Feb 9, 2019, 5:12 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is an archive thread -- the active thread is United's Basic Economy - Discussion, Q&A, ...
Important Note: these fares became available 21 Feb 2017 for MSP for travel beginning 18 Apr 2017. More markets were added 19 April 2017 for travel starting 9 May 2017.
Related thread: Basic Economy Airport and Plane Experiences (First or Second Hand)
If you booked before the dates above, you did not have a BE fare. If purchased on united.com you will see a warning like:
4. MileagePlus members will earn full Premier qualifying dollars, 50% Premier qualifying miles and 0.5 Premier qualifying segments for each flight, as well as lifetime miles and toward the four-segment minimum.
Link to UA's description of how these fares will work: Basic Economy.
Here are the key facts:
related threads
New UA/*A TATL -LGT Economy fare - no free first bag, no changes/upgrades allowed
Benefit impact of restricted economy fares on UA Elites (Basic Econ, -LGT, Light Econ
Pre-announcement speculation thread (now closed) New "Budget Economy" fares
Important Note: these fares became available 21 Feb 2017 for MSP for travel beginning 18 Apr 2017. More markets were added 19 April 2017 for travel starting 9 May 2017.
Related thread: Basic Economy Airport and Plane Experiences (First or Second Hand)
If you booked before the dates above, you did not have a BE fare. If purchased on united.com you will see a warning like:
4. MileagePlus members will earn full Premier qualifying dollars, 50% Premier qualifying miles and 0.5 Premier qualifying segments for each flight, as well as lifetime miles and toward the four-segment minimum.
Link to UA's description of how these fares will work: Basic Economy.
Here are the key facts:
- No seat assignments until check-in. Seats will be assigned by the system and cannot be changed.*NEW* When purchasing a Basic Economy ticket, you will not receive a complimentary seat assignment but may be able to purchase advance seat assignments during booking and up until check-in opens. If you don’t purchase an advance seat assignment, your seat will be automatically assigned to you prior to boarding, and you won't be able to change your seat once it's been assigned.
- No guarantee of adjacent seats with companions
- No voluntary ticket changes after 24 hour purchase period
- Carry on limited to 1 personal item unless the customer is a MP Premier member, primary cardmember of a qualifying MileagePlus credit card, or Star Alliance *G
- Customers ineligible for carry-on who bring one to the gate will be charged a $25 convenience fee to gate-check in addition to standard baggage fees (source: @united twitter)
- Customers will not be eligible for Economy Plus or premium cabin upgrades. This includes all forms of upgrades (CPU,supported or purchased). Likewise for E+ access (elite or purchased).
- Customers will board in the last boarding group (currently Group 5) unless the customer is a MP Premier member, primary cardmember of a qualifying MileagePlus credit card, or Star Alliance *G
- Companions on same PNR will have same boarding group and carryon if one on the PNR has a waiver
- No combinability with regular economy fares or partner carriers. Interline travel is not permitted.
- Tickets will earn RDMs (based on fare and status), PQMs (50% of distance), PQSs (0.5), PQDs, in addition it will count for minimum 4 segment and lifetime miles (New as of Dec 2018)
- Basic Economy tickets will use booking code 'N'
- Online check-in only with paid checked bag, otherwise need to see a United representative to verify the onboard bag allowance and receive a boarding pass.
related threads
New UA/*A TATL -LGT Economy fare - no free first bag, no changes/upgrades allowed
Benefit impact of restricted economy fares on UA Elites (Basic Econ, -LGT, Light Econ
Pre-announcement speculation thread (now closed) New "Budget Economy" fares
United's Basic Economy - Discussion, Q&A, ... {Archive}
Sep 28, 2018, 4:22 pm
#3391
Join Date: May 2014
Location: LAS
Programs: DL GM
Posts: 283
Have flown BE the past four times on United. In all those times I've been auto-assigned a middle seat 24-36 hours before as a Premier Plat. Is that pretty much the norm? Kind of weird lining in Group 1 only to have a middle in Row 32.
Sep 28, 2018, 4:29 pm
#3392
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA Gold, SPG Plat, HH Gold
Posts: 991
1k flying basic economy SAN-SFO way empty flight. I was assigned last row E+ (in front of the emergency exit) at t-24 mobile check-in.
Virtually all of E+ is empty as well as the last ten rows of E-.
Virtually all of E+ is empty as well as the last ten rows of E-.
Sep 28, 2018, 10:11 pm
#3393
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2,531
Was E+ full? Was E- full? Reports here seem to indicate that if they have to assign E- pax to E+ seats, they will start with Premier pax in BE.
Sep 29, 2018, 6:47 am
#3394
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 488
I am flying BE today with my uncle and not yet checked in because we need to check bags at the airport. I am a united credit card holder so we both should get one free checked bag each. Now there is no seat available besides E+ and first class. Let's see if we will get to sit in E+.
Yep we got E+ seats!
Yep we got E+ seats!
Last edited by IamHungry; Sep 29, 2018 at 8:26 pm
Sep 30, 2018, 7:55 pm
#3395
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: TOA
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott LTPP/Platinum Premier, Hyatt Lame-ist, UA !K
Posts: 20,061
I am flying BE today with my uncle and not yet checked in because we need to check bags at the airport. I am a united credit card holder so we both should get one free checked bag each. Now there is no seat available besides E+ and first class. Let's see if we will get to sit in E+.
Yep we got E+ seats!
Yep we got E+ seats!
