SS255

FT'ers think on multiple levels. Most people who buy BE fares don't think beyond the $15-$20 savings if they can live with no carry-on and a middle seat.

zdog2x

Is BE the new E+?

Trying to do a SDC today and 3 hours before departure seat map (yes I know this isn't a precise way of viewing availability) shows 30 seats not checked in with tons of blue in E+. Expert mode shows Y1.

Got me thinking that if you roll the BE dice you have a pretty decent chance of getting seated in E+. Is that true or are cattle on good old fashioned E getting those seats before BE? Seems like it would be a logistics nightmare.

mduell

You can roll the dice on free E+ on a regular ticket... on BE you have to roll the dice.

YoungSoloTraveler

Booked a $100 BE ticket... 20% savings over regular. In return probably stuck with middle seat? Or can you sweet talk your way at check in. (Do Agents control seating at check in or is it computer done). I have star gold so will just head to the premier line and try my luck.

findark

Indeed - I don't get the angst over not op-upping regular Y pax to E+. If the E+ lottery is such a lucrative deal, you can do it on a normal ticket too.

It's assigned by computer and you cannot change it. An agent may, but I would not hold out a lot of hope from the way they are being taught to handle BE pax. If you're good at social engineering you might manage something.

emcampbe

Depending on how the advent of BE goes, and if it does end up UA is seeing stats where BE is getting E+ more than a small minority of the time, there would probably have to be some adjustment made to policy. Either how seats are allocated closer to departure (as I've suggested upthread - potentially offering it free to high-fare spenders/*G on flights where they need to), adjustments to the E+ pricing algorithm, or (and I don't want to see it, but I doubt this won't be in the set to consider), adjustment of the amount of E+ seats offered across the fleet. Could also include a more lenient policy for silvers again buying normal fares (which I'd prefer) - either offering it a few days before departure, a discount on the cost up until they go free to entice more folks to buy 'em, etc.).

SS255

Conditioning behavior works in both directions. UA has conditioned elites to believe that the only way to ride up front is to buy it. Similarly, UA is conditioning their customers that if you buy BE, you have a really good shot at sitting in E+ for free.

mduell

I was surprised to see the BE discount at only $20/RT for a ~$500 ticket IAH-SEA-IAH, turns out there's no discount on the higher fare code (Q) return:

HOU UA SEA 111.63KAA7AKBN UA HOU 309.76QRA1AKBR USD 421.39 END ZP IAH SEA XT 31.61US 8.20ZP 11.20AY 9.00XF IAH4.50 SEA4.50

HOU UA SEA 130.23KAA7AKEN UA HOU 309.77QAA1AKEN USD 440.00 END ZP IAH SEA XT 33.00US 8.20ZP 11.20AY 9.00XF IAH4.50 SEA4.50

Still waiting patiently for Google Flights to offer an option to exclude AA/DL/UA BE.

Kacee

The website offered BE and non-BE on the same itinerary? I don't think it's supposed to do that. What a complete cluster that would be, since most restrictive fare rules apply.

jsloan

No. There are -BR fares filed, but they're the same price as the regular economy fares. They exist only so that people can book a round-trip in basic economy when BE-discounted fares aren't available in both directions.

mduell is showing two itineraries; one basic and one regular economy. Both have the same fare for the return leg (apart from a rounding difference): 309.76QRA1AKBR vs 309.77QAA1AKEN. So, there's only a $20 "discount" for BE (aka $20 surcharge for regular economy) because the return fare isn't discounted.

mduell

lolno, I won't touch UA flight search with a 10 foot pole. I use Google Flights, with ITA Matrix for the fare construction.

On the return SEA-IAH, the lowest BE fare is the same as the lowest non-BE fare. Offering to mix would actually be doing customers a favor in some ways, like seat selection on the return with a BE outbound.

aeneas3

hi all
Hoping you guys can offer insight into a booking error my dad did. He booked a RT ticket in the basic economy. He realized at the 40 hr mark that he made a mistake and booked the wrong dates (I always fear this even on refundable fares.) Anyway, he has reached out and despite having an explorer card, etc. they have no interest in changing anything.

Has anyone had any luck with a similar problem or will have to learn his lesson? The return flight is the wrong date, we will be on a cruise then

edit: he booked with his new chase ink NOT miles explorer

lincolnjkc

But that would reinforce two things that UA doesn't want to encourage
1- People who want any selection/flexibility would then have reasons to book BE rather than upfaring to the fare UA really wants people to buy.

2- People would get confused and potentially argumentative re: which flight is on BE vs which is "standard" ("But they let me carry my bag on last time!", etc.)

By forcing the entire trip into BE UA is keeping an end-to-end consistent(ly poor, IMO but that's one reason I choose to book above BE) travel experience and avoiding points for surprise/confusion/argument and preserving, clearly, all of the billboards to encourage booking a higher fare class.

Fly it as ticketed or lose it. If it's the return you could fly the outbound and just pick up a one-way ticket. Although throw-away ticketing is a prohibited ticketing practice, UA doesn't give you a whole lot of room aside from throwing it away on BE. The $15-30 difference is, among other things, an idiot insurance premium. (And I am always terrified of making exactly that mistake)

[And there's a certain irony that I'm commenting on a BE thread from the relative opulence of the ORD Polaris lounge, but I digress]

steaminer

At 40 hours you're pretty much out of luck.

Since it's the return, if it's less than the change fee, you can just miss the flight and book a one way return out of pocket.

jsloan

Basic Economy flights cannot be changed except in case of IRROPS (flight cancellation, weather, etc.). I don't know how they're handing weather waivers for BE -- for a regular economy flight, the advice is often to wait and see if your itinerary happens to get affected by one.

So, yes, your best bet is to book a separate one-way flight home.