Open J Class Seat Bidding Made It To The Your Suggestion List
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Denver, Colorado
Programs: IHG Spire, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Titanium, Mileage Plus Gold
Posts: 1,736
Open J Class Seat Bidding Made It To The Your Suggestion List
Not sure if this has been discussed but it looks like the open J seat bidding has made it to "Your Ideas" list on United Air Time.
#4
Join Date: May 2006
Location: STL
Programs: UA Platinum, AA Platinum Pro, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 1,427
I can't see this ending well. While as a passenger I would like the option to upgrade into J and not pay a ridiculously high fee, it basically creates a situation which is much like domestic first. People came to expect an upgrade and avoiding buying the seat outright. Relatively speaking, they seemed to combat this by pricing F at not ridiculously high pricing points to try and offer it as a sell-up. I believe paid F is accounts for a higher portion of the cabin vs the past.
J is priced significantly higher than Y and "generally" doesn't fill up at the same rate. Knowing this, I could see people buying Y and holding out for the option to bid for a seat. Granted there isn't the same guarantee that the bid will be accepted, but it would be interested to see how they manage this in a scenario such as this:
T-72 2 seats in J; of the following scenarios who gets the seat (or what does the airline value most from a revenue perspective):
1) 1K booked on N fare using a GPU
2) non-status passenger booked on T fare offering $750
3) Silver booked on Y fare offering $500
4) RM holds out in hopes for last minute J bookings
As for the employees, one of the last benefits is the ability to pass ride internationally in premium cabins since they typically leave with open seats. There are some people who don't believe that employees should be able to have these seats (I'm not one of them) but lets not get into that. One of the biggest concerns that came up with the "Basic Economy" concept were that employees saw that as a significant impact to the ability to pass ride in already full cabins. The response from UA was that they didn't expect that it would have an impact and it "might" make more seats in F available because Basic Economy passengers would be ineligible for upgrade....ummkay whatever you want to say since the people currently upgrading into F would not be the demographic that would be buying Basic Economy.
Last edited by qukslvr619; Dec 20, 2016 at 1:08 pm
#5
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: EAU
Programs: UA 1K, CO Plat, NW Plat, Marriott Premiere Plat, SPG Plat, Priority Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,711
The question is, what bid is United willing to take rather than process a GPU?
One might say, well, $100 cash is better than processing a GPU, but you start doing that nobody is going to pay your business fares....
It seems that given so much of the profitability of long haul flights is driven by business class revenue United can't risk undermining their own pricing too much.
Then again, if you take your paid loads from 80% to 100%, suppose you don't need the same revenue per seat....
One might say, well, $100 cash is better than processing a GPU, but you start doing that nobody is going to pay your business fares....
It seems that given so much of the profitability of long haul flights is driven by business class revenue United can't risk undermining their own pricing too much.
Then again, if you take your paid loads from 80% to 100%, suppose you don't need the same revenue per seat....
#8
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,425
Airtime seems like an afterthought lately. The last substantive update was in October. Reading through the suggestions, it doesn't seem like there's any correlation between what gets posted and what actually comes to pass.
But yeah, feel free to get worked up over this!
But yeah, feel free to get worked up over this!
#9
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 7,402
#10
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Lahaina, HI & Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 2,403
Current yield management practices may be altered if the expected value of the bids exceed the implied value of the award ticket.
#11
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,297
I'm much more annoyed at the changes to award booking and how RPU have been rendered virtually worthless this year as UA has basically stopped opening R on most routes. But UA has otherwise treated me well the past couple years and it's not like there are other options out there that are overall more attractive.
That said, it is mildly disturbing to think they may be getting ready to pitch upgrade bidding as "something you, our customers, asked for." That is a particularly odious aspect of many recent program devaluations (Yes Hyatt, I'm talking to you here.)
That said, it is mildly disturbing to think they may be getting ready to pitch upgrade bidding as "something you, our customers, asked for." That is a particularly odious aspect of many recent program devaluations (Yes Hyatt, I'm talking to you here.)
#12
Senior Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: UA Plat/2MM [23-yr. 1K, now emeritus] clawing way back to WN-A List; MR LT Titanium; HY Whateverist.
