetime Gold
Posts: 550
Less people flying Business class out of ORD?
Flew out on flight 938 from ORD to LHR on Monday. I had booked the ticket about 2 weeks prior to the flight and was able to confirm the upgrade at booking. I was surprised to see at least 4 empty business class seats on the flight. Wasn't sure if that was attributable to late summer travel, flying on a Monday, AA getting a bunch of UA business, or something else.
Aug 22, 2012 | 5:25 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: UA GS>1K>Nothing; DL DM 2MM; AS 75K>Nothing>MVP
Posts: 9,413
Mostly late summer so less business travelers, but I also think that excessively high fares for J and C have caused quite a few companies to rethink travel policies that allow J on international flights.
Aug 22, 2012 | 6:26 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
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I've found the HKG upgrades are much, much easier, though that's more probably due to CX entering the market. Competition's a great thing 
Aug 22, 2012 | 5:17 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: ORD
Programs: nobody
Posts: 1,837
I have to say CX took a big chunk of that business away from UA. In addition, I still believe UA shoot themselves in the foot by switching HKG-SIN to CO 738. If HKG is not their final destination, I think most people would route through NRT-SIN instead to stick with UA program. Will see how the C seats fill up when 895/6 doing HKG-SIN run again.
Aug 24, 2012 | 2:58 pm
#7
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Paris, France
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Posts: 749
I noticed the same thing on my flight MUC-ORD last week when 1/3 of the J-class seats remained empty...while F-class was full however
Aug 24, 2012 | 3:54 pm
#9
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Tulsa, OK
Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver, SPG Plat, Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,264
I noticed the same thing on my flight MUC-ORD last week when 1/3 of the J-class seats remained empty...while F-class was full however
Aug 24, 2012 | 7:13 pm
#10
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: USA
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I can see how some of the ORD-LHR passengers would have switched to AA. I can't imagine ORD-MUC passengers switching to AA, but possibly to LH.
I had booked ORD-FRA in C that downgraded to old C at T-48 and asked to switched to the IAD-FRA flight for lie flats. Unfortunately the connecting flight to IAD went mechanical, so eventually had to go through EWR. Although LH doesn't have lie-flats on the business class, I don't think there is a reason to fly UA TATL as they can always downgrade to old business class seats. If you are buying economy and upgrading with SWUs, that's a different story.
I had booked ORD-FRA in C that downgraded to old C at T-48 and asked to switched to the IAD-FRA flight for lie flats. Unfortunately the connecting flight to IAD went mechanical, so eventually had to go through EWR. Although LH doesn't have lie-flats on the business class, I don't think there is a reason to fly UA TATL as they can always downgrade to old business class seats. If you are buying economy and upgrading with SWUs, that's a different story.
Aug 24, 2012 | 7:55 pm
#11
Join Date: Sep 2009
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Aug 24, 2012 | 10:09 pm
#13
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I have to say CX took a big chunk of that business away from UA. In addition, I still believe UA shoot themselves in the foot by switching HKG-SIN to CO 738. If HKG is not their final destination, I think most people would route through NRT-SIN instead to stick with UA program. Will see how the C seats fill up when 895/6 doing HKG-SIN run again.
Also UA 116/117 (HKG-SIN-HKG) is scheduled to switch back to 744.
Aug 24, 2012 | 10:38 pm
#14
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: CHA
Programs: UA 1K 1MM
Posts: 43
I have to say CX took a big chunk of that business away from UA. In addition, I still believe UA shoot themselves in the foot by switching HKG-SIN to CO 738. If HKG is not their final destination, I think most people would route through NRT-SIN instead to stick with UA program. Will see how the C seats fill up when 895/6 doing HKG-SIN run again.
