PDXPremier

I have waaaay more *free* (in F) viewing choices on DTV than I have on my basic cable at home...and I've never owned a $600 computer device that was portable and I have no desire to slowly attempt to "stream" entertainment on my $199 netbook

DaviddesJ

So much the better. Not very exciting to be right when everyone else is right also. It's when most people are wrong that the value of being right is the highest.

spin88

The options are not UAL and a crappy meal in F vs. UAL and paying $25 for a good meal in F, the choice is give my $800 to DL or AA of VX and get a good meal in F, and FREE IFE, or I guess you are proposing paying $800 to UA and then having to pay for the meal and pay for IFE. I would suggest that 95% of people are going to take the first options, not UA.

And after the first time you are asked to pay, you start to look at other options. Little things matter. e.g. I had a very nice meal last night in Seattle at a highly rated pan-asian restaurant. Food was good, had a nice $140 OR wine, and then asked for an espresso. Was told they only had Starbucks coffee and tea. I went "what"? So just got Sencha, it came in a metal pot like you get at a cheap-o Chinese restaurant with some of the cheap heavy white tea cups. Tea was fine, but the entire thing left me with a bad impression of my $350 (for two) meal and the entire experience.

yup

The Jefferson Street set have been patting themselves on the back for how smart they were. Cut and cheapen service, the world would still beat a path to their door, profits would be through the roof. Alas, has not worked out that way so far in the revenue department.

And I might add, that even Rah Rah UAL cheerleaders in the financial community have started to take note. As Hunter Keay posted recently:

"EPS ex-items of $1.35 was in line with our estimate, but UAL sold off during the earnings call on soft PRASM guidance. We try to avoid a singular focus on PRASM, but for UAL it’s becoming almost all that matters. For those who don’t like PRASM talk, we suggest you move on to the next research note. UAL just can’t produce three straight months of solid PRASM and it’s starting to dominate every conversation we have with investors about the stock. We can explain UAL’s CASM issues, most of which shouldn’t recur after 2013, but the poor revenue is harder for us to figure out."

its taken him a while to wake up, and why the revenue is poor should be clear to anyone with an IQ over 80, but the market is starting to wake up....

DaviddesJ

Don't people look at other options even when it's free? Common sense tells you that airport restaurants have better food than what's served for free in domestic F (not surprising given their facilities), the cost is negligible compared to the cost of the ticket in the first place, so buying food in the airport is a pretty logical thing to do if you have time. Are there people who don't do that just because the meal on board is "free"? It seems a false economy.

BearX220

Very often not -- that's the difference between loyalists and Kayakers. UA is creating a steady drumbeat of discouragements to loyal behavior which propel more and more once-steady customers into the consideration pool. They see what else is out there. They discover free IFE and more legroom on JetBlue, or more pervasive wifi on DL. They give the competition a try. Some never come back. UA has to acquire new customers to replace them, at considerable expense.

Slumping PRASM has a hundred minor culprits.

DaviddesJ

OK. I guess I just don't believe people are as clueless and stupid as you do. I think they are mostly making the choices they make for good reasons that have to do with their own personal preferences. Not ignorance and laziness.

CO_Nonrev_elite

As many of you have noted, UA has been refurbishing (for good or for bad) the 319, 320 and also 744 fleets. Adding wifi, streaming improving bins, and on the airbus swapping the seats to a newer design (again for good or for bad).

It has been noted that the new seats don't have power which seems on the surface to be utter stupidity when the whole wifi, and wifi streaming effort is based on United saying that they see the future of IFE being personal devices.

If you are on a 744 for 14 hours to OZ, or a 320 across the USA, it seems silly that UA is saying that the future is personal devices, but giving you no way to power your personal device.

Therefore, My question is do the new seats have power ports that are just not activated yet, or spaces for outlets that can be installed, or will UA have to undergo a seat replacement campaign in order to add power to these new seats ?

It seems utterly ridiculous, short sighted and really bad business to upgrade to having wifi, and installing new seats at the same time only to have to replace the seats in order to finish the job

UAL4life

This, a thousand times this! Very good question and point.

JDS747

Reread the first post in this thread from UAInsider. Simple answer is Yes, 110v outlets will be installed on the Airbuses and the 747s.

CO_Nonrev_elite

The question was actually if the power outlet space is already there and just needs activated or do the seats need replaced etc

SFO 1K

Pretty certain power can be added to the new seats. The power isn't part of the seat, it's a unit mounted under the seat bottom in a small bracket.

Hartmann

Yep. And currently the units are not installed.

flymd

As a longtime and loyal United flyer, I find these changes VERY disappointing! For longhaul flights, I prefer AVOD but for domestic flights I am totally fine with mainscreen entertainment options combined with audio and channel 9 that is free of charge. After the merger I personally avoided the CO 737's because I have no intention of paying $8 (X7 family members) for four hours of Direct TV. Furthermore, I absolutely love Channel 9.

No matter how you spin things, this is a downgrade!

-Channel 9 lost. Like others have said takeoff and landing are the best times for channel 9 and even if they bring it back, it will be unavailable during those times. And lets be real, if they really intended to bring it back, they would have figured out a way to keep it during the conversions

-Audio entertainment lost. Everyone seems to be looking at this from the point of view of the single flyer. When I fly with my family of seven, we are not going to bring (nor do we have) 7 Ipads, tablets, etc! Did UA even think about larger families travelling together or those without devices?

-Video entertainment lost.

-WiFi on board is of course an addition so a partial ^ but even this is cheapened by the charge (I know other carriers do it, but this does still cheapen it) and by the fact that this is the ONLY option. And when the wifi "upgrade" comes cramming in more seats and taking away entertainment options, it is hard to really become excited by this!

Obviously United is going to do with all companies do which is try to maximize profit and revenues. Considering the customer would be nice sometimes, but corporations do what they are going to do. What I really hate is the attempt to spin this as something exciting, innovative and new. If you are going to take away free services and replace them with pay services that require the customer to provide the devise, just do it and dont try to convence us that this is being done to provide us with better service.

I really don't see the difference now between domestic UA and the likes of WN. WN actually provides a better product!
UA WN
Bags Pay (unless you have status) Free for the first two
Snacks Pay Free
Audio (free) None None
Video (free) None None
Wifi At cost At cost
Aircraft LOTS of regional jets All mainline type aircraft

How the mighty have fallen and seemingly continue to willingly embrace that free fall!

PDXPremier

+1...all good points....

B787938

I have read the first post here from UA Insider and heard the company line around power in Y in the 744s in that power will installed nose to tail in 2013. It is now August and none of the 23 744s have power.