4BandE

Wow. This is jacked. I travel to HNL about 8 times a year and usually use curbside check-in since I'm alone and don't want to have to put my luggage thru the Agricultural scan and then stand in line. Usually I check my bags at curbside, return the rental car and then walk to the gate. I'm falling to 2P this year and sometimes I've got 3 bags to check. I usually give the skycap a nice tip to check them all, but if the system defaults to having to check the bags at the counter and I have to go through Agricultural myself, I may rethink a different carrier or try to get back to 1P.

Those summer travelers to Hawaii (and other vacation destinations) are gonna get screwed coming home.

Since I didn't get a food choice on my last trip and my seat was changed without notice, it doesn't surprise me. It's all about the bottom line...

MrAOK

As I said before, it only works if other carrier match ... which they won't.

It's pretty absurd to believe that a golfer or skier would pay $50 more that any other airline to fly United.

$10 maybe, $25 each way, no way

MarkXS

Just read the UA page on this mentioned upthread. Though the narrative on the page says "Customers purchasing nonrefundable domestic economy tickets who do not have status in Mileage Plus or Star Alliance may check one bag for free and a second bag for a $25 service fee. Customers who have attained Premier status or higher in Mileage Plus or who have Silver status and above with a Star Alliance partner, are exempt from this policy change."

However, the tables below which show who gets which allowance (1/50, 2/50, or 3/70) only explicitly mention "All First or Business class customers / All Economy class customers on refundable fares / All Premier and Premier Associate Mileage Plus members on any fare" with no mention at all of Star Silver. Unlike the section below it for the 3/70 allowance which does mention Star Gold in addition to the UA-specific levels (GS, 1K, 1P).

You just know that UA TAs are going to apply this inconsistently to OAL *S unless UA corporate clears up this confusion.

Pegasus23

[[Saver award tickets get one free bag, Standard award tickets get two.]]


So if one is 2p, 1p, 1K, and has a domestic saver award and two bags they pay $25.00 for the second bag?



What about 3p? Now they are not premier associate? They are not mentioned as I have found yet...

ElmhurstNick

I don't think it's that cut and dried. Sure, in a hub city, people are probably not going to shift to NW/CO/DL and change planes just to save $50 (remember, they have to fly home too...) per person. But if you're flying out of MSN for example, does it really matter if you connect at ORD on UA, ORD on AA, or MSP/DTW on NW?

Now, one can argue that it's worth nailing all the ORD/DEN/SFO fliers and risking a share of the other fliers... I don't think any of us know enough about their demand choice models to accurate assess which side of the coin will land face up.

I can see a strawman that this is a way of introducing another fare class, and raising prices $25 across all fare classes when this gets pulled down "as a response to the wishes of the public." The new fare class (let's call it R for Ryanair) is at the current L price, but with a one-bag allowance for ALL fliers and no seat assignment until OLCI, regardless of status.


Why? You're in F anyway! Besides $25 would only be for sub-500 mile flights. For a transcon, it'd be much more revenue.

mre5765

Huh? Look at what fuel costs. UA loses money on every discount economy ticket. What money they make is being made from the business traveller that doesn't buy discount fares.

fastair

Terry Trippler thinks it is a done deal, contrary to most of the opinions here that hypothesize on if it will be matched.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...D&siteid=yhoof

"They are the first, but they certainly won't be the last," said airline consultant Terry Trippler of Trippler Associates. For the airlines, each bag is additional weight and thus represents fuel expense.
"The airlines are looking for every possible revenue source they can find and still cut fares without cutting wages, because right now they can't go any lower," Trippler said.

This is like where people come on the board and say "Oil will hit $200/bbl next year" If so, then just go on the futures market where it is at $90 for all delivery dates.

We all have opinions. Some are professional, some are amatuers who do research, other just speak what they think. In the end, my money is on Terry Trippler

bseller

I apologize if I gave you the impression that I thought it WAS cut and dried. Surely there is more ink to be printed before we'll know. I was just giving you my opinion.
You make a good point w/r/t hub vs. non-hub fliers, and I agree that we don't have sufficient information to KNOW.
I don't dispute that at all. I just can't understand why there are so many HERE upset by the same notion.
I believe that long run revenue will be HIGHER in this situation and many others disagree. So be it.
I meant for the times I'm not! :

I do think your idea is good one w/r/t the buy-up.

Best, Dave

JAaronT

soitgoes

Fares are an ecological system.

If UA were 'losing money' on every discount ticket, they just wouldn't sell discount tickets. The fact is, they make money on discount economy tickets that they otherwise would not collect.

mahasamatman

It's entirely possible this is part of the master plan (assuming you feel that United actually has a plan). Last year, Tilton talked about a potential "elite for a day" program. With this additional charge, maybe they could offer EFAD for $50 (or whatever), which would include the extra bag.

mahasamatman

I really don't understand this statement at all.
Now, how can fares be considered an ecological system?

mre5765

In addition to the unintended consequence of more people carrying more bags on board, the other thing that will happen is that the one carry one + one personal item rule will change. Those of us with back packs and brief cases that fit under the seat will nonetheless be told that they are no longer personal items, forcing us to gate check our roller boards.

noah

I'm very disapointed with this rule. It will impact all of us for reasons outlined previously -- from more bags on board to longer check-in lines.

As the number one carrier at DEN and therefore carrying lots of skis, this is going to be especially tough on that market.

And we're supposed to think of United as a business airline? Right. The delta between UA and WN -- who allow me to check 3 bags for free -- becomes smaller every day.

mre5765

That's actually the silver lining. I nearly missed a connection (DEN-BOS-FRA) because DEN-BOS left late due to loading skis. That's over thankfully.