fly18725

You can check in at a kiosk. Or, buy a different fare.

EmailKid

Chicken is a major pain even via elite line

minnyfly

Online check-in is the only free check-in for NK. And check-in is another cut-off before you pay more for bags. That's why they "allow" it. I call it the "printer tax". It's the opposite of consumer-friendly and far more inconvenient than UA's method.

Spirit has "dynamic" pricing for bags now, but you can expect to pay $65 for a carry-on at the gate (at least it isn't a $100 like it used to be). All carry-on and checked bag fees (40lb limit) start out higher than UA and the rest of the legacies, and they only go up the longer you wait.

There's no doubt about it. NK is far, far more punitive. It isn't even comparable.

Maybe you could treat UA with the same respect? It's a two-way street in business. I try to treat all my customers with respect, but the behavior of some will naturally curtail my efforts to go above and beyond.

findark

Getting an agent to UA-UA interline is hard. Nothing to do with BE - it's possible but apparently just difficult to get the computer to do.

Kacee

The context of this discussion is UA disallowing online check-in because the passenger is not checking a bag.

Obviously if the passenger pays for his or her bag at check-in the issue of gate-checking becomes irrelevant.

lincolnjkc

In a small [and new] outstation I watched a passenger get absolutely irate over BE and not being able to bring his (full size -- I saw it later) carry-on onboard claiming it was a "mistake" and his wife didn't know what she was buying (based on how blatantly clear UA makes this at every step from what I've seen) and going on that it was outrageous that he "wasn't allowed" to have his diabetic supplies on board.

I thought he was on the verge of getting physical with the gate agent (who was just about the epitome of customer service -- expressing compassion, trying to find a happy medium (including having pulling the bag [which had been checked at the ticket counter] so that he could get what he needed) and he just was not having any of it and just kept getting louder and more profane.

An agent who appeared later reminded the first agent that "you can always call security if you need to"

I was happy to give the agent my card and invited her/the company to contact me as a witness if this wasn't the end of it.

But it was clear the customer was not going to foster any loyalty toward UA which is bad for the long term (though I'd be happy not to be in the same flight as this passenger again)

MikieLikesMiles

I'm now getting stuck with the BE fares for business (Concur booking) as we must go with lowest logical fare. Had the check-in "glitch" with my first BEcarry-on only flight and since solved by checking in on mobile and "checking 1 bag", which then gives me my e-boarding pass. Then at airport I just go thru Pre-check and head to gate with no issues; no bags checked. Has worked every time. Longer-term, I'm probably going to shift my corporate travel to another airline that doesn't push BE quite so hard even on last minute bookings!

FlyngSvyr

I saw my first BE fare today that had a LARGE delta to the lowest economy fare.
IAH-SEA on 9/19 has a BE fare of $51 & the G fare is $131. That is a $80 difference!!!

I thought I had figured out what the "surcharge" would be for a normal economy ticket ($15,$20,$25) depending on flight length, number of segments, etc. But know my theory is thrown out the window.

I wish Google flights could filter out BE fares. It is a real pain right now to plan a status run in the fall. Every time you find a "good deal", you have to click thru to the united site to see what the upcharge will be. On most tcons it was $50 for the RT. Now you just won't know until you click thru

EmailKid

I was going to post this earlier, but you just confirmed my theory.

It's not the $20 that I have seen regularly, but the difference between ULLCs (Spirit, Frontier) fares and what UA (and AA, DL and even WN) would charge.

You know there's no way you UA is going to sell you regular fare to SEA for $51, BUT if UA wants to compete with ULLC then it matches it - not just the fare, but also personal item only as well as no seat assignments.

No lifetime miles or EQM pretty much matches ULLCs as well, since they don't have such a program - can you imagine being a MM on Spirit

I am thinking of creating a Wiki with these observations ....

findark

In this and other cases, it's not so much that there is an $80 difference that they published an N fare with no matching economy fare. I am genuinely unsure whether they are mistakes (ie. UA intended to also publish a regular fare) or intentional for the low prices.

Much of the time the discrepancy is cleared up quickly which would lend some credence to the mistake hypothesis but it's hard to know.

FlyngSvyr

And in retrospect, this is pretty much what most of us were expecting to see when BE was first announced (at least I was). Matching the ULCC's in their markets to win some of that business. Give a handful of pax per plane the opportunity to fly UA for cheap with no benefits.

What we were NOT expecting to see was ALL of our "traditional" fares to go up by the "surcharge" to keep and utilize our FF benefits. And now after being conditioned for a short time that the difference would be in the $15-$25 range, I feel somehow that the $80 difference is somehow wrong, when 2 months ago I would have expected it.

The roll out of this could have been constructed so much better. They should have had these ULCC competitive fares come out first, then all the other BE fares at lower rates then existing fares, & then finally increased them to where they appear as an "elite tax". Sure, some FT'rs would still have argued it as an elite tax, but many would have called it a logical fare hike.

mnredfox

Seeing the news on UA requiring folks who are on BE to check in with an agent in order to get a BP.

UA Explorer card members (primary member + 1 companion on same PNR) or Premier members still get a carry-on per the BE T&C. Does this mean that if I have a BE ticket I still have to see an agent to check in?

If so - I guess what makes sense is to fake check a bag then to get my BP, then never check a bag if I want to have a carry-on only?

threeoh

I fly Spirit quite a bit and I always check in at the airport kiosk, which is free. (I've done this at ORD, BWI, LGA, and LAS...maybe there are some more minor stations that don't have kiosks?)

Back on topic, I wonder if United wants you to wait to check in at the airport so that non-BE customers all have a chance to pick their seat / maybe buy Y+ between T-24 and T-2. Then whatever's leftover goes to BE.

findark

Wait, so do BE pax have to check in at a counter or is a kiosk ok?

I print a paper BP every single time I fly and have never had to wait or considered this a hassle.

emcampbe

ive never flown Spirit, nor will I ever (that they don't fly to my home airport helps, but even if, I just won't), so i cant speak from experience, but can from their published rules. And their optional services page (https://www.spirit.com/OptionalServices - then click other) clearly lists the fees for printing a BP at a kiosk is $2 per BP, and $10 (ouch!) to have an agent print one. Maybe you've been lucky, but I'd be real surprised to hear the system even allows a waiver. This is basically how Spirit makes money.