Feb 9, 2019, 5:12 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is an archive thread -- the active thread is United's Basic Economy - Discussion, Q&A, ...
Important Note: these fares became available 21 Feb 2017 for MSP for travel beginning 18 Apr 2017. More markets were added 19 April 2017 for travel starting 9 May 2017.
Related thread: Basic Economy Airport and Plane Experiences (First or Second Hand)
If you booked before the dates above, you did not have a BE fare. If purchased on united.com you will see a warning like:
4. MileagePlus members will earn full Premier qualifying dollars, 50% Premier qualifying miles and 0.5 Premier qualifying segments for each flight, as well as lifetime miles and toward the four-segment minimum.
Link to UA's description of how these fares will work: Basic Economy.
Here are the key facts:
related threads
New UA/*A TATL -LGT Economy fare - no free first bag, no changes/upgrades allowed
Benefit impact of restricted economy fares on UA Elites (Basic Econ, -LGT, Light Econ
Pre-announcement speculation thread (now closed) New "Budget Economy" fares
Important Note: these fares became available 21 Feb 2017 for MSP for travel beginning 18 Apr 2017. More markets were added 19 April 2017 for travel starting 9 May 2017.
Related thread: Basic Economy Airport and Plane Experiences (First or Second Hand)
If you booked before the dates above, you did not have a BE fare. If purchased on united.com you will see a warning like:
4. MileagePlus members will earn full Premier qualifying dollars, 50% Premier qualifying miles and 0.5 Premier qualifying segments for each flight, as well as lifetime miles and toward the four-segment minimum.
Link to UA's description of how these fares will work: Basic Economy.
Here are the key facts:
- No seat assignments until check-in. Seats will be assigned by the system and cannot be changed.*NEW* When purchasing a Basic Economy ticket, you will not receive a complimentary seat assignment but may be able to purchase advance seat assignments during booking and up until check-in opens. If you don’t purchase an advance seat assignment, your seat will be automatically assigned to you prior to boarding, and you won't be able to change your seat once it's been assigned.
- No guarantee of adjacent seats with companions
- No voluntary ticket changes after 24 hour purchase period
- Carry on limited to 1 personal item unless the customer is a MP Premier member, primary cardmember of a qualifying MileagePlus credit card, or Star Alliance *G
- Customers ineligible for carry-on who bring one to the gate will be charged a $25 convenience fee to gate-check in addition to standard baggage fees (source: @united twitter)
- Customers will not be eligible for Economy Plus or premium cabin upgrades. This includes all forms of upgrades (CPU,supported or purchased). Likewise for E+ access (elite or purchased).
- Customers will board in the last boarding group (currently Group 5) unless the customer is a MP Premier member, primary cardmember of a qualifying MileagePlus credit card, or Star Alliance *G
- Companions on same PNR will have same boarding group and carryon if one on the PNR has a waiver
- No combinability with regular economy fares or partner carriers. Interline travel is not permitted.
- Tickets will earn RDMs (based on fare and status), PQMs (50% of distance), PQSs (0.5), PQDs, in addition it will count for minimum 4 segment and lifetime miles (New as of Dec 2018)
- Basic Economy tickets will use booking code 'N'
- Online check-in only with paid checked bag, otherwise need to see a United representative to verify the onboard bag allowance and receive a boarding pass.
related threads
New UA/*A TATL -LGT Economy fare - no free first bag, no changes/upgrades allowed
Benefit impact of restricted economy fares on UA Elites (Basic Econ, -LGT, Light Econ
Pre-announcement speculation thread (now closed) New "Budget Economy" fares
United's Basic Economy - Discussion, Q&A, ... {Archive}
Jul 13, 2017, 12:30 pm
#2131
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I've defaulted my profile to search for Business and First fares. Most of the time this will display regular Economy as the left-most column. It will never display BE (what you want), but also won't have the Economy (flexible) column.
Jul 13, 2017, 4:05 pm
#2132
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Make BE Fares go away on United.com
Is there any profile or way so that the reservation system will never, ever shows me BE Fares. I don't plan on ever buying one of these things.
I've almost bought them a couple of times, as I'm so used to viewing the prices in the first column and I just am not interested in them.
Is there any profile or way so that the reservation system will never, ever shows me BE Fares. I don't plan on ever buying one of these things.
I've almost bought them a couple of times, as I'm so used to viewing the prices in the first column and I just am not interested in them.
At main UA page Book Travel select Search All Options and underneath Upgrade Type choose MileagePlus Upgrade. Just tried it with random search and there was no BE even though regular search showed it. You do lose the flexible fares results though ...
No idea if you can do something like that with Google Flights or Matrix.
If already in search, do the same but click Advanced Search at top right of results page.
Jul 13, 2017, 4:08 pm
#2133
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Code:
f !bc=n
With Google flights.. well, you should use Matrix
Jul 13, 2017, 4:18 pm
#2134
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Guess I need to spend more time in the Matrix trix thread .....
Jul 15, 2017, 2:17 pm
#2135
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: PIT
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Thanks! I had taken to just listing every other UA code because I couldn't figure out how to cancel a fare code.
Jul 18, 2017, 7:12 am
#2136
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Saw an interesting search result today where Basic Economy is showing up as more expensive than standard economy.
I haven't paid any attention to the ins-and-outs of BE fares as I have no interest in them, but thought this was rather strange.
