United Airlines debuted its plan for a new business class suite that will fly on only a handful of planes, and for its most elevated premium experience that includes caviar and 27-inch entertainment screens. They’re offering a better business class wine program than any other U.S. airline.
Credit: United Airlines
But at the same time that they’re working to make business class better, they also love Delta’s idea to strip down the product. In response to a question from the Wall Street Journal‘s Dawn Gilbertson during United’s second quarter earnings call this week, Chief Commerical Officer Andrew Nocella said they’re going to segment premium like they’ve done coach and that this is what customers want.
Look, what I would say is over time, over the last 7 or 8 years, we’ve leaned heavily into segmentation of our revenues, which is really in our articulate way of saying, providing more and more choices to our customers so they can pick the experience they would like from premium to basic economy.
And we have learned through that time period that our customers really appreciate this. Not everybody wants the full experience. Some people want other experiences.
And so the value to United as an airline and to that of our customers has been proven by the segmentation of revenues that we’ve done. And we look forward to continuing to diversify our revenue base and segment it in the appropriate way, and I’ll leave it at that.
Last summer Delta confirmed plans to ‘unbundle’ business class and offer a ‘basic business’ product. Drawing on what other airlines around the world have done, that could mean:
- Pay to check bags
- Pay for seat assignments
- Lounge access not included
- No business class check-in, priority boarding, or premium security
- No changes or cancellations
- No miles or elite status credit
United Polaris Lounge, San Francisco
They re-confirmed this at their investor day in November, suggesting that in coach they have ‘basic economy, regular economy and comfort+’ and that this same ‘good, better, best’ three-choice model could extend well to business class.
And, according to United, they’ve “leaned heavily into segmentation of our revenues…providing more and more choices to our customers so they can pick the experience they would like from premium to basic economy.” And they “look forward to diversify[ing their] revenue base” and segmenting business class, too.
yet again, DL develops the playbook and UA copies.
Boo… They’re just gonna charge the same or more, and offer us less. Lame.
As Gary said, Delta started this for US-carriers, but overseas airlines have been doing this for a little while. Qatar Airways and Emirates have their lowest tier Business Class which doesn’t include things like lounges, seat selection, chauffeur service, etc. Though, if you have status, like OneWorld Sapphire or Emerald, QR at least has a ‘special’ lower-class lounge nearby, so you can get denied for the Al Mourjan Garden and South lounges, but you can go to the Platinum/Gold lounge, which, honestly, not bad.
Love the word choices. ‘Downgrade’. Pure clickbait. “Only a handful of…” instead of all UA’s new 787s; five this year, 20 more in 2026 and 143 total 787s on order and 50 options not to mention the eventual retrofit of wide body aircraft that won’t be retired in the near term.
How much money is UAL paying this clown? What a bunch of BS. This is nothing more than a way to get people to pay for amenities that always come with a business class seat. Paying for bags, seats, and no club access?
The problem is that the base experience will cost the same but be stripped of benefits. That’s how they raise prices.
If the reduced benefit base fare came down, this would be fine, but we all know that’s not going to be the case.
Personally, I’m fine with all of this as long as those with elite status are exempted from restrictions on lounge access, seat assignments, and priority boarding.
Deeply disappointing but predictable. Delta started this and United is following suit, repackaging service degradation as “customer choice.” They’re taking decades-old business class services – lounge access, priority boarding, baggage – and holding them hostage for additional fees.
This especially hurts middle-class travelers for whom business class was an occasionally affordable splurge. Now they’re forced into a stripped-down version or priced out entirely. It’s also a backdoor way to reinstitute change fees.
United’s claim that “customers really appreciate this” rings hollow when full-service is no longer available at the previous price. Corporate doublespeak about “segmentation” while passengers pay more for the same experience.
Unfortunately I see the US3 copying this business model. Basic economy is coming to basic business.
Delta has ruined the airline industry 100%
From destroying value in FF programs to gutting passenger experiences and overpricing their bland crappy product
I’m a proud never Delta traveler going on 25 years
F them in everything they do and I hope they go bankrupt with their absurd plan to ruin
Premium cabin experience further and complicate everyone’s lives
I will do my part to continue to boycott them.
And yes ditto United who follows a close second to delta
The US airlines are playing catchup so obviously they will all 3 go down this path. Many foreign carriers have different business class products or make all pay for seat assignments (looking at you BA).
