jss

Enough already about the negatives: I'd be curious what others think are some of the low or no cost (as it is obvious they are not going to big $ to throw around)items UA can do keep 1K/1P/High Rev business:

I'll start:
-Clear upgrades sooner. This seems like a no brainer. It seems of late they they become overly cautious about clearing upgrdes. Perhaps too cautious from what I've experience where a flight is listed with a lot of 9's but your told no upgrade space. Then a day before the flight--bingo it clears. If you clear it sooner with out cutting into a high revenue sale you keep customer happier and there is no chance they will defect to the competition.

ctuttle

That does make sense, however I think United and all of the airlines have stopped thinking rationally and are looking for any way to generate revenue, and they want to keep the F seats available for anyone who will pay for them. Not very rational, as if they look they will see not too many of those F seats are actually sold, but they are in a denial mode, and think that tomorrow everything will get better and people will start buying F tickets again and they will get revenue.

They aren't thinking about the people who are bringing in the revenue, even on lower fare tickets, as they already have that revenue in hand, and living in this denial mode they just know that the next person who calls reservations will be buying a F ticket, so they better have the seats.

This is just one of the many problems of the way the airlines are being run today. The economy is different, passengers have even become more savvy, and the sooner the airlines realize this and simplify their fare structure and stop subsidizing the leisure traveler at the expense of the business traveler things just aren't going to get better financially for them.

So yes it does make sense, but I don't think people at any of the airlines are thinking rationally or looking past even a few days ahead. They are in panic mode, which is only making the situation even worse. They are also hoping that the other airlines are also in panic mode, thinking about immediate survival instead of doing things that might prevent them from earning pennies in order to keep business or bring them business in the future. It's a vicious cycle where things only get worse. It will get resolved but it won't be pretty for us who have to fly, as it will get worse, and I didn't think a year ago it could get much worse, but I was wrong.

Tennen

Perhaps they could clear 1K/1P/2P upgrades at the time of booking if they purchased Y fares. Don't some carriers do this? It'll benefit the high rev FFs, who UA should be after. I can understand them holding back some upgrade seats until the day of departure, though. I would hate to be a Y fare 1K sitting in E- just b/c I purchased it too late and u/g seats are full.

I think that they can cut down on the junk that they send with the statements. I throw out most of it b/c it's useless crap. That would save printing, postage (weight), and paper costs.

How about having 1K and 1P priority luggage tags so that they don't need to affix those red ones each time? It'll make us feel special, and it shouldn't cost too much, when compared to the wasted priority tags.

venk

Some ideas in:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/014495.html

ColoBill1

Rather than deny a SWU or mileage upgrade months out, in order to hold open an inordinate number of first and business seats for possible sale, why can't United look back and determine some sort of "average sold" figure for first/business seats for each of their international flights? Sure they may miss selling a few higher fare seats on some flights, but they would be more than compensated by the goodwill they would be providing their loyal flyers. This having to stand by at the gate for a ticket bought months prior is just a bunch of hooee.

TabascoGuy

I'm not all that sure what's involved by any means.

But I can bet that any idea that anyone inside or outside UA comes up with that costs money (ie. technology costs) is going to be an automatic no for quite a while.

wannabe 1P

I like the idea of clearing upgrades sooner, but also understand the need to not risk revenue loss on the seat. For a compromise, what about clearing them easier/earlier, with the proviso that if premium seats are full w/upgrades and a full fare pax wants a seat, downgrade in reverse order of status i.e., code blue no status out first, 2P next, etc.? That way, seems all parties are best served.

------------------
Ken

1K wannabe

No cost items: all employees can smile, be pleasant, well mannered, knowledgeable, willing to try, be appreciative, say "please, thank you and your welcome," be courteous, respectful, helpful and attentive.

(I found many of these things to have been greatly missing until I gained status and began sitting in C or F, and even with status and C/F only partially and inconsistently present.)

PERRL

1) Instruct FA's on long-haul flights to make periodic rounds (perhaps q 5-10 minutes) of the cabin to look out for passengers in need, keep our water glass filled, etc.
2) Fill F and C with FA's who are helpful and friendly, perhaps using passenger feedback as a mechanism for determining this. This would make it more likely that I would choose UA (instead of SQ/LH, e.g.) for my next flight.
3) On short-haul UX, at minimum pass out some water or a small can of soda.

Lpas

Seat-blocking for elites on the RJs.

Just Passing Thru

DL does this for Platinum Medallions traveling on domestic tix. As long as the ticket isn't in one of the three lowest fare classes (T, U or L), Plats can upgrade at the time of booking with unlimited upgrade points. The icing on this particular cake is that Delta.com allows you to see if upgrade inventory is available before you buy the ticket. Therefore, you can buy the ticket and then upgrade it within seconds, all without having to get on the phone.

This, plus the fastest posting of miles in the business, are the places where Delta really shines, IMO.

SEA_Tigger

I like the idea of "at the gate" FC upgrades for Premieres (all levels) based on status. On my overnight from SFO to BWI Thanksgiving evening, there were 2 people in FC on a 12-seat A320. In addition, there were five people in E+. It would have been nice to have been "bumped" to FC, even as a Premiere (who was taking the flight to make PE).

A gate agent at ORD bumped me, without asking, to First on a ORD-BWI morning flight (having come in on the overnight from SEA) because there was no E+ available when I asked. Made me feel great and I wrote UA a thank you.

Gate agents can just page the folks to come forward 10 minutes prior to first boarding.

Speaking only for myself, I'd be okay with using miles or SWUs to upgrade ahead of time and have other folks get it "gratis", since I only upgrade and transcon/transoceanic or at the gate when I am dog tired (like yesterday - sleeping for four hours in C on a 777 sounded just too good).

jwhite4

Reading this thread has made me realize the two very different perceptions of First/Business class. The airlines still continue to look at them as possible cash cows, raking in from 3x to 10x the cost of a coach seat. Given this assumption, if it was a commodity I was selling, I'd certainly want to keep them available for sale for as long as possible.

On the other hand, most of us FF'ers consider them one of the perks for all the business (either miles flown, segments, or $$ spent) we give an airline. We think that making them a little easier to access (ie. confirmable sooner, etc), especially when many of them go out empty, would be a way to build our loyalty to that airline.

Until both of these views are the same I think there will continue to be complaints.

Jeff

linsenmu

I know that one of the reasons I am planning on leaving UA is that they don't count class of service bonuses in their status miles calculation as most other airlines do.
This is an easy/cost free way of making those passengers who pay for first or biz feel appreciated.

zrs70

Please enlighten me as to which "most" airlines are. I would love to know!