Darlox

Yeah, that bit struck me as a bit iffy, too. Preference != Assignment... I'm sure it means that they will TRY to honor your seat assignment, but ~96 hours out on a route popular enough to be sold-out/over-sold in advance, I'm pretty much betting that most people will receive a cheerful "We're so sorry that we couldn't accommodate your preference, here's this middle seat in E-. Enjoy your $250."

Often1

Makes sense. The metrics are all there and UA has found a vendor to make sense of them. There are dozens of threads on FT from people who ask why it is not possible to deal with these issues prior to the flight rather than at the gate or even check-in.

Historically, UA and other carriers have overbooked but oversales are rare. These advance offers permit UA (presumably other carriers in due course) to sell more seats than the RM/IM would ordinarily permit, but at Full Y while buying out the cheaper fares.

If you look at the price difference, it is well worth selling someone a $1,000 full Y ticket and buying out someone who paid $200 with a $250 voucher. Once you discount the value of the voucher for "breakage" and net revenue, it is likely well below $200 in bottom line damage.

At the same time, UA has made two customers happy and moved a departure distraction away from the gate. The passenger on the discounted fare has volunteered and has a $250 voucher which is nothing to sneeze at for a leisure traveler, while the HVC has a seat.

Dome day and some time, UA will wind up having to but out a F seat on a TPAC flight for $10K, but in this reverse auction, my guess is that because UA contains the auction and passengers don't see what level people are biting at, the price of buying a rebooking will be pretty low.

I watched UA offer $50 and a lunch voucher to people willing to take a reroute on ORD to some smallish location in return for flying via IAD and arriving 3+ hours late. It was a RJ of some kind. There were 6 passengers who hopped up. On a 70-90 seat aircraft, shows that this can be done without shelling out a lot.

laxmillenial

I believe they've been doing this, just under the guise of "voluntary bumps" or "aircraft downgrades".

For example, I've gotten phone calls T-48 and T-24 multiple times telling me that my flight is oversold and if I'm willing to take an earlier and/or later flight. I'm able to negotiate on the phone how much I want, seat assignments, and/or potential upgrades to another cabin. The agent on the phone has the ability to give all of that. It's like a VDB but far in advanced of departure time.

So, maybe they're just making that program a little more 'official'?

drewguy

Seems like a good idea . . . this to me is what makes it potentially most appealing:

Much more willing to take a different flight if it means sitting at home an extra few hours rather than sitting at the airport. (And of course it means you could take an earlier flight - not possible if you show up on time for your expected departure).

Miles Ahead

I liked "The airline suffered a publicity black eye earlier this year when police dragged a man off an overbooked plane" - yeah, and that man suffered a real black eye.

Anyway, I would be much more inclined to move if it meant 4 more hours at home rather than 4 hours at the airport. If it means an end to the VDB windfalls for some people, I understand why they wouldn't like it, but why should they have to pay $1000 if someone will move for $250?

Beltway2A

Seems like a good idea in theory, I'm rather impressed with UA. Hopefully implementation is the same.

drowelf

I would take that to mean the same as my 'Seat Preference' from my UA Profile, which is simply Window or Aisle. Aisle for me!

I always wondered what this setting actually accomplishes. because almost everytime I get a CPU, it put me in the window seat, even when there are aisles available. So when I see the upgrade, I immediately go online and check out what other seats are available.

DetroitFlyer

Very innovative. Seems like a win for pretty much everyone.

teeceedee

I like it - unfortunately, this clip makes me sad:

"Only those who book on United.com and opt in to receive marketing messages will be eligible for the sign-up offer"

Corporate flyers who book through portals may miss out

aacharya

Interesting use of someone's technology - i guess similar to other airline Revenue Management systems selling cheap upgrades (Copa). I also imagine that's why only united.com bookings work, since corporate portals may not have the right contact information.

elCheapoDeluxe

I wonder if this will have any impact on the complimentary SDC feature. Obviously they aren't going to want to pay you to get off a flight and then have you SDC back onto it. Although at that point it should be pretty apparent that maybe the seat they hoped to sell (yours) didn't sell.

Darlox

*crosses fingers*
I would hope that this wouldn't impact that at all. They're already pretty good about not SDC'ing into an oversell situation, so I would expect that benefit would remain the same. Particularly if this shuffle is happening days in advance, by the time you get to T-24, the major adjustments will have occurred. I can't imagine there's enough walk-up sales anymore to materially impact day-of availability.

exerda

Let's see how it works. I mean, it's not like they hadn't offered $250 at the gate previously (and got no takers), which is what led them to the $1k offers.

I do agree that I could probably have more flexibility if asked a few days out instead of at the gate. But it would have to be confirmed ASAP; the "within 24 hours" bit makes it less desirable to me. YMMV.

blueman2

Win-win. But what does this wording mean in the article?

Did United announce a delay in Polaris?

spin88

This is a more advanced in time (it appears to make the offers days in advance) version of what Delta is already doing w/i 24 hours (an auction type offer).

What interests me is what happens with pricing close in. Traditionally to use a simply example, there may be 90 seats at $200, 40 seats at $300, 20 seats at $500, 10 seats at $700, and 3 at $900. So if 5 days out the $700 seats are gone, only $900 seats are offered. (or the $500 seats are gone and only $900 seats are offered). This would appear to allow United to continue to offer $500 or $700 seats for longer, while still keeping the few remaining $900 seats until the very end. If my thinking is correct, what this will really do is make more upper-mid priced seats available for longer on flights where UA would otherwise be undercut by competitor airlines that still have lower fare bucket availability.