Perhaps on domestic flights. The international food choices (TATL at least) are reasonably good. I've compared them within the last 6 months to both BA and VS - not that different (although wines are on the other two are certainly better!)

i would argue this is in line with the value of the product. what UA needs to do is either (a) lower the prices of P to sell those seats outright given their current value, or (b) increase the value proposition of the product to command the fares they are currently charging ($5000+). i'd give NZ the $5000 for a confirmed J seat because the product kicks @**. UA, not so much.

the prices that really make me cringe are for P fares on the premium TCON products for all airlines. give me a break, $3000 round trip SFO-JFK??? i hope that when B6 starts flying their Mint product in earnest they put some downward pressure on prices and things level out around $1500-2000, but i'm probably dreaming.

Here in Australia we have seen all the same mistakes that are constantly made by bad airline managements, whether it's SMI/J at UA or Alan Joyce at Qantas or a hundred others in the past. Only when these blunders are reversed will the premium flyers return.

-Blunder #1: Bad industrial relations. Airlines with a divide between management and employees are always lousy places to fly. Do you notice how the bad airline-managers always blame someone else - often the staff and unions - for their own mistakes?

- Blunder #2: - Bad IT - think of SHARES or the web page of any failed airline

- Blunder #3: Bad resource deployment: follows on from bad IT and a misplaced desire to work the resources harder - results in stranded pax with no substitute aircraft at IRROPS, crew in the wrong place, and a deteriorating unacceptable on-time record

- Blunder #4: Failed grandiose schemes: Like the grandiose QF/EK plan [following the failed QF/MH and QF/NH plans] perhaps the UA/CO merger was a grandiose idea but just not a viable proposition

and Blunder #5, not yet tried by SMI/J but will doubtless come: Setting up an LCC to compete with your mainline flights. Think of Ted at UA, JetStar at Qantas and a dozen other failures [JQ still looks good on paper, but only because most of its costs are charged to mainline Qantas]

To get the HVF's back SMI/J and SHARES must go

Premium cabins full? Open seats each way in Biz this week SFO-SYD Sunday/Friday. On a 772.

This is delusional and some people seems to think that only F and J are HVF. They are wales. People who fly Y,B, P,M, H are HVF when they book one of these fares for a meeting within the next two weeks. These are the bulk of those leaving forcing too many sales in R,S,T, and Q. There just are not enough F and Js to make the world go round.

I think United management has made some progress to recognise high value flyers, through the GS program, lie flat beds and investment in new aircraft.

My suggestions to bring passengers back after myself being GS for 7 or so years would be:

1 Ongoing innovation on the business/first product. After the new lie flat beds, innovation largely stalled, whereas one notices BA and VS has continued to make ongoing efforts to relaunch their offering

2 Car service to final destinations, perhaps only for F and GS, but some sort of improvement to the current product, (say only for full fare passengers initially)

3 Technology - the new app and website is a huge improvement over legacy UA technology, but is still patchy when it comes to overall delivery

4 On board - food and beverage options remain lacking when compared to EU and Asian carriers, and barely comparable to US competition

Y/B/M, absolutely. P, not so much. P fares often sell for 10 cpm. That's definitely below what UA would like to make on its premium cabin seats. Y/B/M on the other hand are often 30 cpm or higher.

Yup, I just booked an H fare yesterday to fly SFO to MSP on Monday. Only seat I could get was 36B on an A320. And was only flight from SFO-MSP on Monday (even looking at connections) that met company guidelines for fare paid. But even the ones that didn't meet the guidelines are all full.

