trekwars2000

Man, before the change to the wines all the wines were of nice quality and were priced per glass at about what it would cost to buy that portion of the bottle at retail. (i.e. the Montelena Cab retails at $50ish and a glass was $12)

bldr1k

Either they are trying to ripoff people who don't know wines or they don't know what they are doing. Normally companies try to achieve a consistent GP margin on products.

If you buy the better wines the prices are about the same as a typical restaurant. I am willing to pay 2X the amount a bottle costs in a club or restaurant. For example, Rombauer Chardonnay is $35 a bottle (most places don't even carry it since it is in high demand) and the United Club charges $14 a glass. This is less than 2X markup. I drink this all the time.

If the United club raised the price to $25 a glass I would stop buying it.

I'm sure some moron finance guy at United will read this forum and increase the prices of the better wines...

entropy

United had a complete change in philosophy with the premium wine program as it existed in both lounges before.

On PMUA, you had all drinks for a fee (a nominal fee for the kind of stuff they are serving now, and more premium wines that were more expensive) however, int'l travelers were given two chits that were redeemable for 2 plonk drinks (1 chit each) or 1 premium drink (2 chits).

On PMCO, you had (barely) potable wines for free. Then they introduced a "Premium Wine" program that actually had quite decent bottles and they were offered basically at cost.

Now, we have mediocre wines at premium prices. Not flyer friendly at all.

l etoile

Folks,

If you want to invite an argument (as suggested in a post I deleted), take it off the boards by mutual decision, but understand your PMs are also subject to the rules of FlyerTalk, so no personal attacks, etc.

Moderators follow the rules. We delete disruptive posts, bickering and personal attacks. There was a request to delete for arrogance - that's not in our rules and is quite subjective.

Please be responsible for your words. Moderators do our best as volunteers, but if posters would think before hitting "submit" perhaps they would get the "more respectful" board many say they want. Understand we also are not responsible for the policies of an airline that many come here to vent about.

l'etoile
UA moderator

SkiAdcock

Cheers.

LaserSailor

Normally, companies try to maximise the GP on their products. UA is doing this in the UC by pricing to what they think the UC market will bear.

If thy are guessing this is higher than the retail market, they are probably right. I routinely see people dropping 10 bucks for 2-3 glasses of premium wine in the UC.

That would be a Herculean task indeed.....not that my house isn't made of glass.....

billybligh

Restaurants will typically charge the bottle price for one glass. Seems the united club model and your wine store prices are kind of close to this. Keep in mind these premium wines are still cheap wines and you never know what united is paying. I would guess a good discounted price on an already low end 7-9 dollar bottle. I'm not knocking united in any way here, pretty standard house wine wise as compared to restaurants near us here in Hollywood. As a matter of comparison The Lufthansa first lounge has really nice wines that are 40-50 a bottle in the local store. Holding that up as our high end in the market i'd say united club has made the decision to be average in quality and price.

I'm assuming you have you tried the free bloody Mary already.

UnitedFlyGuy

They're charging what people will pay for them. The wine is selling (except for this drop in the bucket elitist DYKWIA crowd on FT) so they have it priced exactly right.

billybligh

I don't share your anger or dissatisfaction but you are right in your own special way. If you put the Jordan cab next to the other wines they are all mediocre. The 45.00 retail is a gimmick. 'They' have it priced exactly right. These wines are all 12 retail per bottle quality.

bldr1k

I wouldn't waste my time going to a restaurant that does this. Even in Las Vegas they are are not marked up 4X.

The majority of restaurants I eat in mark wine up 2-2.5X (and I eat out 250 nights a year).

billybligh

So we agree. 4x wholesale from young's market or a local wine distributor is fair and standard, I work around restaurants and eat out 80% of the time as well.

2x markup on a whole foods or safeway priced bottle is exactly the same. I am just talking about a restaurant's or club's cost and their price.

Call Jordan vineyards and order 100 cases Not to rain on any savvy wine spectating in the lounges but I would be pretty certain that bottle is 8-10 and totally fair to sell at 12.00 per glass.

LaserSailor

I think you misread 'anger' for 'reality' in his post. When I see people on FT complaining that they have to pay for alcohol on a TRANSPAC like its a social injustice, that behavior tells UA they could charge well over retail on the ground. Thats capitalism.

billybligh

I was referring to the "drop in the bucket elitist dykwia" comment. I had a great year at 50+ and 103k and like I said just dont share that outlook. I find the people that KWIA and carry on. The thread is about wine pricing. I have experience in that, trolling not so much.

LaserSailor

I think his/her comment about the pricing was correct by both my guess and backed by what I observe in the UC.

I haven't tried Drop in the Bucket - is there a good year to look for?

JC5280

Could be true, but then they will discover the magic of Coravin, which eliminates any possibility of "spoiled wine". http://www.coravin.com