Overnight stay fare rules --- is Friday the new Saturday?
 

Has anyone else noticed that the previous requirement for Saturday night stay in order to secure a cheap TATL Y fare has now become a Friday night stay?

It's funny you mention that because I was just checking fares for an EWR-LHR trip in October and was surprised to see that actually leaving on a Thursday night was the cheapest option, with Friday being the next cheapest. I can't go until Saturday (because I will be in Ottawa until Friday), but it struck me as being odd.

Not good for those of us who like cheap weekend trips. Leave Friday night come back Sunday is a lot easier then leave thursday and miss all day friday at work.

Not at all. Leaving Friday night gets you the Friday night stay. But wait to Saturday to leave dings you with a big rate increase. But note, I have only checked TATL prices. I do not know whether this change to Friday night stays has also happened for domestic.

Aren’t most domestic flights priced as one way now anyway?

Here is the specific fare rule and it is not unique to United (other airlines have similar rule for their cheaper RT fares). It is still a "Saturday night" stay requirement, but it is measured from arrival, NOT from departure.

MIN STAY

TRAVEL FROM LAST STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN THE FIRST SUN AFTER ARRIVAL AT TURNAROUND.

Because most flights to Europe are overnight flights and you do not arrive until the next day, you have to depart on a Friday to meet the Saturday night stay requirement at the destination. There's an exception here with the daytime flights to LHR where you can depart on a Saturday and still arrive on a Saturday and thus meet the Saturday night stay requirement. Since most domestic flights in the US are daytime flights (other than red-eye's from the west coast), you can generally depart on a Saturday and still meet the Saturday night stay requirement.

Yeah I've seen a 50/50 mix of intl fares saying "first Sunday after arrival" versus "first Sunday after departure" in the past year or so.

If it is market where WN flies non-stop or has a heavy presence, then yes, the legacy carriers will generally match WN's pricing and rules which do not require Saturday night stay's for the cheaper fares. However, for smaller markets have limited or no WN presence, you will still see the legacies requiring Saturday night/min stays for their cheaper fares.

Your worldview is distorted because you are based in LAX where WN has a strong presence. You will still find a number of markets where UA has Sat night/min stay requirements for cheap fares out of LAX, but they are few and far between. Some examples JXN, ASE, TEX, HSV, TYS, SGF.

Now I understand what happened on my last trip to EDI. I had to leave on Friday to get an acceptable rate but then I had a hard time getting refunded for my Saturday night Hotel even though prior to departure it was cleared by my department that a night hotel at $260 was cheaper than the additional $1000 United wanted for my flight. Anyways, lesson learned. Next time, I will stay 2 additional nights at the end of the trip as it's way easier justifying hotel stays during week-days.

Not from Houston. The cheap fares are typically RT SNS.

I don't know what markets you've seen this in, but I'm not seeing it in Houston.

And UA has moved the goalposts again. Now the fare requirement is 7 calendar days after arrival, not departure. So US-originated TATLs now require a 8 day stay to secure a reasonable fare.

These types of restrictions are highly variable and route dependent.

But they definitely don't want to be selling $400 TATL's to business travelers.