mahasamatman

The e-fares email includes both this weekend and next. They're about the same (at least from SFO).

UAX_Brasilia

They are talking about same day returns, of which I have not been able to find any via the e-fares page, but they are published. One example being SBA-SFO same day return for 10 Jan 2009.

vt2k

I found a cheap SEA-IAD-MCO RT for $240.40 that I booked for this weekend. Fly out Friday night (10:55pm) and back 8:15pm on Saturday. Posted the info in the MR forum.

This is the first E-Fare I've been able to use. Ever. And I'm not sure if it's an actual E-Fare or just a ridiculously low fare due to underbooking.

I also saw SEA-SFO-KOA for $340 this weekend, but it requires an overnight stay in KOA.

mahasamatman

Sorry, missed that part.

emcampbe

Not completely surprised to hear of another major change in this program, but as part of my E-fares e-mail this morning:

So, while it looks like the emails are being discontinued, they will still be offered through the deals section of the Web site. I'm a little surprised that these emails are going away - it costs very little to send out, and gives customers a reminder that is sent directly to them. Now, the customer has to make the effort to find them. So if the goal of the e-fares program was to fill seats that aren't being booked, this will become much harder for UA to achieve. Also, I suspect that UA won't be helped by the fact that AA, CO, etc. are still sending last minute weekend deal promotions out weekly.

I think with a little effort, the email program could have worked well. When in ORD, my e-fares were always ones from ORD, which was great. Now that I'm in CVG, the origins featured in my e-mails were usually LAX and IAD, despite the fact that there are often enough deals out of CVG to make it personalized by origin. Other airlines don't do that with their weekly emails, its an easy thing to do for UA that doesn't cost much, since they know where we live already, I think they could make more $ through the program.

I'm also wondering what the greater effect on this program will be down the line, and whether this is the first step in this program being eliminated completely.

SFO 1K

Not the least bit pleased about this. How complex is the generation of this weekly marketing message? When I clicked to view all available E-Fares, the page was full of errors and no cities were listed in the drop down. Sigh...

SFO 1K,

Welcome to your Bay Area weekly E-Fares.

Thank you for having subscribed to our E-Fares emails. These weekly emails are being discontinued, and this is the last issue that you will receive. E-Fares will continue to be available on united.com Tuesday through Friday of each week. To see these fares, you can select the E-Fares link in the News & Deals section of the united.com home page or on the Special Deals page, whenever E-Fares are available. You can also use the united.com booking tool and look for fares marked with a blue star and the label "E-Fares."

We hope that you will continue to enjoy available discounted fares each week through united.com.

We would also like to remind you that now would be a good time to check your united.com email subscription preferences and make sure that you are receiving information about fare sales, Mileage Plus® offers and valuable partner offers. Simply log in to My Profile and view your settings on the Email & Subscriptions tab.

Thank you again for having been an E-Fares email subscriber.

Sincerely,
The united.com team

SFflyer123

They must have been too expensive...

itsme

You found these useful? A few years ago, I did come upon a great e-fare ($500 IAD to MVD), but after that I never saw any that tempted me. Most of the time, I could purchase a non-e-fare ticket to A for less than the e-fare one to A, and without the limits of an e-fare (out on a Friday or Saturday, return on a Sunday or Monday flying domestically). After a while, I stopped looking for the announcement of new ones made after 12 MN Mondays/Tuesdays, figuring I was so likely to find anything that it wasn't worth even the minimal effort to look. Your experience has been different and you have availed yourself of e-fares more than once?

SFO 1K

Sure. For weekend getaways not planned in advance to places like LAX, LAS. And now that I'm moving to Denver, it's helpful having last minute sales to DEN as well. Are they always cheaper than if I booked 3 weeks out - not always - but they are much cheaper than if I book less than a week out but not within the confined of the E-Fare T&Cs.

There have even been deals to JFK that have worked out well for me, with upgrades on p.s. and a last minute Broadway show ticket in the center orchestra due to house seats being released close to the date of performance.

as219

I remember when there used to be seriously good e-fare deals... You could never count on a specific city pair being there from week to week, but when it was, the deal was good. But I haven't bothered looking at these things for at least year...

mrswirl

Good luck finding any deals out of DEN...e-fare or otherwise. They have been few and far between recently.

jhayes_1780

IME, they were not the super cheap deals like when the e-fares were originally launched.

However, it is still much cheaper then last minute travel. I believe e-fares actually come from UA opening up the cheaper fare buckets with no advance purchase required.

Also, lets be clear... UA is not discontinuing e-fares... just the useless e-mail that told us that e-fares were out for the week.

sbm12

The fares were.

It is hard to believe that making this change makes sense in any way. Sending the emails is essentially a free action. Why discontinue them?

ECOTONE

While sending out blast emails is relatively cheap, there is labor costs associated with it. UA might be downsizing it's IT/creative services department so this type of thing would seem appropriate.

cordelli

This line in the mail just cracks me up

We would also like to remind you that now would be a good time to check your united.com email subscription preferences and make sure that you are receiving information about fare sales

Like the weekly e-fare mailing?