Kacee

Because they want to buy Y and upgrade to F.

Which is not really possible on UA anymore.

spin88

If you are taking a flyer who (a) does not care about status, buys each flight individually, and (b) does not care about price, well then they would take UA or if they wanted better food/drink either DL or B6.

But most (or nearly all) high value flyers have a carrier that they concentrate most of their flying with, and gets first shot at business.

Upgrades simply don't happen on UA now, unless (a) you are GS, and (b) it is an odd low demand flight time. TODs combined with cheap F fares have killed off the comp upgrade.

Alaska still has upgrades, and they actually occur, both for their 75 and 50 (40K if all AS flying) levels. As a Gold on AS, I have gotten them.

I should add that as a PLT (and even Gold before) on DL I have gotten lots and lots of west coast upgrades on DL. No, I'm not trying to upgrade the 12:30 pm SFO-ATL, but I actually get upgrades. I get them on shorter flights where I would not pay for first.

AS will offer a much BETTER domestic First product than UA (with 42" pitch vs. UA's 36-35" pitch) and with some comp upgrades, for many it is a better package than United is offering.

So on a one off purchase, I might pay UA $1200 RT in J vs $1200 to AS for domestic First with a 42" seat, but I am not buying each ticket on its own merits, I am looking at the package - including elite benefits - I get from flying an airline more.

+1

nevansm

Onboard UA444 right now. New amenity kit, refreshed menu, young and spunky crew so far. I'll post some additional info to the let's eat thread soon.

ucfjoe

I think I qualify in the group you are but at this point, screw loyalty. I care more about a J/F trip that gets me there on a flat seat (ideally) over 3.5 hours for a somewhat competitive fare vs hard/soft product. Why? Because I can't depend on upgrades so I'll just pay the "best" base J/F fare this week for me that means UA both ways and I'm not even crediting miles to UA. Somewhat OT but I'm flying the SFO-BOS in a few days on a 757 so I'm excited for this over my last AA LAX-MIA 767 trip. If price and schedule are the same then I suppose I still prefer B6 but either fares seem to be wonky or schedule so I don't fly them much.

spin88

I think you (and probably I) are the exception. I've flown UA several times this year (15K miles total) always on PS or in paid F. The fares were better, and I wanted to try the Polaris Seat out. I've flown VX in paid F a number of times (25K or so miles, all longer flights) and I've flown DL 40K miles in paid DeltaOne or F.

But I have a preference to Delta on my shorter trips (e.g. SFO-SEA, SFO-LAX) as I often get upgrades, and so they are at this point my major program.

There are a lot of people out there who don't fly paid F domestically, or who fly enough to reach high status in one program, which is valuable to them. For these people, the program matters. So even if they can pop for paid J for a great fare SFO-BOS they may go with their preferred program. And of course, if GPU/RPUs don't clear, and you can't pay for F, flying United in 3-4-3 configuration for 6.5 hours is not exactly an enticing prospect.

warrenw

I'm in the same boat as both of you, except I still try to concentrate on UA. It's really sad though, all my flying is international but I still have my 6 GPU's... I'd rather confirm into business and pay the lower P fare than buy W and cross my fingers hoping for the best. I've had quite good luck though getting very good P fares though. And I probably won't use any this year. I haven't had the opportunity.

jsloan

Get to the airport -- ICN-SFO is R9 today. R2 Thursday, R9 Monday 7/17 & Tuesday 7/18, R5 Wednesday 7/19, R9 Sunday 7/23...

Honestly, unless your travel has been limited to the most popular days -- which presumably wouldn't have low P fares -- I'd be surprised if you wouldn't have been able to clear. One of the reasons that this route is getting the 789 instead of 773 is that the 747 is more capacity than they've been able to fill.

(Having said that -- I don't blame you for not wanting to risk it. :-)

warrenw

I usually do long weekend turns, and Thursday - Monday are the days I always look at. Thursday-Saturday are heavy Samsung exec days (they have a contract with UA) and it's extremely difficult to get space on those days. But you are correct, Tuesday/Wednesday, etc. are usually pretty easy.

tphuang

my guess is that if AS on these transcon routes fill their whole FC cabin with elite members paying $200 Y seat and getting free upgrades, then they are going to be hemorraging money and pulling out. sure filling your cabin with upgrade is fine when a 2 hour flight is cost $120. But when a 6 hour flight is $180, that's a huge money looser.

minnyfly

UA doesn't have a single aircraft with F pitch less than 37". That's unlike a certain carrier with a widget on the tail.

AS's new F pitch on its 737s is 41", not 42", and you will pay for that extra pitch with the smallest 738/9 F cabin among the major U.s. carriers. So much for easy upgrades down the road.

The bottom line is that the new AS/VX is very much acting like the LCC for transcon service. UA has the clearly superior network and product.

pbartp

Flew EWR-LAX this evening. Meal in E+ was a Chicken Alfredo over rice, fruit and cheesecake.

wco81

Was it good?

tuolumne

Sounds good... not sure if I've ever had Alfredo sauce on United.

ianlin

Has anyone experienced the new business class United Transcon Service?
United has advertised that the new business class transcon service will include lounge access pre and post flight, upgraded menus, lie flat seats. If anyone has first-hand experience, would you please tell us about your flight?

nycflyer222

Flew EWR-LAX last week. Did not notice much difference, except the following:
- They came around with a tray of Moscow Mules before takeoff (in addition to whatever PDB you ordered)
- They swapped out the cookie pre-arrival for wraps. I do miss the cookie, but I ended having two wraps because I was hungry. Needless to say, I thought it was tasty.

Service was really good!