What I want is a feeling that the airline actually cares about their passengers and their product instead of projecting the image that all they care about is how much they can swindle out of us and prod us like we are a bunch of cattle. There are competitors and choices and United is losing. This isn't like Comcast where you can't get internet anywhere and are stuck paying even after they give you a big F U. I feel like United is trying to give us the big F U and daring us to go elsewhere and loyal HVFers are actually leaving in droves. What you say may sound good to Wall Street investors but we hear you loud and clear and all that it seems to me is that loyalty doesn't matter and it's all about the dollars and cents. In the end it is about dollars and cents but I worked for a Vice President of a very successful publicly traded company where we always made our numbers and his mantra to us was "Take care of the customer and your employees and everything else will take care of itself." United is too focused on spreadsheets, formulas, and algorithms and they just need to get back to basics and focus on the customer and the product and ensuring that they can deliver the best experience possible at the best price. They need to compete to win us back because they aren't Comcast where crappy service isn't penalized because you can't go anywhere else. We have a choice and we are voting with our wallets.

United has smaller planes because of "capacity discipline" but while they cut back on seats and the product the competition is adding capacity from a much better product. You can't cut yourself to growth. It only gets you so far. If I were an investor I would be running away from UAL. It looks like it's already happening based on the latest drop.

I always thought United rewarded the GS flyers well. I am a 1K and I feel like I don't matter that much. If you are anything less you are really getting creamed. But while not a GS I still spent over $100k on United in the last 3 years. This year I am already at $15k and am on track to do over $45k. I get the feeling like United doesn't care as much about my business. Of course I have felt the same from some of the Hotel chains I used to be loyal too and I've switched my loyalty as well. I am holding out for United to change course and show they care about the product and others like myself but things are looking pretty bleak based on the direction I see things going.

Counterpoint

1 Get me where I want to go without a megalong connection in 3 segments or fewer - doing a good job on that now with UA> DL>>AA for me

2 After Lieflat in F, I don't care about other enhancements

3 IFE - Meh - strip out or charge others

4 Food Meh - strip out or charge others

5 Car service - Meh - you aren't going to do better job than people already doing this..you fly, I drive

5 Short availability in Y domestic, F long haul - all three doing good job

Well, all this aside, if UA is going to have so many RJs, how do they expect premium traffic to increase if RJs offer an uncompetitive F service?

I like these and its down to a personal choice, but car service and better food does make a difference to me: one thing less to worry about, and once you are used to it on other carriers such as VS, it does seem to become an integral part of being able to work better as its seamless. Food - I see both an expanded high quality food and beverage service as important as a quick express dine service so can sleep. GS service I saw as mixed when coming to irregular operations, which in the past had been a strong point with real personal service when making challenging connections in hub cities..

After so many years GS, I do not believe one misses anything of significance being a 1K..

How to attract premium travelers back to UA.
 

I think premium travelers are generally aware of competitors offerings and will usually choose the best offering all things being equal.

UA's business class seating, especially on PMUA planes, is a joke. They need to remove these sardine cans and go to 4 across, everyone has aisle access. This is becoming the industry standard now. They need to upgrade the entertainment to include more movies and tv shows on demand, they need to include music on demand as part of their entertainment offering. The food in C on UA is not bad and service is generally ok but a soup course should be added and menus should be nicer than what's currently offered.

They need to get rid of Global First. There is a finite market for paid F and UA can't compete. I'm not naïve enough to think Dom and caviar will ever come back to UA. Just can the FC and focus on making a great business class product.

The lounges are horrible. If I'm a premium pax flying transpacific C class and I walk into the SFO UC at noon I am disgusted. Every seat taken, dirty toilets, frat party quality drinks, and no food. I'd rather sit at an empty gate than a UC. They need to upgrade the food, fix the furnishings, pay for more cleaners and get rid of the cheap booze. The little things matter to people who have a choice of which carrier to fly in C.

They should cut upgrade space and reduce the number of C seats on most planes. To have a premium product there needs to be exclusivity. People who pay for C should sit in C and there should be a limited number of upgrades every flight. I've been on numerous flights on SQ, CX, OZ, even DL and AA where there are empty seats in C. This never has happened to me on UA because they cheapen the product by allowing so many upgrades. It may seem absurd that occasionally having empty seats is a good thing, but I think it is.

Focus on comfort and quality and premium travelers will return.

Be Connected!
WiFi Lord! Transcons with no wifi you are killing me UA. Correction Virgin is killing you with there LA/SFO-IAD/NYC/BOS Nerd Birds!