warrenw

I got this letter as a 1K but didn't get the last one. I did update my email preferences a few days ago, I had everything turned off except flight notifications...

deskover54

It's not that hard to figure out what airports are nearby. If the UA systems don't show, the GA can go to google flights and put "airports within 200 miles" or whatever.

For ground transportation, I had a PMUA agent just note my PNR to give me free ground transportation when I arrived. I made them print the PNR for me. When I arrived in SFO, I showed it to the arriving agent and they printed me a voucher. This was before Uber. Now they can just put a note to say "reimburse Uber expenses" or whatever.

I don't think more centralized decision making is the optimal answer.

MojaveFlyer

"Reduce the amount of overbooking". Of course, that could mean almost anything. Though that may make it hard for an elite to book on short notice, it also would mean that when said elite missed a connection, that it would be more likely that a seat would be available on the next flight, as opposed to the next day, or worse.

If they do these things well, it cannot be bad. If they really go up that high to get volunteers to VDB, then there would be no IDBs. That would be good, IMHO.

matrixwalker2012

Why not just keep it simple?

Be aware of social media backlash
Use common sense

robinhood

I'm curious what motivated them to throw the luggage compensation thing in there. Seems kind of random. Was it the bunny?

LordHamster

My have more to do with the upcoming expansion of the Laptop Ban

Kevin AA

Let's see...

with overbooking:
S5 Y5 etc.

without overbooking:
S4 Y4 etc.

And?

jsloan

What makes you think that airlines overbook by a single seat? UA routinely overbooks flights by 5-10 seats or more, depending upon the equipment, route, date, and other factors.

Despite what the mass media might have you believe, this isn't a nefarious practice, as evidenced by the reports on the VDB thread of "I volunteered, but they didn't need me." People miss flights all the time. UA has historical information that helps them predict how many no-shows or last-minute changes they might get; they use that to figure out how many seats they can sell without having to deny boarding to anyone. They're quite good at it, but they're not perfect.

I have personally been on a flight that was oversold (not just overbooked) by 6 and ended up taking two standbys. It was a flight leaving a hub, and there were weather delays somewhere in the system; they ended up having eight passengers mis-connect.

BF263533

In the days before non-refundable tickets, it was typical to see 25+ overbooking on a flight with 4 or 5 open seats at departure. In 1987 I was on a Pan Am A310 flight from JFK to MIA and the flight was overbooked by around 200. They put on a second A310.

JayEX35

I think the 10k number just gives gate agents (at least their supervisors) more freedom when it comes to offering incentives, especially when it comes to negotiating VDB/IDB.

It's very unlikely they ever offer 10k if at all. Most flyers would probably give in for far less, but they key here is the amount of freedom agents have.

UA should really learned its lesson and research how other airlines do it.

I flew once on BR, it was a YVR-TPE-HKG flight with the TPE-HKG being the first flight out (very popular, as travelers like to maximize their time there). They needed 8 seats so they started asking for couple/group volunteers. First offer straight off the bat: $3000NTD (~100USD)+lounge access for the next flight out (just under 2hrs), no takers. Next step: $6000NTD (200USD)+lounge access, some accepted. And just as me and wife were about to board, they approached us saying they were still 2 short and gave us another offer: $8000NTD+lounge access, we were connecting another flight at HKG and had plenty of time (it wasn't until afternoon), wife was tempted although I wasn't sure as I visit TPE often. So the agents, seeing how close they were at securing the VDB, just said to my wife (yes, not even looking at me) they'd give us all that plus rebooking us into business class on the next flight. At that point, wife was convinced and she said to me I could travel alone if I insisted boarding.

The point of the example is how much freedom BR agents have at the gate. And the compensation was cash... not even a check... just cold hard cash.

itsallgood

Y is full fare coach; if anything, the number of Y seats would increase. And there are deeper discounted coach fares than S class so your post makes zero sense.

Overbooking adds 2 percentage points to airline profitability, according to an analyst I saw on CNBC in the last few days. On CNBC Thursday April 27, Jamie Baker (JP Morgan airline analyst) stated that overbooking lowers airfares and getting rid of them would be bad for the travelling public. But some of the travelling public wants to get rid of overbooking without understanding that ticket prices WILL rise.

The airline industry has razor thin margins. The airlines will raise fares and/or reduce lower fare buckets in order to stay profitable. The flights are too full now; the airlines need to raise fares significantly to reduce the excessively high load factors.

deskover54

I completely agree w this statement. I see corporate finance departments at work all day long and this is exactly what would happen. Prices will go up, and some marginal routes will also be cut because the supply/demand intersection point will move.

richarddd

In other words, they can go to $10,000 in cash, not just $10,000 in vouchers? If so, that's a lot more generous than the DL policy.

Visconti

I'm not an Airline Analyst, but for as long as I can remember, the most important metric used to compare the efficiency between the peer group has been Pax/revenue per available seat mile. Overbooking (assuming a % will always not show for a nonrefundable fare) increases this metric (and Airline's profitability) allowing for generally lower prices for a number of passengers.

For any carrier who had utilized overbooking, ceasing the practice will necessitate higher prices to maintain the same rev/pax miles. In other words, to maintain total revenue with less number of pax, the cost per pax unit must increase. Now, this can be borne by F or J class segment, but there are reasons to believe premium cabin fares have reached pareto optimality (any increase would result in lower profits).

All things being equal and absent other exterior forces (lower taxes, deregulation, lower Oil prices, etc...), general Y fares must increase to maintain present profitability levels.

So, yes, we should expect an increase on the lowest priced fares bucket, because each public carrier *MUST* maximize shareholder value period. The latter can hardly be accomplished without maximizing profit in the most efficient allowable manner.

richarddd

When thinking about the effect of reducing overbooking on airline pricing, consider why airlines haven't already raised prices.

We often think businesses price on a cost plus basis or in order to maintain some level of profitability, but market forces and competitive pressures (even in an oligopolistic industry) are very important.