Feb 9, 2019, 5:12 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

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:

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.

In air, passengers will receive the same standard economy inflight amenities including United Economy dining options, inflight entertainment, United Wi-Fi (availability depending on the flight)

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}

Closed Thread Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Jul 22, 2017, 11:40 am

#2161

Lani1

Join Date: May 2016

Location: LAX

Programs: UAL 1K MM, Marriott Ambassador

Posts: 438

And unless you are PAYING to check a bag you will NOT be able to print BP on line.

Must be done at counter

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacobguo

Am I correct in saying that the only differences between BE and Y for Star Golds are:

1. The inability to select seats; and,

2. No same-day changes?

Jul 22, 2017, 1:52 pm

#2162

getagb

Join Date: Apr 2014

Programs: DL Gold, UA nothing (ex-GS), Marriott lifetime Plat, Hyatt Globalist

Posts: 920

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lani1

And unless you are PAYING to check a bag you will NOT be able to print BP on line.

Must be done at counter

I don't think that's right. *G gets BG2, and if you have BG2 you can print BE BPs without checking a bag

Jul 22, 2017, 3:46 pm

#2163

jacobguo

Join Date: Nov 2015

Location: SNA/LAX, PHL

Programs: AA Gold, AS MVP, WN A-List, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Exp, Hertz PC

Posts: 449

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lani1

And unless you are PAYING to check a bag you will NOT be able to print BP on line.

Must be done at counter

Maybe I should learn from this guy and just check a single can of beer

Jul 23, 2017, 7:50 pm

#2164

1k-all-the-way

Join Date: Nov 2000

Location: San Francisco

Programs: 1K 2.2MM

Posts: 2,352

Quote:

Originally Posted by findark

1. No advance seat assignment
2. (as nycityny noted) No changes or refunds of any kind. Fly the ticket as booked or its value is forfeit.
3. No Premier or lifetime credit if accruing to UA; most *A FFPs also give zero credit for UA N fares.

While I have no big plans to fly BE, I could imagine using it for short flights....UNTIL I got to witness what no changes really means. On DEN - SFO a few days ago, we were delayed over 4 hours for a mechanical. Many of us were easily able to SDC or have gate agent move us to another flight or standby...But BE pax could not. There were a few 1Ks and I think there was even a GS, but no luck they all had to wait the 4 hours......

Is this always the case or will they make exceptions if you are missing an Intl. connection or something...?

Jul 23, 2017, 8:25 pm

#2165

emcampbe

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: SFO/SJC

Programs: UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold

Posts: 14,884

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1k-all-the-way

no BE on international flights at the moment, so kind of irrelevant.

Would be interested to know if the IRROPS rebooking tool would activate for BE fares if the circumstances warranted. Sounds like it may not.

Jul 23, 2017, 8:40 pm

#2166

1k-all-the-way

Join Date: Nov 2000

Location: San Francisco

Programs: 1K 2.2MM

Posts: 2,352

Quote:

Originally Posted by emcampbe

Yes, know there is no BE on INTL, but I think the folks trying to get on another flight to SFO were trying to make an INTL connection. Could have been separate PNRs? They also seemed surprised to have BE tickets...I think they bought without looking at anything other than price.

Jul 23, 2017, 9:14 pm

#2167

TWA884

Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: LAX

Programs: oneword Emerald

Posts: 20,617

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbAA

So far, AA has had the good sense to not copy. If they do, there are always other alternatives.

Of course they did:

American Airlines' Basic Economy Fare as of Feb 2017 (Master thd)

And from AA.com:

Basic Economy

Quote:

Restrictions

A ticket gets you a seat in Main Cabin, with restrictions:

1 item that fits under the seat in front of you (no access to overhead bins)*
Seats assigned at check-in
Fees to choose a specific seat
Not eligible for upgrades
No flight changes or refunds
Board in last group*

Jul 23, 2017, 11:19 pm

#2168

findark

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Nov 2014

Location: MSP

Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found

Posts: 14,404

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1k-all-the-way

Is this always the case or will they make exceptions if you are missing an Intl. connection or something...?

I believe you are entitled to the same rebooking in IRROPS as other passengers. You cannot, however, proactively SDC to avoid delays.

Jul 24, 2017, 5:28 am

#2169

rbAA

Join Date: May 2003

Location: Bangkok, Thailand. No longer Palm Coast, FL though still exiled, again, from the Bay Area.

Programs: Only the good ones

Posts: 5,153

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWA884

Of course they did:

American Airlines' Basic Economy Fare as of Feb 2017 (Master thd)

And from AA.com:

Basic Economy

I haven't encountered any flights with BE fares on AA. And, the fares that aa.com is spitting out that are lower than UA's BE are all with full benefits.

If AA does start selling them, like I said, I have other options. UA will never be one of them.

Jul 24, 2017, 6:56 am

#2170

1k-all-the-way

Join Date: Nov 2000

Location: San Francisco

Programs: 1K 2.2MM

Posts: 2,352

Quote:

Originally Posted by findark

I believe you are entitled to the same rebooking in IRROPS as other passengers. You cannot, however, proactively SDC to avoid delays.

What I saw seemed to be that since flight was delayed, by hours, but not cancelled, they could not change flights. Any first hand experience here?

Jul 24, 2017, 7:01 am

#2171

lincolnjkc

Join Date: Feb 2005

Location: CLE, DCA, and 30k feet

Programs: Honors LT Diamond; United 1K; Hertz PC

Posts: 4,156

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1k-all-the-way

UA (and everyone else, AFAIK) assumes no liability for onward connections that aren't part of the same ticket. As far as UA is concerned in the first instance their sole responsibility is to get you to your ticketed destinations (e.g. SFO). What you do when you get there -- even if it's hopping on a different independently-ticketed flight is your business.

I'd be surprised if UA would bend very far in this scenario -- I would expect best case would be an invitation to purchase a replacement ticket on a different flight.

Jul 24, 2017, 9:39 am

#2172

Kacee

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Apr 2013

Location: PHX

Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)

Posts: 56,448

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1k-all-the-way

While I have no big plans to fly BE, I could imagine using it for short flights....UNTIL I got to witness what no changes really means.

UA has made it pretty clear they consider BE pax second class citizens for virtually all purposes. That can manifest in so many different ways . . . I just can't see where saving $15-20 would ever justify buying one of these fares.

Jul 24, 2017, 10:04 am

#2173

belynch

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jan 2006

Location: A menace to everything in the sky. Yes. Even birds.

Programs: Eh+ Rapid Rolleyes

Posts: 14,519

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbAA

AA is slow-rolling their BE roll-out; now on 44 routes that generally compete with ULCCs and WN.

During the Q2 earnings call last week Kirby mentioned that because AA hadn't rolled out BE on all routes he inferred they (UA) were seeing some booking attrition, which he said would likely go away when AA rolled BE out across every route.

While I have no doubt AA will eventually do it, the question is when, and is the uptick in business significant enough for them to hold-off on the fare increase of implementing BE. The other big question is whether they will roll it out on all fare classes (like UA) or just the lower cost ones (like DL).

My guess is everyone's running the numbers right now to see what the magic formula is and, in a sense, there's a game of chicken occurring between UA and AA on who can hold out with their version of BE longest. If I was a betting man (I am) I think all three majors will migrate to the DL way of handling BE fares by EOY.