Three months ago United Airlines started selling highly restrictive ‘basic economy fares’ on a test bases on routes between Minneapolis St. Paul and the airline’s hubs.
These fares don’t allow advance seat assignments, ticket changes, or a full sized carry on bag. Elites don’t get upgrades or economy plus seats on these fares, and customers don’t earn credit towards status either.
Three weeks ago United started selling these fares on many more routes. They’re infecting my home market of Austin, for instance.
Here’s what I found from United:
I was looking at the 3:35pm United Express (GoJet) flight. The $53 fare was for Basic Economy. Customers don’t get preassigned seats, can’t make changes (of course change fees are normally $200, so it’s effectively full forfeiture anyway).
By having Basic Economy passengers board last the airline is able to segregate them and easily ban them from bringing full-sized carry on bags onto the plane.
An extra $15 would get me a ‘regular’ economy fare.
Here’s the thing. Southwest non-stop was $53, also.
Their 4:10 p.m. flight on a Boeing 737, rather than a regional jet, with reasonable legroom didn’t require spending 28% more to be allowed to bring a carry on bag onboard.
As a United (Silver) elite I’d be able to bring a carry on bag onboard even on a Basic Economy fare. And if I bought up to regular economy I might be able to have an extra legroom seat if one was available at check-in. So I’m more likely to be open to flying United than the average customer should be.
But flying Southwest I get a mainline jet, the ability to cancel my ticket and retain its full value, and two free checked bags even if I needed them.
The choice was a no brainer for me, and the gap for a non-elite customer would be even greater. United has made itself simply uncompetitive. Their only hope is an ignorant customer that doesn’t understand the difference between the products different airlines are offering.
Beware and if you’d consider traveling on one of these fares at least be sure to check:
- Pricing on Delta, since you can still bring a carry on bag even in their basic economy markets
- Pricing on Southwest, Alaska Airlines, and JetBlue which don’t have Basic Economy restrictions
- Connecting flights which don’t yet offer basic economy.
Your thesis is predicated on living somewhere like Austin, though. United absolutely makes the most sense for me, because I’m in Chicago and have a TON of flight options for the places I want to go, usually nonstop. American comes close, but I’m not a fan of their product or FF program. Delta, Alaska, and Southwest are non starters since they don’t get me where I want to go without having to go hours out of the way first. Just like everything else in the world, there is no one size fits all here. United is noncompetitive and a bad fit for you, but to a lot of others, is the best option.
You also earn one of the least useful mileage currencies of a US based program – RapidRewards, plus absolutely screwed in any IRROPS event since they don’t know how to interline with anyone.
This is obviously market specific. In my market (NYC), Southwest “Wanna Get Away” fares tend to be $50-$100 more than all legacy carriers, Jet Blue, Virgin, etc. United reported record earnings a couple of days ago, so they are competitive for some segment of fliers (even though i rarely fly them personally)
Gary, You’re only a silver-elite with United? Wow.
This is why the legacy carriers shouldn’t try to beat LCC’s at their own game. Legacy carriers have innate inefficiencies that make them more expensive, but actually provide some ancillary benefits (as Henry pointed out: miles & IRROPS. Also a more a comprehensive route network usually with more scheduling options and better ground services).
There is a market of flyers willing to pay an extra $13 for these ancillary benefits. This superior product is still being offered by United (with the regular economy fare), but they muddy-the-waters when they also offer an product that keeps a lot of the ancillary benefits while eliminating some core benefits to stay at the LCC cost.
Want to have yourself a laugh at United’s pricing?
http://imgur.com/a/Kkvxn
I have purchased 12 tickets in the past two months, all on WN metal due to Basic Economy fares.
I find my RR points pretty valuable. 2 cents each on cheap flights, 100% refundable, no blackouts, no $1000 fuel surcharges. None of this nonsense like with AA of 1 saver seat on a route for the next 11 months.
And thousands of dollars saved a year on the Companion Pass.
And I don’t consider a $16000 F ticket on UA/DL/AA actually worth $16000.
For some people, WN is absolutely the best program. And it’s moving up in the world, relatively.
Check the 2017 Freddie Awards results.
@FNT Delta Diamond – I did 30-someodd thousand qualifying miles with them last year, I’m an American Exec Platinum and flew Southwest, Virgin America, Delta as well, most of my international was on points..
Silver + “elite” = oxymoron.
Your English is atrocious.
