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…
Terrible style to serve some passengers the full benefits, then have half-ass service especially in a premium cabin.
Yet another degradation and added complexity to the travel experience. Glad I’m at the tail end of my 45 years as a road warrior.
How about some basic comfortable seats in “first class” like no more dorm style seats, cramped middle seats on old 777s or seats with hard cushions with limited lean back on 737Max to/from Hawaii? next, we just basic polite and courteous customer service?
Except for no miles or elite status credit (not great), my company will save a ton. Since I don’t check bags, and everything else is available based on status or specific credit cards, all they’ll be doing is eating into their own profit from people (or companies in my case) who currently pay for business class.
If you’re someone who frequently travels, with the exception of not getting miles, there really isn’t too much of a loss here. Existing status, credit cards, and business programs pretty well cover the rest. Heck, it may even mean more business seats if the price is right.
Obviously this is just another price increase. The base fares are going to stay the same and the fares with perks will be plus plus
The problem with the “good, better, best” approach is that the experience is actually “very crappy, moderately crappy, almost not crappy.”
And if you travel on business on short notice as I & many others, too, we’re not benefitting from low fares, even adjusted for inflation.
Oh, US airlines….. it’s a race to the bottom, isn’t it? It’s almost like they WANT to go out of business.
Segmentation is not bad. But the airline will simply charge the premium more and make the current business becoming the “basic business” by removing all the benefits you can get now. Which means downgrade everything.
Their business class sucks already. In December I will be using the last credit I have with them and finally calling it a day. I traveled over 10hrs from Washington to Lagos with them and they served the remnants from a flight that just arrived from Europe. The food was served in plastic. My seat reclined and would not go back up.There was no entertainment. The air hostesses were upset about it and refused to be part of it. They called the attention of a Manager who refused to show up to consult with them. Finally, one of the food staff ralied some more left over food from some of their flights that had also just landed their to add to the left overs. It was a terrible experience. A friend just told me that they have sued them over a near crash mid air from Lagos to the US. She said the plane dropped suddenly so much so that one of the air hostesses broke her legs. She said the pilot never once said a word to them about the incident even as everyone screamed and cried. He turned the plane around passed many countries where they could have landed and took them back to Lagos or so. If I could be refunded the money I paid for what will be my last flight with them in December I would be very glad. Their business class is the worst I have flown and I fly business often.
Travelling back and forth to Asia using both Asian Airlines and American, travelling by US Airlines it’s like budget from the hotels to the Airlines. In Asia they treat people like kings in economy much better than the first class in the US
Another United ripoff in the works.
The American carriers just keep getting worse and worse. I’ll bring my business elsewhere, thanks.
Tell that to your investors.
May be they will come up with business premium where your knees don’t touch the front seat in business basic and charge you even more. May be they can have business standing only where you stand in business class and charge extra if you stand in the front vs at the end. Discount if you stand near the toilet.
That’s what happens when airlines have no competition.
We seriously need high speed trains like europe that take us from NY to Chicago in 4 hours.
So if under the new scheme I get the segments that make up what I got when the same items were bundled together will I be paying the same amount or more – even allowing for inflation?
I expect I will be paying more!!
I flew three business classes only. Turkish, Polish Lot and United.
United is by far the worst.
Turkish 10/10
Lot 8.5/10
United 2/10
Absotlut horrible food.
Way understaffed, so long waiting time for the staward and unpleasant service.
Food presentation, plates, utensils
Worn printed menu.
Even blanket, pillows and amenity kit looked cheap.
While I haven’t flown since the 90s, American Airlines have always treated coach passengers like second class citizens. I flew to London during the 80s and 90s and if I was paying i flew Virgin Atlantic where they gave you an accessory bag , hot towel and no charge for the movies being shown as well as treating everyone with respect.
Hopefully won’t apply to award bookings but I guess we’ll see
I sort of like the idea but all I see this doing in reality is allowing companies to go for the cheapest option which effectively strips aways some of the fringe benefits we enjoy now. I wonder who these customers are that these CEOs get their input from?