Regardless of what anyone on here thinks it will happen and I would expect the “base product” to cost about what current J tickets cost with extra fees as an add on. Only question is how will they treat award tickets. For example Emirates award is same as one of their higher end J paid tickets but I have to pay seat selection on an upcoming BA award ticket (not paying since I’m good with any seat in business and traveling alone)
“offering a better business class wine program than any other U.S. airline”….Pretty low bar IMO, especially compared to some of their international competitors. If they go ala carte pricing, could they please, please come up with better Polaris food options (and I am not talking caviar). I would pay for that. UA claims they are improving food in Polaris, but my recent experiences in the last 3 months have shown otherwise. Polaris is a good hard product IMO. The new suite maybe an improvement, but the soft product still has a long way to go.
Where do you get “basic business downgrade” for UNITED from the quote “pick the experience they would like from premium to basic economy”
@ D.A. – Amen to that. I would pay in a heartbeat for significantly upgraded, truly restaurant quality gourmet offerings in long-haul business class, and I’d pay a lot. That’s the value-added direction U.S. carriers should be going in to generate new revenue streams, rather than cutting perks for lower fares in the premium cabin.
United’s catering is an embarrassment, especially out of SFO since the GG switch. I haven’t bought a revenue J ticket on UA since 2022. Bought plenty of AF, BA, JAL since then…
What two US airlines understand precisely for what customers are willing to pay? Ever notice what people say they are willing to pay for and what they actually pay for are two different things?
They’ve been surveying this for a few years and from what I understand the customer preference has overwhelmingly been against stripping benefits out.
United is waiting to see how well-received Delta’s forthcoming unbundling of business is. If it goes reasonably well and drives , United will adopt. Very simple.
In the meantime, Delta and United continue to smoke American in virtually every metric.
I get that Basic Economy was to compete with the F9’s and NK’s of the world and that it has value to some but I don’t get this. Unless it’s just to compete with NK’s “big, comfy seat”?
What business customers want this? This differentiation degrades the premium cabin experience significantly. The customer base that may support this is corporate accounts. Corporate travel departments don’t care if their employees can’t choose a seat, stay in the lounge, or get checked bags if it will save the company $50-100. They are stingy. This is a classic principal-agent problem that is degrading the hotel experience too (e.g. Marriott getting away with ignoring brand standards due to employees getting forced to stay at Marriott hotels to save the company $5). I suspect managed travel is the real primary clientele for basic business.
Hard pass on UA’s unbundled fares. NOBODY asked for or wanted this. If UA wants to raise prices on international business, maybe they should first try to compete with the products and services the international carriers already offer.
We’ve all just watched Elliott destroy everything good about Southwest in the name of squeezing out incrementally more “shareholder value.”
It doesnt seem unreasonable to think every other US airline executive also saw what happened and they are now proactively and publicly throwing as many revenue and cost “optimizing” ideas at the wall as they can to keep their own heads off the chopping block.
Unfortunately, I fear hedge funds and private equity shops will continue destroying the joyful inefficiencies of every b2c industry until every last bit of incremental value has been squeezed out.
The people buying international business class aren’t exclusively corporate any longer. A large portion of these customers are affluent leisure customers, thus the product differentiation. Surveys are useful, but data is a better indication of actual behavior.
“…yet again, DL develops the playbook and UA copies.”
Really?
“Drawing on what other airlines around the world have done, that could mean:”
I would love a basic business option. I’m very tall, and the value to me is the legroom. All the other perks I can do without. Though I’d be fine with occasionally selecting and paying for them when I want to, from an a la carte options menu.
I know it’s also a way to raise prices without appearing to. But prices are going to go up anyway, as long as labor and fuel continue to go up.
@Mike Hunt — “I’d pay a lot.” I know I have over the years, and comparing US carriers food in ‘premium,’ it’s jetBlue then Delta, the others aren’t worth mentioning. If any truly premium US carrier wants to ‘do it right,’ on food, they’d need to study Qatar, Emirates, Singapore, Air France, JAL, ANA, even Air Canada’s wide-body, long-haul service. That’d at least be a good start. Even small regional carriers overseas like South Africa’s Airlink offer good meals on mere 2-hour flights. How’s a delicious ostrich steak and wine from Cape Town sound? It tasted good to me.