Southwest is racing to the head of the pack merely by devaluing its offerings much more slowly than other airlines.
It’s like the old gag where the sergeant asks for a volunteer to step forward and everybody except one chump steps backward.
Based on the last presidential election united’s strategy is solid, they can sure count on the ignorance of the general population.
United is going down the drain. The spread of the basic economy virus is accelerating the fall.
Based at SFO – i was a big AC loyalist hence extending to UA. The repeated star devaluations and hard / expensive just to maintain status. I have gave that all up three years ago. (Funny to see the aeroplan / AC break up today). I got terrible service and fare restrictions. Even as a super elite 100k.
I went with WN for my business commuting and VX/AS for longer haul flying. By extension I can use AA where AS/VX doesn’t go and AS has great partners worldwide. WN RR is excellent with the companion pass. I have never been happier with that combination. WN sometimes does get rough due to irrops. But my experience with other carriers is that they don’t want to put you on other carriers too. So it’s a moot point. During irrops I just stay overnight and just accept that some travel requires a last minute hotel to keep sanity.
I am very happy ditching the major carriers these days all around.
Out of SBA, I don’t have that much choice. But I have even started occasionally just buying SBA-LAX on United separately, and flying other airlines out of LA. I was thinking about trying to get UA status again this year, since I took advantage of the cheap Japan fare and had at least 3 or 4 transcon flights planned. But now I have two of those booked on Jetblue and Virgin America instead.
Still would not fly WN. My brother was delayed 2 hours each way SJC-LAX with a kid. Between having to check a bag and security he could have driven down in the same amount of time. Worst off the gate agent lied about the delay stating it was LAX weather delay when it was a 2 hour delay at OAK that cascaded to SJC. Morons don’t know about flight aware apparently. That delay basically ruined the weekend. He is flying B6 from now on and giving up on his worthless companion pass. 2 connections to fly across country with a wife and a toddler the last time he used it and he was delayed lol. What a joke.
I imagine the execs at WN headquarters are smiling a lot these days…. (Obviously different flyers will have different takes on the situation, but overall it’s hard to imagine WN not coming out “miles” ahead.)
UA is selling $53 (or $68 if you want all the “perks”) tickets for nonstop 2 hour flights, and you’re complaining?
I’m guessing they’re matching a ULLC fare.
I mean, obviously, if WN is cheaper and you prefer WN, buy the WN ticket. But this only seems to be a problem for the airline, not the customer.
If this makes some people in the FF-world get over their weird prejudices against Southwest, so much the better
Ultimately any company whose business strategy relies on the ignorance of customers is doomed to fail.
What I’ve found amusing is that when searching for fares, F on DL is usually substantially cheaper than AA or UA. In some cases, only ~$100 more than Y on the others. For this you get checked bags, a more reliable operation, and freedom from the upgrade queue. Since AA platinum is now second-to-the-bottom, this has been increasingly compelling.
Yep, this is complete BS from the airline. They’re offering ULCC service for what has become regular prices. If they aren’t going cheaper than JetBlue or Virgin or Southwest, then I don’t get how they expect anyone with options to book them.
Is American doing the same thing with their basic economy?
Two hour flights for $50 – $60? I don’t think United wants to sell these tickets – they HAVE to sell these tickets because of competition. Imaging living at IAD where my ONLY nonstop option to CLE/IND/etc. is United Express at $600 for a 55 minute flight. I would welcome Southwest with open arms.
United Customer Service?
My family of 4 arrived at DEN at two pm this past Monday – May 8 – for a 4:40 flight to ORD. Checked a bag curbside, went through pre-check, took train out to B Building (United gates), checked the departure screen – since there was a bad storm approaching the area – and saw two flights to ORD at 2:20 and 3:10. Ran to last gate at the north end in time for last boarding call for the 2:20. The gate agent inform us that they had four open spots that they could give us, but because we checked a bag they could not retrieve our bag in time. She said that United’s policy at DEN was that they needed one hour to redirect the bag. So we then asked about the 3:10 flight and the gate agent said they were 4 spaces on that flight, but she could make the change; we would have to return to the center of the B building and have this done at United’s Guest Relations. Well, by the time we got to Guest Relations and waited in line, the customer service representative recited the “1 hour rule on checked bags” and since it was 50 minutes before departure, she would not be able to accommodate our request.
