IMissThe747

Since 2020 will be my last year as 1K, I certainly wonder about the implications for E+ included at booking for platinum and gold. I still haven't decided my flying strategy in 2020 for premier status in 2021. Losing E+ at booking would be the final dealbreaker that would make becoming a free agent the obvious decision.

findark

The differential is $129 not $179 (G is not matched), and a typical E+ seat is somewhere around $100 to $200 depending on the flight.

JimInOhio

I'll rephrase the question. If someone buys an E- seat with a G fare, what would be the upcharge to move to E+ on the EWR to SFO route?

findark

Somewhere between $100 and $200 depending on the seat and flight. A sample booking I tried now ranged from $129 to $165.

DELee

For now.

David

94010flyer

I assume that if you as a Gold or higher clicked on the economy fare for $134 when it can time to select seats you would be offered E+ seats to select for no charge, right?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

DIsplays like this will make having a status that gets "free" E+ more desirable to some. Sort of puts a $ value on that status for that flight right up front. In this case, status is worth $177 for the one flight.

fumje

Do we really need five fare categories?

It does make some modicum of sense to distinguish E+ for the transcon flights that offer meal service, but since we are going down this road I would like to propose 'Basic' and 'Plus' verison of Premium Economy and Business/First as well.

Basic Premium Economy has to take the middle of the triplet/quadruplet seats, and it cannot upgrade to Polaris. Premium Economy Plus (or 'Premium Plus Plus', if you will) is fared in A but has a hidden differential of +$400, and it can boot anyone out of the bulkhead seat selection.

Basic Business/First also has to take the middle on lie-flat aircraft, or it gets no advance seat selection, and it gets no pdb, just for giggles. Business/First Plus gets you an 016- ticket for another airline.

STS-134

That's a very elite heavy hub to hub route, and UA is (for now) trying to keep all of the people who have status happy by keeping enough of those seats open. I suspect that the market equilibrium price for those seats, i.e. the price at which they'd actually sell all of those seats instead of giving them away, is substantially less than $177, perhaps in the $60-100 range. And I have no doubt that this is on UA's list of "changes we'll like" that they want to implement next.

Kacee

UA has stated this is a test, and they are undoubtedly watching to see how many people will overpay for a fare that includes E+.

JimInOhio

Thank you and clearly it's less than buying the E+ seat from the start.

spin88

+1 on both points. I much, much prefer the way UA (and AS) do it vs. DL. The rub is that I often buy last minute tickets, and while E+/C+ aisle/window may not be available, they are likely to open up as upgrades clear. On UA I can check, move my seat, on DL I have to worry I get jammed into a middle seat. As a result on DL I will often turn off the upgrade feature if I have a decent exit row seat (exits on DL are NOT C+ on domestic planes). If UA, which has exit rows as E+ were to do what DL does, it would be a total mess over. And of course, since it's UA, you can count on them doing the worst possible thing.

findark

Please, no bad ideas

This is already happening on a number of carriers (LH has no ASR on most PE fares, BA charges for ASR in J, some of the ME3 have trialed Basic Business with things like no ASR or no lounge access).

Howard

Yes and no. The G fare with free E+ based on status isn't the same as the B fare because the B fare is also eligible for instant upgrades.

fumje

Well it won't be from me then that they get the idea! I will join you to say (to UA), please, no (more) bad ideas.


Yes and no to that as well!

There are no instant upgrades for EWR-SFO. (But yes, that would apply to the CHI/NYC route discussed first.)