I haven't paid any attention to the ins-and-outs of BE fares as I have no interest in them, but thought this was rather strange.
Jul 19, 2017, 2:12 pm
#2137
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Just hit a new one, or at least new to me.
Looking for a round trip, when selecting the outbound flight, I'm given a choice of Basic or Standard economy for the same price for the leg. Huh? But if I select the "no-extra-cost" Standard, then the return leg prices $20 higher than it does if I select Basic for the outbound.
Searching for 2 one ways instead reveals what is going on. On the outbound one-way, Basic is not an option. On the return one-way, it is, with a $20 price difference. And I guess a Basic or Standard selection for a roundtrip applies to both directions. Still, it makes for a confusing choice, and most might not realize that the selection on the same-priced outbound will affect the total roundtrip pricing.
Looking for a round trip, when selecting the outbound flight, I'm given a choice of Basic or Standard economy for the same price for the leg. Huh? But if I select the "no-extra-cost" Standard, then the return leg prices $20 higher than it does if I select Basic for the outbound.
Searching for 2 one ways instead reveals what is going on. On the outbound one-way, Basic is not an option. On the return one-way, it is, with a $20 price difference. And I guess a Basic or Standard selection for a roundtrip applies to both directions. Still, it makes for a confusing choice, and most might not realize that the selection on the same-priced outbound will affect the total roundtrip pricing.
Jul 19, 2017, 3:43 pm
#2138
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Join Date: Oct 2006
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Just hit a new one, or at least new to me.
Looking for a round trip, when selecting the outbound flight, I'm given a choice of Basic or Standard economy for the same price for the leg. Huh? But if I select the "no-extra-cost" Standard, then the return leg prices $20 higher than it does if I select Basic for the outbound.
Searching for 2 one ways instead reveals what is going on. On the outbound one-way, Basic is not an option. On the return one-way, it is, with a $20 price difference. And I guess a Basic or Standard selection for a roundtrip applies to both directions. Still, it makes for a confusing choice, and most might not realize that the selection on the same-priced outbound will affect the total roundtrip pricing.
Looking for a round trip, when selecting the outbound flight, I'm given a choice of Basic or Standard economy for the same price for the leg. Huh? But if I select the "no-extra-cost" Standard, then the return leg prices $20 higher than it does if I select Basic for the outbound.
Searching for 2 one ways instead reveals what is going on. On the outbound one-way, Basic is not an option. On the return one-way, it is, with a $20 price difference. And I guess a Basic or Standard selection for a roundtrip applies to both directions. Still, it makes for a confusing choice, and most might not realize that the selection on the same-priced outbound will affect the total roundtrip pricing.
Jul 19, 2017, 5:37 pm
#2139
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: dark side of the moon
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Posts: 707
There is apparently a recent quote from Kirby regarding BE: - see moderator source
Thoughts?
Moderator note: From those wanting a source for the above quote -- see transcript of 19 July UA analyst call
Thoughts?
Moderator note: From those wanting a source for the above quote -- see transcript of 19 July UA analyst call
Last edited by ermintrude; Jul 19, 2017 at 7:32 pm Reason: quote source
Jul 19, 2017, 5:44 pm
#2140
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It's a failure and it's costing them customers.
They're already backing off in the marketplace. Whether they will be forced to change the terms of the fares themselves (particularly the carryon restriction), as opposed to just backing off on the fare structure, remains to be seen.
They're already backing off in the marketplace. Whether they will be forced to change the terms of the fares themselves (particularly the carryon restriction), as opposed to just backing off on the fare structure, remains to be seen.
Jul 19, 2017, 5:52 pm
#2141
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I wouldn't put it in quite so stark terms.
Competing BE-for-Y against other airlines was patently absurd (especially for e.g. West Coast refundable fares), and looks like they finally figured it out. They've rolled back BE to mirror DL's fare levels, and I think it will stay that way (or everyone will "roll out completely" together).
Why they ever though failing to match on price in competitive markets was a good idea to begin with..
Maybe Kirby honestly thought AA and DL would follow.
Competing BE-for-Y against other airlines was patently absurd (especially for e.g. West Coast refundable fares), and looks like they finally figured it out. They've rolled back BE to mirror DL's fare levels, and I think it will stay that way (or everyone will "roll out completely" together).
Why they ever though failing to match on price in competitive markets was a good idea to begin with..
Maybe Kirby honestly thought AA and DL would follow.
Jul 19, 2017, 6:19 pm
#2142
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Jul 19, 2017, 7:36 pm
#2143
Join Date: Sep 2008
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Booking an SFO/IAH R/T for late August (Q fare), I just got a quote for the outbound where Economy was BE+1 ($351 vs. $350). Don't know if there's a temporary sale on or it's messed up, but the R/T Sun/Fri was a bit more than $100 less than I've been paying the rest of the summer.
Jul 19, 2017, 8:36 pm
#2144
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Frontier flies IAH-SFO, and a week out it's $228.60 one way. I think that is your answer @:-)
Jul 19, 2017, 10:45 pm
#2145
Join Date: Apr 2011
Programs: WN, AA, UA, DL
Posts: 1,313
Eh, nothing too groundbreaking to me. I think the only interesting part is that he didn't give a definitive guidance on whether it is currently revenue positive or negative. So we don't know whether the book away is outpacing the up-sale yield gain, or vice versa.