How did they get to the prices of the "premium" wines in the United Club?
 

I never drink when flying but while sitting on an incredibly dirty seat for hours in Boston today, I kept looking at the premium wine list and wondered how they calculate the price (let alone charge what they do/consider it a premium). Searching for prices at Binny's (the Chicago place I get wines):

Wine/UC Price/Binny's Price for a Bottle

Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio/$12/$17.99
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc/$14/$12.99
Groth Sauvignon Blanc/$12/$18.99
Rombauer Estate Chardonnay/$14/not available
Franciscan Estate Chardonnay/$12/not available
Mark West Pinot Noir/$13/$9.99
Rutherford Hill Merlot/$14/$17.99
Terrazas 'Las Compuertas Vineyard' Malbec/$15/not available
Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon/$15/$45-55 depending on year
Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvignon/$13/$14.99
Mionetto Brut Prosecco DOC/$12/$10.99
Veuve Cliquot Brut Yellow Label/$14/$41.99

The pricing makes no sense relative to the actual price!

There is no such thing as an "actual" price or better put, whatever you are asked & willing to pay is the "actual" price at the moment.

The same way most retail businesses get to a price. Market tolerance. Has zippo to do with what the product cost and everything to do with what UA's experience is with what customers will pay.

My guess is that customers at UC's are relatively price insenstive. They see a wine which interests them and they order a glass, the slip comes and they pay it.

Have you never eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant and gotten a bottle of wine? By no means am I comparing the experience - but the reality of pricing "what the market will bear". As noted above, many UC member are price-insensitive, as it all goes on the AmEx CC.

Agree that pricing is what the market will bear. As a self-professed wine snob, I chuckle at the offerings and pricing of "premium" wines in UACs. It's like buying wine at Costco: a majority of the "premium" offerings (at least near me) are from California and Italy, and are names (Jordan or Silver Oak, anyone?) the casual wine drinker will know, while an educated wine shopper can do much better at that price point.

UAC (and Costco) are catering to a target demographic and I do not fit.

I think replies #2 and 3 are missing the OP's point, which is that club pricing is not a consistent markup over (retail) pricing.

e.g. club charges $13 or so whether the bottle retails for $9 or $49

Seems like the Veuve champagne or Jordan Cab is the best "deal", if you enjoy it.

Maybe they got a great price on it, or it fell out of the back of a truck!

they sat around drinking a bunch of it, and afterwards, threw some numbers together, and said "yep, that looks good"

Personally, I don't regard those wines on the list as "premium." IMO the pricing is based on popular impression and name recognition.

But then again, I'm a regular drinker of 2-and-a-half-buck chucks and screw top table wines from California regions not named Napa or Sonoma, so what do I know.

I agree completely. All the wines listed are low-end or mid-range at best. But that's not really the market in the UC, so they are fairly appropriate for that venue.

Some of those can be pretty tasty.

I ordered a Jack Daniels on the rocks at the SFO UC. It was something like $11.00.

I remember thinking I could probably do better at a bar in the terminal.

A little OT, but this year's Nouveau, which is styled like a Beaujolais Nouveau by not aging in oak, is delightful.

I think the United Clubs, at least the California ones, can differentiate themselves by cutting out the pretend premium and doing something like showcasing (i.e. marketing) wines from different California regions. I'd be into $5-10 for an obscure winery or some interesting Zinfandel. I won't hold my breath in seeing that anytime soon, tho.

That would be great and make it a true "premium" experience.

No, I am not. My point remains clear. Neither OP, nor you nor I have a clue what UA pays at wholesale for any given bottle. As an example, wholesale marketers driving the market may well sell a bottle to a commercial establishment for far less than its ordinary wholesale price in order to promote a specific product.

For all we know, UA marks up every glass by roughly the same %. Or, it marks up wines in demand by more and so on.

If you really want to see how crazy their pricing is, check out the retail price of a 750ml bottle of Hennessy XO, then compare it to the United Club's pricing of a single 1.5oz pour.

Yes indeed.
And it is highly regrettable the days where you could sneak
in your own bottle of wine for a long flight are long gone ...

LOL
Alaska/Horizon is doing that already on some flights, in fact, they're
giving away cups with decent wines twice as large as the ua cups !
All from Washington wineries (I think)

Sorry, but I don't find your point clear at all.
I read recently an article on wine pricing at restaurants-and how they mark it up. The article posited that rest. that should earn your business should charge 2-2.5 times the price the consumer can purchase the bottle for themselves. Many places charge a lot more than that. So if you figure 4 glasses per bottle, UA prices appear to be very high albeit inconsistent. With a nice restaurant you could argue you are paying for the intangibles. You can not make the same claim at a crappy airport lounge...

Also have to disagree with your statement about how companies price their goods. You state it has nothing to do with cost.
It's incorrect. Lets say, a company made widgets that cost 5 to make (a fact you say is irrelevant). Now lets say market bears 3. Is $3 going to be what they charge? They'd be out of business pretty quick.
With all due respect, it's just plain silly to say a products cost to make has nothing to do with the price.