@JL — “affluent leisure customers” *raises hand slowly* (some of whom still advocate for better worker and consumer protections.)
@Mikey B — Not to nitpick, but it’s ‘Big Front Seat’ and @Gene still likes it.
This is why I’m on Air France
If you’re flying biz on OPM, tough nougies. If you want to role play, pay for it. That your company pays you to fly in biz, does not mean you get all the bennies.
Stop being so damned entitled.
Screw the customer; make the customer pay more, do more for a less product.
@AlanZ – In my case at least, the flying on Other People’s Money has largely been supplanted by internet-based teleconferencing.
If they’re unbundling:
– I have no interest in wine or in dinner on overnight flights. Can I get a discount?
– I check-in online and use TSA precheck. Can I just get priority boarding without the other two? Although maybe not necessary, since there’s always overhead bin space and I’d just have to time arrival at the gate to avoid slowly moving through a long line.
I like business class because it’s an overall nice experience (for flying commercial these days). Now it will require computing the value of individual components. Even if it ends up not costing more (unlikely), just the annoyance factor degrades the experience.
Are there more than a handful of travelers who don’t think this is a bad idea?
@Woofie — Get the cheese plate! Oh lala! Zut alors!
@AlanZ — Ah, the good ole (you want something better so you must be) ‘entitled’ trope. Nah, man, we pay tens of thousands of dollars a year on this stuff, and they find ways to take things away and charge more somehow; we deserve better. This is not hard. And nobody’s ‘lazy’ either. Speaking of France, so many tropes, must be in Saint-Tropez. *slaps knee*
This is good news. Maybe now they will have a business product for purchase on international flights that once again offers good foods and wines and diverge from the basic practice that follows today’s mantra that United Polaris business meals and wines suck. Last year flew Polaris to Johannesburg. Mystery meat inedible. Dark, hard and tough. Tastless, if one could manage a taste. Then just before landing at about 5 pm they came around with the breakfast service, as if we were a flight arriving in Paris at 8am. Totally screwed up.
@Randy O — I see you blaming fuel and labor, but not management or the capital class, which seem to aagin and again demand ‘growth’ and higher profits at all costs. The workers and consumers are the ones getting squeezed here, never the rich or powerful. Maybe ‘the people’ should remind those ‘at the top’ that we’re all human, and there’s a better way (the ‘nice’ way). Or not; we can do things the other way… review your history… (the ‘not nice’ way.) So, I’m fine paying my fair share, and fully expect prices to increase (even if I wish they wouldn’t); however, it’s usually the greedy few at the top who just wanna hoard more and more, not those at the bottom who actually enable the top’s wealth.
Ever since the original Polaris marketing rollout, I don’t believe a thing UA says it will do until I see it. That said, given that a certain number of customers (not me) only want the seat, unbundling makes some sense. But one problem noted is that the onboard food is so bad, that many people (like me) eat in the Polaris Lounge and skip the onboard meal. So I for one would want an option to buy lounge access and not get onboard food. Ultimately, though, I doubt that any variation on this unbundling theme will simply result in getting less while paying the same amount or more.
@Jeff R — I’ve taken that route many times, EWR-JNB, and it’s frequently delayed (like, they always have cleaners going on-board at the time we’re supposed to start boarding.) If not outright cancelled; sometimes for odd reasons, like a fuel issue at JNB. It’s a 16 hour flight on average; a small miracle that United or any airline takes you across the length of the Atlantic, north to south. You fly of the Kalahari desert. Sorry the meat wasn’t good enough. I just set different expectations for that one. You can connect through Europe or the Middle East, or try Delta’s ATL-JNB service, but if you’re based in NYC, nothing beats United on that particular route, so long as they operate. Make up for any disappointment by taking Airlink when in southern Africa. And, for nostalgia, South African used to fly 747 to MIA; it was interesting to say the least!
Wine.
I was on a UA flight from IAH to BOS last month and had a global service guy sitting next to lowly Platinum me. The FA knew who he was and he asked for cab in a can from economy. She said, really? He said it’s much better than the bottle wine in first. Top tier has its perks I guess. 😀
I am willing to fly business class for the lie flat seat and forfeit the meal, amenity kit, seat assignment, check in luggage allowance, and then board last.
@David427 — Wine or whine? Bah! Wealth and status don’t make people better or smart; it just means they can afford to fail more. As for that GS fellow, how humble of him.
