[Unconfirmed] UA Preparing to Sell E+ at Booking as Separate Cabin (like DL C+)
#136
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Writing is on the wall.
I'm glad this is happening right now, and not when I'm sitting with 1.9MM miles about to cross into LT Platinum. If this takes place, and the upgrade policy from Y to F becomes upgrade into E+, and instruments become a requirement.... you know that upgrades will also be impacted.... and it will be hard to ever get out of an economy class seat without paying a significant cost, especially on int'l.
Will wait to see details on the rules and pricing for these new seats, but I have a good hunch that it is not going to be good for the perks we have taken granted for some time.
I'm glad this is happening right now, and not when I'm sitting with 1.9MM miles about to cross into LT Platinum. If this takes place, and the upgrade policy from Y to F becomes upgrade into E+, and instruments become a requirement.... you know that upgrades will also be impacted.... and it will be hard to ever get out of an economy class seat without paying a significant cost, especially on int'l.
Will wait to see details on the rules and pricing for these new seats, but I have a good hunch that it is not going to be good for the perks we have taken granted for some time.
#137
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
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#138
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Read through more comments, and all I can say is that I hope Gold and higher can still choose free seats after booking. I'm not counting on that though.
#139
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Posts: 4,948
Tomorrow, I'll be taking my 5th flight on AA in paid F this year, and I find their food better than UA's, their service about the same, and seat comfort about the same.
I am not taking these flights out of spite because of the changes, I am taking these flights because they were either cheaper, with roughly the same transit time as UA or, they were direct flights with shorter transit times, but marginally more expensive than UA. In other words, I am taking the best options to get to my destination, without consideration of carrier. I wouldn't be doing this if I hadn't already made 1K months ago.
I've also flown on DL twice this year (once in Y) and find their service, seat comfort, and food better than UA's-but my sample size is very small on DL, so I am not willing to assert that, across the board, DL is better yet.
#140
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#141
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,178
It hasn't happened at all, and there's a good chance that it will not.
There's a possibility that it might. But UA still has much larger E+ cabins than DL C+, and that remains extremely relevant. DL had a greater need to restrict C+, because they were losing HVF Y business.
There's a possibility that it might. But UA still has much larger E+ cabins than DL C+, and that remains extremely relevant. DL had a greater need to restrict C+, because they were losing HVF Y business.
#142
Join Date: Oct 2009
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For example, on two of my AA flights this year, which were last-minute bookings, UA Y was more expensive than AA F! As a previously loyal UA flyer, I found that shocking, and it really opened my eyes to seeking the cheapest fares, regardless of carrier.
I still value E+ on the shorter flights and will use UA for those but I did find DL's Y seat more comfortable than UA's.
#143
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I'm glad this is happening right now, and not when I'm sitting with 1.9MM miles about to cross into LT Platinum. If this takes place, and the upgrade policy from Y to F becomes upgrade into E+, and instruments become a requirement.... you know that upgrades will also be impacted.... and it will be hard to ever get out of an economy class seat without paying a significant cost, especially on int'l.
So, no, I doubt UA makes any detrimental changes to the upgrade program. If anything, I can see them adding LAX/SFO-EWR (and the few to BOS) to the CPU mix. Why? Because CPU on that route will be 0.000001% chance given all the instruments that are waitlisted and never clear. On the off chance an elite flies on a Saturday red-eye, they may get lucky. This is exactly why DL changed their program and allows free upgrades on these routes now.
-RM
#144
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Almost no airlines outside of the US majors have free upgrades to F. And, I can't think of another airline outside of the US that even has a sub-cabin with more legroom that gives those seats to elites while selling them to everyone else. In that sense, UA would just be more closely aligning with the rest of the industry but, they need to get their soft product up to par with the rest of the industry as they do so.
#145
Join Date: Mar 2015
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Almost no airlines outside of the US majors have free upgrades to F. And, I can't think of another airline outside of the US that even has a sub-cabin with more legroom that gives those seats to elites while selling them to everyone else. In that sense, UA would just be more closely aligning with the rest of the industry but, they need to get their soft product up to par with the rest of the industry as they do so.
#146
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Almost no airlines outside of the US majors have free upgrades to F. And, I can't think of another airline outside of the US that even has a sub-cabin with more legroom that gives those seats to elites while selling them to everyone else. In that sense, UA would just be more closely aligning with the rest of the industry but, they need to get their soft product up to par with the rest of the industry as they do so.
United doesn't follow the industry. They follow DL and most threads on this board will talk about that. You don't often (very rarely) see a thread of UA being compared to EK, SQ, etc. unless it's to point out how wide the gap is between the products and what the "home" flyers are willing to tolerate.
Thanks,
-RM
#147
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This change should not come as a surprise. Now that UA is installing a premium economy cabin on their longhaul fleet, they need to offer those travelers a Y+ seat on the domestic segment. It is more of an incentive to purchase a PE ticket PHX-IAD-BCN, for example, if the PHX-IAD segment is in Y+ verus Y-. Now, UA could change their poilcy to just allow "Y" and "B" fares access to the Y+ cabin at the time of booking (as "B" is the booking code a PE ticket uses for the coach segment). And IIRC, that is how it was when UA first introduced Y+. But doing it this way allows UA to generate more revenue by selling a Y+ fare outright using different fare basis codes, and for a lot less than a normal Y or B fare.
#148
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It shouldn't really be thought of as a B fare in the normal sense of full-fare. It's definitely not that. I suspect B was used because it has near-last-seat availability. It's possible that the people who designed it never considered the instant upgrade aspect of B fares -- or figured that most Premiers weren't going to be shopping for an E+-included fare anyway.
#150
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