Z Man

I found some to iah-sfo-sin this weekend for late Feb. Only mid week flights wed departure outbound, monday return. in the 3800 range. Ended up getting a z fare of 5k with friday outbound and return. works better for me.

StuckinITH

Those are exactly the same prices for the trips I had last year: ORD-PEK in March and ORD-PVG in July. The only difference is that this year with the P fares we get less PQMs.

cricketer

I had forgotten about the PQM hit. Am on a P fare to Europe next month, and was confused about the reduced PQM's the website was claiming that I would earn, and then it finally hit me. Ouch.

Z fares are usually too high for me though. And I certainly can't and won't justify booking one for work when there are P fares available, or plenty of OAL options at a similar price. Will be interesting to see where i stand late in the year with regard to 1K requal.

cfischer

Saw and suggested to a colleague recently a $2.3k fare ... they are still around.

chebert999

Just tried to book YYZ-HKG for April in business (P) for April: 3025$. So they are still there.
My home airport is YYZ and I have never had a pb to find P fares to Asia but I have flexibility on the dates.
The highest I paid was about 3K lat year.

Repooc17

$2k P fares to Asia have happened more often than not in recent years from East coast US/Canada. PEK and TPE have been on the list on multiple occasions; other Asian cities come up here and there.

jp12687

wpcoe

I usually fly BKK-USA-BKK 2x per year, and I would give priority consideration to NH-UA connections for the 1.5x PQM on P fares. With the devaluation this year to 1x, I've switched to using OZ via ICN in U class (discounted Business) since it's usually several hundreds of dollars cheaper, and I get the same 1x PQM as NH-UA P.

e.g. Since I was going to hit Gold anyway, I took OZ on my last trip in 2018: $3000 r/t U on OZ versus $3600 r/t P on NH-UA. In the past I might have valued 1.5x PQM enough to go with NH-UA. Not any more.

StuckinITH

I think that you have the numbers a little wrong: on United, it used to be 2x PQM on P fares. Now, it's 1.5x PQM on P fares.

wpcoe

Oh, dear. I guess I'm still jet lagged. Of course, you're right. Doh.

I am still biased toward the cheaper OZ U fares with 1x PQM versus the higher NH/UA P fares with 1.5 PQM. At 2x PQM I used to spring for the higher NH/UA P prices, but now, I'll just stick with OZ U. I realize others may reach a different bias, but that's what keeps the world interesting. I also quite like the OZ A380 for the long-haul, and at most times of the year, also on BKK-ICN.

Lintrix

I noticed that the P fares to PVG have risen ever since they introduced Polaris and once they nixed the Global First / Polaris First, they marked the Polaris Business up to a premium. I think you used to be able to buy a P fare for like 1,500-2,000 and now they are 3,600 for starters. The kicker is that the PQM also took a hit so not only is it more expensive, you gain less PQM. Pretty ...... IMO

Either United thinks they have too many customers or they made a grave mistake because a lot of loyal customers would be open to flying a different carrier given the spend. I know a MM that has given his business elsewhere due to the change. He usually buys the P fares and he says if he is going to spend $3,600+ for business class, he'd rather fly on another metal.

glbltvlr

My take is that it's a combination of supply (reduced with the exit of the 747s), demand holding on (for now - very curious to see if/when the China slowdown impacts demand), and UA interest in maintaining margins over market share. Definitely seeing the latter on flights to Europe where UA is almost always the highest fare.

bocastephen

Isn't premium cabin capacity somewhat similar on the 773 vs the 744? Give or take a few seats?

The economic picture looks bleak - China is already swirling around the toilet bowl, and the rest of the global economy is poised for a steep slowdown with a recession on the horizon, so it will be interesting to see what UA and the other carriers do this time around - do they slash benefits/features and try to toss out as many elite customers as possible while hiking fares for those who still *need* to travel, or will they slash pricing to try and grab as much incremental revenue over coach as possible and offer more carrots to elites to keep them in the air?

bluedemon211

Thanks Kacee. I was able to find that SFO-SIN fare you referred to and got it booked. Excellent fare and no worries about playing the upgrade roulette game.

Interestingly, it must be a sale fare between those 2 points. I say that because if I try to go xxx-SFO-SIN RT, it jumps to a Z fare. Perhaps there is no P fare filed xxx-SFO. In any event, definitely a good fare for the next couple of months.

cjermain

I just returned from a vacation to India over Christmas. $3400 USD for a UA Z fare from ORD to BOM (connecting in Zurich on Swissair on the way out, to Brussels on Brussels Airlines on the way back). A couple of years ago we went to India on a UA P fare for around $2500, but that was really low. $3400 seems pretty good to me.