I think it sucks. Im not elite, but a person who collects miles for business class international travel. I love the whole experience from the lounge to the wine to the bed. I’m pretty sure that’s not what I’ll be getting. Hopefully, most foreign airlines won’t follow, although I did just run into that seat charge. They do let you book a seat for free near departure, and as a single I’ll probably be able to get a single window seat. But I bet on united I’ll only get the bed, which the most important thing.
Airlines also hope that with basic business class, they can get some people willing to spend a little more and capture that revenue instead of offering them for upgrades.
ENSHITTIFICATION continues. This is what we call late-stage capitalism, it’s no different than using the same pipe to provide Internet for the neighborhood and then giving one guy willing to pay extra more speed at the expense of everyone else- everyone slowly upgrades to get their better speed and then once everyone upgrades they are back where they started and the ISP is way ahead
@1990
Ok. So you pay the freight. Too many people I know do fly OPM. Sorry, but when they whine, I do not feel sorry. Like you, I pay the tariff when I fly. I get wvatbi pay for. That is life.
I am not a big-time status person, but an a million miler and 1k. I have been flying only business/Polaris for the last few years. If United messed me up like this, I have to seriously work on Porter options. I know that I can’t make GS, and half the plane is 1k these days; now if they nickel and dime me like this, I have to take my business elsewhere.
I’m ok with this. I usually fly business, especially to Mexico. There’s no lUA ounge in Cancun or Mexico City, so I don’t get that perk. I’ve got a United Card and Pre check/Global Entry, so free bags, express security, and priority boarding aren’t a problem for me either. Hell, I’d prefer no meals if the seat costs less because even in BC the food is dreadful and I usually bring a nice Sammy on board. The key is that basic business class has to be less than what it is now.
Last month I flew UA business class from IAH to Anchorage-7 hours. Several hours after the typical mediocre meal, I asked the FA if there were any snacks available. She said there were none up front, but brought me a stroop waffle cookie from economy!
@Alan Z — I think you’d appreciate @Gene’s motto: WFBF. Want First Buy First. I do a mix. Sometimes other peoples money; sometimes my own (cash, points, complimentary upgrades, certificates, etc.) It depends on the route. I can sit anywhere on these planes, but I certainly prefer lie-flat if it’s long-haul. I’ll pay for it if it’s good value. I’m not buying a mid-size sedan for a 15-hour flight, though. Psh.
Anyone who thinks this is a play for ‘choice’, or really anything other than extra revenue for the carrier is delusional.
Let’s face it, Spirit may show a lower upfront price than any of the legacies, but rest assured, in the end, you are paying more. They reel you in with a lower upfront price, and then spring you with the add ons that make it more than the legacy fare in the first place. So now DL and UA doing this to their most profitable (already customers) – strip down the fare, then charge for everything separately. Suddenly, a ticket that was once, say $3K, is now $2900, + $100 for seat, $50 for bag, $50 for food, $125 for Polaris lounge, and who knows, maybe go to the old Air Canada Tango fare playbook and add another $50 for those who want FF mileage. Now your old $3K ticket price is actually $275 MORE, and that is pure extra profit. Not only have you done that, you’ve tricked your customer into thinking they’ve spent less, because they look back at the receipt and see, hey, I paid $2900 for that ticket.
I suspect part of this is also about getting people to upgrade who might be on the fence – again, reel them in with the cheaper cost, then give them nothing until they pay more.
Great. Pay more for less. What a great idea (for airline revenue stream) not customer satisfaction. They will almost certainly keep the base fare at our near the same for the seat and then charge for the things that are currently included meaning higher total cost. I fly United a lot (not necessarily by choice as óptions limited for places I am traveling). Their domestic premium economy already only comes with more leg room- no better food, free drinks, etc. They already got rid of lounge access with domestic first. And while they say they will be improving their food in domestic first, I will believe that when I see it because it is pretty pitiful right now.
@BobbyV — Oh, come now, who wouldn’t want to pre-order the “Newark Signature Dish” Bolognese lasagna al forno, ‘featuring layers of pasta, parmesan cream sauce, and slow-cooked meat ragout’? A bit odd that they don’t specify which ‘type’ of meat. Eh, trying it tonight; if I live, I’ll let you know…
Ahh, now that I think of it, seeing as its Newark, it’s probably capicola… you know, gabagool…