Of course not . . . but I look at lifetime miles as one of those super-diffuse benefits that really matters to very few people but also has an extremely low cost to the company other than recognizing someone has been flying with the airline for years and years and a lot of miles. It's a cheap "give" to credit lifetime miles for even the cheapest of tickets. And for that matter for award tickets as well. it's not just a lifetime PQM (as the conversion after merger with pmCO showed).

I work for a large multinational company, and I imagine our travel policy is fairly standard. When Delta unveiled its version of basic economy, our booking portal defaulted away from such fares and instead went to regular economy. I'd expect this to be the same.

In case anyone was wondering, from the investor presentation:

Basic Economy will be on sale in early 1Q17 for travel in 2Q17

Boarding Group 5 (unless you otherwise 'earn' a higher group)?

So, UA uses a WilMA method to 'save time' in boarding (it is one of the most efficient boarding methods). So, they scrap that for the sake of selling cheap fares? How is this supposed to make things 'faster', as they tout?

So, surely an anomaly, but assume there are 5 seats remaining when they clear Economy Basic people into their seats. So, all of those aisle people and possibly middles now have to get out of their seats and bottleneck things worse than the standard practice?

I have a feeling this will be one of the first 'anti-benefits' to be rescinded.

Well, if so it will also have a negative impact on UA loyalty. If your company requires use of these tickets why will anyone make an effort to fly UA when presented with a choice of similar costing alternatives?

I haven't read the entire thread, but I'd guess leisure markets more than most as it did say it would be market specific. Similar to Ted. But then again, commuter markets, where carry ons are at maximum could benefit the most from it...

I work for a large multinational, when the DL Basic Economy fares were introduced, they showed up for a couple of weeks but haven't shown up in a while. In fact policy went the other way and we are given access to "Preferred Seats" and put on the C+/F upgrade list as part of our corporate contract now.

We are on a "lowest available fare" but perhaps they got enough pushback that they removed Basic Economy or DL removed it as part of the latest corporate contract and replaced it with the access mentioned above. For UA in particular it would be silly since the company policy is to pay for checked baggage which you would have to do if limited to 1 carry-on and would more or less cancel out the lower price.

It is remarkable that people ask a question about a product which is very clearly described as to what it does and does not provide, when it will be bookable and as of what date. What is not known is at what fare.

It is also remarkable that people are prepared to bash a product which UA reasonably believes that it can sell, presumably based on market research showing a market.

Nobody is forced to buy the product, by UA, and it is likely a terrible deal (depending on pricing) for most business travel. That is why most businesses which required "lowest" quite quickly exempted this product from their DL requirement when DL offered it. If your employer requires you to purchase the product and it makes poor business sense, that is a discussion with your employer.

So, why a poor business traveler decision: 1. Inflexible. This means no changes. Not only no SDC, but no changes of any kind. Not even for $200 (Domestic) + fare difference. Thus, if your business meeting is cancelled, the ticket goes in the trash. 2. Luggage - No overnight bag means checked luggage means $25 for even a one-night trip or $50 round-trip. That may wipe out the ticket savings right there. True that #2 goes away for employees with any status and Silver is not hard to attain, but inflexibility is a big deal for most businesses and paying an employee to sit at a gate for 3 hours waiting for the next flight rather than even an SDC fee is a waste.

As to the carry-on issue, this is a good way to solve the largest hassle of boarding. There simply is not enough space to acommodate the compliant carry-ons of all passengers. Tight connections means lots of people who might have boarded early are boarding late. At least those in the cheap seats won't be taking up the OH's on full flights.

As to E+, even those who don't qualify for E+ seating, are assigned E+ if that is all that is left. But, think of it as rare if even non Basic customers who are not E+ eligible and did not pay for it come ahead of you. I don't see UA IDB someone over that.

"Basic Economy" doesn't do it justice. How about "Steerage"?

No PQM, PQD, PQS for basic economy? If this is a significant amount of fares, there really is no point to loyalty.

Not to get philosophical, but American business history is chock full of products that companies "reasonably believed they could sell." Betamax, New Coke, the Apple Newton...hey, whatever happened to that fabulous Apple Watch that was supposed to change the world?

Just because a business *thinks* a product will be successful does not mean that it *will* be. It's a peculiar quirk of American culture that we think businesses can't make mistakes.

Does anyone really believe that "basic economy" won't just be the current lowest fare, with an uptick for anything with any benefits.

SW is looking better and better (MDW is closer to me and they fly everywhere I need to go in the US) and then just buy INTL fares when needed.

Sigh.

United Airlines wants to be like Spirit. Good luck United. ;)

You should have used Song and Ted as your examples. ;)

That said, the market has already proven that the product is successful. Not that it could be, but that it is. No guarantee that UA's version will succeed. But this is not a new concept that UA invented and is hoping to win with.

The beeping and red lights doesn't seem to discourage people from booking exit row seats.