David
Oct 1, 2018, 3:58 pm
#3396
Join Date: Jun 2004
Programs: united airlines
Posts: 4,967
What happens when an elite (Gold, 1MM) buys themselves a "bargain" ticket? My understanding is that they won't get priority boarding, instead being assigned to Group 5, and then they will get their choice of what seats remain at that point. So may be shut out of E+. And again if I understand correctly, the elite member would get regular baggage allowance rather than the limited "bargain" one.
Do I have it right? I'll find out in a couple of weeks. I'm willing to gamble on E+ seating in return for substantial discount on ticket price. As things work now, go all E+ seats got to elites or those willing to pay for them, until the plane fills and they "give" E+ to passengers without seats for no additional charge?
Do I have it right? I'll find out in a couple of weeks. I'm willing to gamble on E+ seating in return for substantial discount on ticket price. As things work now, go all E+ seats got to elites or those willing to pay for them, until the plane fills and they "give" E+ to passengers without seats for no additional charge?
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Oct 1, 2018 at 4:03 pm Reason: moved to appropriate thread
Oct 1, 2018, 4:08 pm
#3397
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,393
What happens when an elite (Gold, 1MM) buys themselves a "bargain" ticket? My understanding is that they won't get priority boarding, instead being assigned to Group 5, and then they will get their choice of what seats remain at that point. So may be shut out of E+. And again if I understand correctly, the elite member would get regular baggage allowance rather than the limited "bargain" one.
That's more or less it, although UA has been experimenting with other means to try to get BE passengers into E- and regular economy passengers into E+ when E- is otherwise full. They're not particularly good at it; I've sat next to plenty of BE passengers in E+.
Oct 1, 2018, 4:09 pm
#3398
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,836
What happens when an elite (Gold, 1MM) buys themselves a "bargain" ticket? My understanding is that they won't get priority boarding, instead being assigned to Group 5, and then they will get their choice of what seats remain at that point. So may be shut out of E+. And again if I understand correctly, the elite member would get regular baggage allowance rather than the limited "bargain" one. ..
You will not get to pick your seat (it will be assigned and there are no changes) and there will be no provisions for voluntary changes, upgrades or cancellations.
See the thread's wiki for more.
Oct 1, 2018, 8:44 pm
#3399
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: SFO
Programs: COdbaUA Platinum 2MM
Posts: 5,532
Just out of curiosity, when it comes to involuntary denied boarding, will a basic economy PAX be the first one to be IDBed since most likely s/he paid the lowest fare?
Oct 1, 2018, 9:41 pm
#3400
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,393
The IDB rules are clear as mud and contradict themselves thoroughly. The best answer that I can give is that a non-status BE passenger would be somewhere near the front of the line. There are two reasons for this: beyond the obvious (low fare class), they're least likely to have seat assignments, and one of the contradictory rules they added was to put pax without seat assignments first on the IDB list. A non-status passenger on a saver award without a seat assignment would probably be IDB'd before a BE passenger, but it's tough to be sure. I don't remember there being a single IDB data point here from a BE passenger.
Oct 1, 2018, 10:20 pm
#3401
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,836
Involuntary Denied Boarding (IDB) Selection Process
United's involuntary denied boarding (IDB) process is automated and customers are not subject to discretionary choice by agents. This is our process:
United's involuntary denied boarding (IDB) process is automated and customers are not subject to discretionary choice by agents. This is our process:
- First, agents will deny boarding if a passenger does not have a seat assignment prior to boarding the aircraft.
- Customers are then sorted by fare class (estimated fare paid) and type of itinerary.
- Customers with the lowest paid fare are placed at the top of the list for involuntary denial of boarding.
- If a group of customers paid the same fare, then the group is sorted by time of check-in.
- Customers with frequent flyer status will not be involuntarily denied boarding, unless all of the remaining passengers have frequent flyer status, in which case the lowest status will move to the top of the IDB list.
- Customers with special needs (unaccompanied minors, passengers with disabilities) are excluded and are not involuntarily denied boarding.
IDBs are rare, UA only had 27 for 2018Q1
Oct 1, 2018, 10:24 pm
#3402
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,410
Most questions about IDB (unless after the fact) boil down to this. IDBs are so rare it's basically impossible to structure a flying pattern with an expected value of >0.5 IDBs in a lifetime. Any pattern that involves flying that much would inevitably confer enough status to avoid the IDB. (With some pathological effort, you could probably manage.)
Oct 1, 2018, 10:39 pm
#3403
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Left Coast
Programs: UA 1K & 1MM, HH Diamond, Marriott/SPG Gold (UA comp)
Posts: 1,353
Most questions about IDB (unless after the fact) boil down to this. IDBs are so rare it's basically impossible to structure a flying pattern with an expected value of >0.5 IDBs in a lifetime. Any pattern that involves flying that much would inevitably confer enough status to avoid the IDB. (With some pathological effort, you could probably manage.)
Oct 1, 2018, 11:15 pm
#3404
Join Date: Jun 2004
Programs: united airlines
Posts: 4,967
domestic vs international
Slightly different, no? International is slight more generous with respect to E+ seating for elites and baggage (one less checked bag), or so I was told.
Is UA going to make money (the only possible motivation) by providing less by way of services (less checked baggage means lesser fuel costs) and/or by gaining passengers with cheaper tickets.
Is UA going to make money (the only possible motivation) by providing less by way of services (less checked baggage means lesser fuel costs) and/or by gaining passengers with cheaper tickets.
Oct 1, 2018, 11:38 pm
#3405
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,836
International TATL has Economy Light offerings, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...s-allowed.html, which is less restrictive than the domestic BE. There are no seat assignment or E+ restrictions and they are fully mileage earning.