They make it sound like they are serving the customer better when they are really grabbing for more fees.
Instead of making this kind of decisions, they should improve their service, the food and the overall experience. Instead of putting Saks fifth Avenue blankets on the business class cabin, they should focus of delivering a better service. We all have experienced a rude flight attendant… The drinks are cheap … What United should do is change the whole executive team, and hire innovate people… when I travel first or business I always wonder who made certain decisions… Are these executives open minded? Are they well traveled? Do they understand the customers needs? Even when I go the lounges, I have encountered rude people? Who handles the hiring process? I see no changes after they replaced the previous CEO… I’d wish I would talk to him face to face and tell him what they need to improve .. but this request will be almost imposible
Imagine spending $8k+ for a J seat to get minimal service. The US3 is in a race to the bottom. Flew KLM J back in April TATL, service was great in both directions.
Delta’s fares are ridiculous to what they offer, especially when I can book domestic UAL FC for Delta’s MC. When the next downturn in flying happens, we better not bail them out again. They don’t reward loyalty… especially when deadheading pilots get a FC seat over a paying customer (deadheading pilots are on duty, getting paid AND it’s part of their duty day, so no difference than them flying the plane…)
I think all they care about is stock holders. They don’t give damn about customers.
CEOs are like peons for big share holders. They are definitely not getting input from frequent flyers. I think they can save lot of money if they give out one pretzel instead of 5 pretzels.
Like to see the data to support this. Just another way for UA to reduce cost and offer less service. The spin doctors must be working OT at UA.
Does any airline care for the high yield customer any more? How about cutting down credit card partners and focus on one loyallty provider. I don’t thing UA is ready to give up the ancillary revenue. I think there is an opportunity here for some other creative airline marketing exec to come in and revolutionize the marketplace for high yield customers looking for good service and travel experience
Someone, please make it happen now.
All that nonsense word salad to say we’re going to give you less for the same price, maybe more than you’re paying today! The second these idiots use words like “enhancements” and “choice/diversity” you already know it ends up being worse for the customer that they care oh so much about.
Each and every time a company says they are doing somethung for the consumer’s benefit, choice, my leg gets wet with iss. Will the price of business class decrease since they have striped the product? No. Delta and United, you ain’t got no alibi.
That’s so weird – that’s what PE is all about – a little cheaper, a little less luxe, a little less perks.. But once you’ve decided on a cabin you want everything to be the same whether you’re sitting in row 1 or 10. The no-priority check-in/fast-track/lounge/boarding is just cheap and nasty and will cause confusion to infrequent fliers who bought “business” but didn’t realise they’re not flying “Business”. It’d be so much simpler to leapfrog the devlpt of PE instead, up pitch to say 42-44″, increase recline to 8″ or more, and keep the sanctity and brand capital of the premium cabin intact.
Soon first class $100k, biz $10k, basic biz $5k coach $1k
1 million miles for coach JFK-BOS
What I haven’t seen mentioned is the high-J configuration. I suspect United doesn’t see filling it with full fare customers. I can see needing more plus points to get the premium service. People taking vacations with their family based on purchases paid with OPM may not have enough plus points to get the “best”. They may not even off “best” to people who got upgrades, especially upgrades from an award coach ticket (which the GS crowd can currently do).
So, the high J configuration may require this segmentation to keep from having empty J seats. If they are selling upgrades to people unwilling to pay for the J ticket, or to discounted business, they aren’t going to give the full service.
I’m more worried about AI pricing, where the full fare ticket price may be different for different people booking and traveling the same day. Not that you are going to find me paying full fare. Will business travelers pay more than leisure travelers? What happens with negotiated fares?
No one wants this. What a totally daft idea.
Just sounds like price-gouging to me. A chance to say they are offering Business class for cheaper than they are.
@ Marcus — I think that is what Delta charges for awards already.
@Neil — You say you haven’t flown since the 90s?! Nothing wrong with not-flying, but, just saying, it’s ‘view from the wing,’ not view from the couch… for real though, hope you’re doing alright.
