halls120

Not when I'm obligated to fly the contract carrier, I'm not.

Austin787

Not if corporate policy requires booking cheapest Y and United is the cheapest option. And upgrading is far from guaranteed.

uastarflyer

halls120

I can do the same. However, our tickets aren't purchased until 3 days before the flight, and by that time, there are often no upgrades to be bought.

rufflesinc

No one is obligated to fly any airline. Even the president, who is obligated to fly AF1, can resign and fly his own private jet.
No one forces you to work at that company. There are plenty of corporate policies employees have to abide by and flight bookings are one of many.

spin88

So United is just peachy, and no one should ever comment negatively on them, because well, they can quit their job and find another one. I see where this is going, but don't think its exactly a good defense of the crappy service and product UA is offering in Y (and in specific E+)

Polytonic

Criticism is fair and expected, but comparing flying Y to "slave-ship conditions" is rather absurd. If we wanted to go to extremes, then we may as well claim that flying economy is awful unless everybody gets their own row, and food plated on real china with metal silverware!

For what it's worth, I've found flying Y is fairly consistent across (full service) airlines. Maybe the food is slightly more to your tastes on a European or Asian carrier; maybe the steward or stewardess is slightly more friendly. In the grand scheme of things, it's 12-16 hours of your life. It's not like you're committing yourself to slavery for the next 60 years.

rufflesinc

What is exactly is your point there? Plenty of companies offer relatively crappy service and product compared to their peers/competitors, yet have healthy profits, because people will buy it.

StingWest

YES, AVOID the 10-across seating! (recent experience to NZ on the 77W)

StingWest

We, via our government, have allowed these airline mega-mergers to occur, with the inevitable result of less competition and few choices, and little incentive for a particular airline to try and grab market share by "standing out" with good service or a comfortable product. I wouldn't call the result a "free market".

HNLbasedFlyer

After reading most of these posts - UA is so awful you will have the entire economy section to yourself - enjoy.

dilanesp

That is actually squarely contrary to economic theory. Monopolists prefer high level of service-high price equilibria.

Intense competition looks like Ryanair and Spirit.

rufflesinc

My flights to DEN are relatively cheap due to four, sometimes five, airlines flying non-stop. prices for BOS dropped significantly after Jetblue started flying here. Prices for LAS are also dropping with southwest joining DL and spirit. BUt you don't have to believe my anecdotes, studies have shown ticket prices are lower than ever, taking inflation.

skipness1E

Dark, so very dark. Daylight is forbidden, and definitely no peeking out of the window. 100% window shades down insisted for the afternoon.
Picked the opposite side from the sun on a daylight flight out of London hoping to read down the back and stay awake to get me onto West Coast time, do danger of glare I thought. It didn't end well

StuckinITH

That's not only for International Economy. It's the same darkness in Polaris Business and Polaris First.

Having flown many long hauls in Economy +, I think the most important is the choice of the seat and I will change my trip by one day in every direction if I cannot get an aisle bulkhead on the day that I'm supposed to fly. I tend to buy my tickets in advance to increase the chances of getting that bulkhead aisle.

The other point is that if the FAs are bad, in Economy the passengers have less interaction with them so it's less annoying that a bad FA in Polaris Business or Polaris First. But, frequently, I have seen that the FAs in Economy are great and work really hard. On very long flights, they offer water every hour or so. And they never mind when I go to the back galley and ask for a glass of wine or soda.