Ridiculously uncompetitive airfares?
May 19, 2020, 2:54 pm
#61
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: NYC/Northern NJ
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This is quite the pickle.Legacy carriers played in the Basic Economy airfare and now we have this situation. The LCC price based on need to fill seats while the big airlines pretty much are charging nearly Y fares to avoid flying every play at a lost. On some future travel I've booked Spirit and Frontier which even if I purchased a premium product would still be cheaper vs. UA lowest cost fare for similar route.
I'm guessing the bailout doesn't factor into this as DOT stated must service the routes but not economically. Without basis - is it possible UA doesn't care to fill seats or win passengers back due to the government lifeline for a few months?
I'm guessing the bailout doesn't factor into this as DOT stated must service the routes but not economically. Without basis - is it possible UA doesn't care to fill seats or win passengers back due to the government lifeline for a few months?
May 19, 2020, 7:34 pm
#62
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I don't mind paying more if I could be guaranteed that the middle seat would stay open. I understand that it costs more for UA to keep customers and employees socially-distanced and safe, and those costs must be offset by charging higher fares. But I resent paying higher fares and UA does not make any reasonable effort to keep us safe.
Keeping the middle seat open does mean soemone isn’t right next to you, sure, and I suppose it’s good for optics. But for the mandated 6 feet of social distancing, on a mainline narrow body plane, it would mean only allowing people to be seated in the window seats in every 3rd row. There’s no financial model for an airline that would work if they could sell that as their max load.
May 19, 2020, 8:41 pm
#63
Join Date: Jan 2008
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hate to break it to you, but no one is really keeping social distance on an airplane.
Keeping the middle seat open does mean soemone isn’t right next to you, sure, and I suppose it’s good for optics. But for the mandated 6 feet of social distancing, on a mainline narrow body plane, it would mean only allowing people to be seated in the window seats in every 3rd row. There’s no financial model for an airline that would work if they could sell that as their max load.
Keeping the middle seat open does mean soemone isn’t right next to you, sure, and I suppose it’s good for optics. But for the mandated 6 feet of social distancing, on a mainline narrow body plane, it would mean only allowing people to be seated in the window seats in every 3rd row. There’s no financial model for an airline that would work if they could sell that as their max load.
May 19, 2020, 10:59 pm
#64
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Join Date: Jun 2005
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United was agressive (as it should have been) for its May schedule, but they’ve cut too far for June. I’ve been looking at booking something these past couple weeks but everything I’ve searched (out of EWR) is booked out and insanely expensive. Will probably end up booking on B6 instead.
May 19, 2020, 11:39 pm
#65
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I think the answer is to Kayak or WN.com or whatever for booking near-term travel....
May 20, 2020, 5:44 am
#66
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I think AA's is more like 60 or 90 mins. I had a flight booked on them and my schedule changed by a hair under 2h (I think it was like 1h57m), and was just successfully refunded.
May 20, 2020, 7:48 am
#67
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SF Bay Area
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Yeah, I just booked $428 r.t. OGG-LAS for September. I think UA is happy to be competitive in future to get revenue now, while screwing over (even more so than usual) those who need to make reservations for flights in the nearer term and want to cling to UA for whatever reason.
I think the answer is to Kayak or WN.com or whatever for booking near-term travel....
I think the answer is to Kayak or WN.com or whatever for booking near-term travel....
UA is now saying they will re-upgauge many of the flights, but if it’s done last minute that’s not going to really help with fares / people looking to buy new tickets for June. It should help a bit with social distancing though.
Last edited by UAflyer93; May 20, 2020 at 7:58 am
May 20, 2020, 7:54 am
#68
Join Date: Oct 2009
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And you are right, in reality, there is no way middles are being preserved open. Here is the seat map of my flight to SFO today, which I know is not accurate. I was UG'd at T-24. I expect standbys et al will fill the remaining seats if my experiences last week are any indication:
Last edited by zombietooth; May 20, 2020 at 8:08 am
May 20, 2020, 8:12 am
#69
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,123
Truth! They are on my list of most loathsome airlines. I can tolerate WN.
And you are right, in reality, there is no way middles are being preserved open. Here is the seat map of my flight to SFO today, which I know is not accurate. I was UG'd at T-24. I expect standbys et al will fill the remaining seats if my experiences last week are any indication:
And you are right, in reality, there is no way middles are being preserved open. Here is the seat map of my flight to SFO today, which I know is not accurate. I was UG'd at T-24. I expect standbys et al will fill the remaining seats if my experiences last week are any indication:
May 20, 2020, 8:31 am
#71
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May 20, 2020, 8:32 am
#72
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For new purchases (since early April, IIRC), AA has changed the threshold to 4 hours. (I say this as someone with a 3 hour, 52 minute schedule change pending on an outstanding ticket).
May 20, 2020, 8:50 am
#73
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Delta just announced yesterday it is adding roughly 100 more daily flights in June versus May, including service out of its Atlanta hub and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Florida.
Perhaps UA should look at its current loads and advance bookings to see how it should adjust accordingly.
Perhaps UA should look at its current loads and advance bookings to see how it should adjust accordingly.
The weekly emails from Bastian (received another yesterday) are simply excellent. They are really getting ahead of the customer confidence issues and building for the long term. Unlike UA, which as usual grabs the negative news lead, this time with tweets about a packed 738 from EWR.
I'm now flying WN and AS short-haul, as both are limiting seat sales (and "pick your seat" on WN is suddenly much more attractive).
I've been upgraded into full F cabins on both AA and UA recently, and would rather be in a less densely packed Y cabin for sub 2 hour flights.
Last edited by Kacee; May 20, 2020 at 8:55 am
May 20, 2020, 10:30 am
#74
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Francisco
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I'm now flying WN and AS short-haul, as both are limiting seat sales (and "pick your seat" on WN is suddenly much more attractive).
I've been upgraded into full F cabins on both AA and UA recently, and would rather be in a less densely packed Y cabin for sub 2 hour flights.
I've been upgraded into full F cabins on both AA and UA recently, and would rather be in a less densely packed Y cabin for sub 2 hour flights.
May 20, 2020, 11:02 am
#75
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Some of the moaners on the DL board would disagree with you.Also the posters complaining about UA accepting bookings for flights they know won't be operating or that they would later just have to cancel because of low loads.