I dont’t want better food or wine or the perks they mention in article. I travel long haul flts to Asia and what I want more than anything is flat bed seats that have reasonable price. Anything over triple coach fare is too much. Thats why I travel coach
I don’t want more choices… more choices mean more sales tactics, more failed payments, more calls to customer services or an AI chatbot, more standing in line behind people who don’t understand their choices, more needing to speak to a manager, more ‘oh you bought plan B, you need plan A for this lounge’ or ‘this choice is only for airline C and this is a codeshare with airline Q’
Sell me a business class ticket, provide a BUSINESS class service. PLEASE incompetent 10 million dollar airline executives, TAKE AWAY THE GOD DAMN CHOICES. They’re just an illusion to fleece customers for every penny and if some want to play that game, let them, just sell the rest of us the same old ticket.
I am not buying the “this is just a way to raise fares” argument. If the airline could simply demand higher fares, they would already be charging them. The truth is that these fares will indeed segment the market, with some paying more and others paying less. Those who eat change/seat/lounge fees will subsidiize those who don’t. That said, I certainly hope that status trumps some of the fare restrictions. If you spend enough to be UA 1K or DL Diamond, you should at least be able to pick your paid business class seat and use the lounge without being nickel and dimed. Time will tell…
Everyone knows these decision makers, directors, are all about skimming their clients not make the flying experience a pleasant one. They are after big fat bonuses by cooking the books and minimising good service at the expense of the customers. How else would they be flying in their private jets
Isn’t it amazing how they try to make this a positive by saying people who don’t want the full experience will not have to pay for it. PLEASE show me someone who does NOT want First Class. The reason why people do not buy a First Class ticket has nothing to do with NOT wanting the experience, it is that they CAN’T AFFORD IT, or their company will not purchase it, or it is sold out.
They have already reduced what you get today vs what you used to get 15 years ago. I am absolutely positive that people said they do not want an extra service, wider seats, or longer legroom.
The idiots saying this must have told Southwest that people want to pay for luggage. The prices have not decreased on their ticket, they are just charging more. I could go on and on.
I used to be Premier Exec on UA when it was a class act. Now, they must be among the world’s worst. They are so second rate.
No airline ever developed a new strategy for making less money.
Logic:
They will make the current Business class more expensive. Then tier down from there
I know this isn’t United (but it’s Star Alliance). I flew ANA on a 777 from Chicago to Tokyo nonstop. Economy (116 seats) was 95% full. Premium economy (24 seats)? 80% full. Business class seating (64 seats) was less than 20% full. Sure, it doesn’t help the nonstop pricing on economy was $800-1000 one way, but if you are charging 5 times the cash price, that it leaves little surprise as to why nobody is buying it. I am aware points, buying connecting flights (hidden city) and company contracts lower that off-the-top rate but it is getting ridiculously expensive and consumers are smarter than the airlines think.
Of course, I wouldn’t be caught dead flying United (dead as in murdered, they’d beat the crap out of me for not putting on my seatbelt in time), but this is a sensible way to fill more seats.
I can confirm….this is NOT what customers want.
Why does it seem Domestic Airlines keep trying to find ways to squeeze more money from their Customers ? It’s not about their Customers satisfaction, it’s about the stock price and profits coming first. The almighty Dollar. This new brainstorm of theirs is ridiculously complicated.
United had done everything in their power to avoid settling on a new contract with their Flight Attendants who have been without a contract now for over four years and counting. They aren’t allowed to strike per Federal Law or they would have years ago. That’s how they feel about their employees in a nutshell. Gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling about United huh.
“It’s what customers want” no way! No one is asking for this complexity and another way to nickel and dime customers.
United and Delta are following Norse’s example, a low cost international Norwegian Airline who in this case offer 3 Premium Economy products.
Which by the way, is a former business class cabin. The quality for value and service beats all other carriers across the Atlantic! And awarded “Best in Class”