fivevsone

Changed flights 2.5h earlier, onto an oversold SFO-SAN flight Monday, went from R to 21B (cuz its only like 1h6m). Seated next to a BE flyer, who was IRROPS from PDX and got 21A. Told him how providentially lucky he was, with IRROPS and all...

He agreed, but he said he was playing the BE crapshoot, knew that if all the E- seats are booked, good chance he gets E+ free and cheaper ticket. No reason to book and pay.

Others posited that this could be one way to angle shoot the BE experience...

Boraxo

So much for (airline management) theory that BE flyers are all kettles seeking the lowest price. Maybe the reverse, BE flyers are sophisticated customers who roll the dice in hopes of gaming the system.] - LOL. No wonder the program hasn't met UA's revenue expectations,

In the meantime, the rest of us pay a BE tax for seating certainty, elite perks and better IRROPS service.

Hard to see this working as a long time business model for UA, AA, DL as opposed to Spirit, Ryanair, etc. where all customers expect to be treated like dirt and know they have to pay for seats, etc.

krazykanuck

I mean, I'm guilty of doing that. Not with BE, but on a DL flight last month, an American flight before that. If all that's left is crappy middle seats, or no seats at all, you're better off just going seat unassigned. On that DL flight I got a sweet exit row aisle seat, which would of otherwise required an upcharge.

It's a brave new world Hell I'm considering a UA flight where I'd book BE simply because the "elite premium" is just too high and I can suffice with a backpack.

zeer0

Seeing 40% buy ups to regular economy on many ~$100 BE fares.

Kadomony

88% markups on some of these -- ORD-LAX RT 9/16-9/18 has some $90.40 BE tickets with an $80 markup to Y round trip.

spin88

I would go one further, the way BE is being rolled out by United makes United just like Spirit. Spirit's price is for a crappy product, no seat selection, and a carry on bag costs you $37. If you want a better experience, well you can buy up to a "big front seat" which is an old domestic first class seat, e.g. pricing $32 o/w LAX-SEA. http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...t-seat-review/

United's BE product is crappy, you get no seat selection, no elite credit, and (unless you have a credit card or status) a carry on bag costs you $25, but if you do it at the gate it is $50. If you want a better experience (and your elite benefits) well you can buy up for $15-40+ o/w into E+ or the E+ lottery (if silver) or into the F lottery if 1K or GS.

Given that United is not matching Spirits pricing in most markets, but instead matching its BE to OALs (AS/VX, B6, DL, AA, WN's) regular Y, perhaps the better deal is to just skip UAdbaULLC and just buy up to a big front seat on Spirit.

fly18725

United is matching Spirit's pricing (within a few dollars) on like-timed flights in most markets. No network carrier regularly matches ULCC pricing unless flights are similarly timed.

Part of the network carriers' value proposition is better flight schedules. Even with BE fares, you don't have to pay to check-in, or to get a snack and beverages on a flight.

Often1

For UA, it is simply burning off inventory which most pax don't want, e.g. E- middles. If UA can make the marginal cost of the fuel and a cup of soda, it can sell BE for pretty much anything.

Even for business travelers who are stuck in BE, UA at least has IRROPS handling and a network, which NK doesn't.

CDKing

In this case. Basic is much more expensive than lowest available

mduell

The network is less relevant in BE IRROPS if you're locked into your routing and have to take whatever the autorebook computer spits out, as a post above claimed.

Kacee

That would be a good argument if load factors were not consistently over 80%.

fly18725

Yeah, claims from posters now determine fare rules and policies.

mduell

That's why I included the disclaimers.
Can you show any published rules or policies explicitly to the contrary?

fly18725

I'm not going to post the fare rules here. Anyone is free to look them up.

emcampbe

even still, in most markets, you'll probably do better on UAs network than NKs.

I can tell you from friends experience on NK. We met in PHX, they came in from LA on NK. This was before BE, but the legacy pricing was the same, but somehow they still bought Spirit. Their evening flight got canceled on the return, I don't think they could get rebooked the next night, and even if, they needed to be back in LA that morning. So they rented a car and drove at their own expense. My understanding is NK refused to offer a refund, only credit for a future flight, which I'm pretty sure they didn't use, as I'm pretty certain this is the last time they used Spirit.