Posts: 12,390
As a long-time UA customer and FT member, this is my take on the suggestion. It's similar to many questions by customers published to Airtime. Some have been/will be implemented, some have/will not.
#13
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 812
If UA wants more premium revenue, how about starting an actual premium economy cabin like AA or Delta?
For personal travel, if I have to choose between $1000 for 10-abreast E"+" on UA or $1600-$2000 for domestic-first-quality premium economy on DL or AA or one of the intentional airlines? PE, no question.
For personal travel, if I have to choose between $1000 for 10-abreast E"+" on UA or $1600-$2000 for domestic-first-quality premium economy on DL or AA or one of the intentional airlines? PE, no question.
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,352
Or lets figure out a way to potentially dilute our product and piss off our employees.
I can't see this ending well. While as a passenger I would like the option to upgrade into J and not pay a ridiculously high fee, it basically creates a situation which is much like domestic first. People came to expect an upgrade and avoiding buying the seat outright. Relatively speaking, they seemed to combat this by pricing F at not ridiculously high pricing points to try and offer it as a sell-up. I believe paid F is accounts for a higher portion of the cabin vs the past.
J is priced significantly higher than Y and "generally" doesn't fill up at the same rate. Knowing this, I could see people buying Y and holding out for the option to bid for a seat. Granted there isn't the same guarantee that the bid will be accepted, but it would be interested to see how they manage this in a scenario such as this:
T-72 2 seats in J; of the following scenarios who gets the seat (or what does the airline value most from a revenue perspective):
1) 1K booked on N fare using a GPU
2) non-status passenger booked on T fare offering $750
3) Silver booked on Y fare offering $500
4) RM holds out in hopes for last minute J bookings
As for the employees, one of the last benefits is the ability to pass ride internationally in premium cabins since they typically leave with open seats. There are some people who don't believe that employees should be able to have these seats (I'm not one of them) but lets not get into that. One of the biggest concerns that came up with the "Basic Economy" concept were that employees saw that as a significant impact to the ability to pass ride in already full cabins. The response from UA was that they didn't expect that it would have an impact and it "might" make more seats in F available because Basic Economy passengers would be ineligible for upgrade....ummkay whatever you want to say since the people currently upgrading into F would not be the demographic that would be buying Basic Economy.
I can't see this ending well. While as a passenger I would like the option to upgrade into J and not pay a ridiculously high fee, it basically creates a situation which is much like domestic first. People came to expect an upgrade and avoiding buying the seat outright. Relatively speaking, they seemed to combat this by pricing F at not ridiculously high pricing points to try and offer it as a sell-up. I believe paid F is accounts for a higher portion of the cabin vs the past.
J is priced significantly higher than Y and "generally" doesn't fill up at the same rate. Knowing this, I could see people buying Y and holding out for the option to bid for a seat. Granted there isn't the same guarantee that the bid will be accepted, but it would be interested to see how they manage this in a scenario such as this:
T-72 2 seats in J; of the following scenarios who gets the seat (or what does the airline value most from a revenue perspective):
1) 1K booked on N fare using a GPU
2) non-status passenger booked on T fare offering $750
3) Silver booked on Y fare offering $500
4) RM holds out in hopes for last minute J bookings
As for the employees, one of the last benefits is the ability to pass ride internationally in premium cabins since they typically leave with open seats. There are some people who don't believe that employees should be able to have these seats (I'm not one of them) but lets not get into that. One of the biggest concerns that came up with the "Basic Economy" concept were that employees saw that as a significant impact to the ability to pass ride in already full cabins. The response from UA was that they didn't expect that it would have an impact and it "might" make more seats in F available because Basic Economy passengers would be ineligible for upgrade....ummkay whatever you want to say since the people currently upgrading into F would not be the demographic that would be buying Basic Economy.
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Denver, Colorado
Programs: IHG Spire, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Titanium, Mileage Plus Gold
Posts: 1,736
That is just the news update date for their news. They actually do update other parts of the site regularly. I visit it about once a month. Discovered this during this months visit.