Not surprisingly, the storm came in after the 3:10 flight departed, a ground stay was issued, and our 4:40 was delayed about an hour.
Hey United, how about using some common sense: (1) give your gate agents the ability to make this type of a change or else place the Guest Relations’ counters in each wing of the B building at DEN and (2) it doesn’t take one hour to reroute someone’s checked bag which is computer coded at curbside.
Given approximately the same cost I would never fly United over SWA. SWA allows free checks bags plus for $15 I can be automatically checked in and receive early boarding guaranteeing me an aisle seat if I want one. Who in their right mind would choose United and be treated like a piece of cattle?
If I want to fly on an airline like Spirit I’ll fly Spirit. People don’t choose mainline carriers because they want t be treated like garbage they expect a little bit better treatment than Spirit and Frontier but tees days they are all becoming the same.
Your analysis doesn’t fly for elites. For an extra $15 I get reserved E+ seating at the time of booking and potentially a shot at an F upgrade. I also get boarding group 1 (lower level elites would be group 2). And I get miles which you value in excess of WN points + EQM, and I often find myself needing every EQM by the end of the year.
Compare to Southwest – no E+ seating ever, and if I want to board early to secure an aisle seat I must pay $15-25 extra with no guarantee that I will even be in first 60+ to board. EQF are meaningless since I will never fly 25 flights a year.
Don’t get me wrong – I love WN and will fly them when price and routing makes sense. And I agree that US “basic” fares are a ripoff for customers without status. But UA elites will likely find that the surcharge is worth it for the extra legroom, EQM and other perks.
As a lifetime elite, who admittedly hasn’t flown as much recently since I earned that status, the proliferation of basic economy honestly scares the s*** out of me. I often buy my tickets through Flexperks, Chase, etc. and am anxiously awaiting the day when something slips through the cracks and I end up with one of these fares.
@ rjb — Correct, I don’t think UA WANTS to sell this ticket and doesn’t really care if Gary, or anyone else, buys it. It’s more a signal to Frontier or Spirit to avoid their markets.
FWIW, I recently flew with my wife on UA to IAH on an absurd $53 fare that was a match of a Frontier fare. WN was NOT matching the fare on their comparable DAL flight. Had they been, it would have been a tough call, since I have both a WN Companion Pass and UA 1K status (save $53 or try for the upgrade?). So these things come and go. Trying to make an argument that UA is “uncompetitive” because they weren’t offering a fare quite as absurd as WN was offering on one route at one particular time doesn’t seem like persuasive airline analysis to me.
@Lee F —> Clearly no one size fits all, and it there was ever a case of YMMV, it’s with the airline industry. But that said, I have to (largely) agree with Gary here.
I live in the SF Bay area. I randomly picked a short hop guaranteed to be nonstop: SFO-LAX, 6/20; returning LAX-SFO, 6/22. United has 15 flights between SFO and LAX — 2 on CRJs; the rest on 737s — each offering “Basic Economy” fares ranging from a low of $69 (on 7 flights), to $93 (6), to $106 (1), to a high of $137 (1)! “Regular” Economy fares are $20 higher across the board. For whatever reason, United is NOT showing any “Basic Economy” fares on the return LAX-SFO route, and fares range from $93-$164 for “regular” Economy.
In contrast, Southwest’s “Wanna Get Away” fares are $54 on 9 available flights, SFO-LAX; $74 on 9 available flights on the return route, LAX-SFO. If I routed this flight through their OAK hub, rather than SFO, the results change — there are 13 flights, OAK-LAX, each priced at $59. The flights from LAX-OAK, however, vary in price from $59 (7 flights), to $75 (2), $99 (1), and $114 (2).
And in the FWIW Dept., VX has 10 flights, SFO-LAX, @ $59; and 10 returning, LAX-SFO @ $74.
@rjb
You live *at* IAD? Ouch. You could try moving out and getting a nearby apartment, it would be less painful than sleeping at the airport.
Is DCA not an option for you? I actually live close to IAD, and it’s technically my “preferred” airport, but I find myself flying out of DCA far more often than not.
There’s also WN if you want to drive to BWI. It’s definitely a haul, but if I was saving $500, I’d do the drive, and just pick times that weren’t during rush hour.
CLE is only a 6 hour drive from IAD, is flying really worth it?
@Gary – If you’re going to fly a LCC, Spirit’s program is pretty decent, provided you have the credit card and can be flexible while also planning flights 6+ months out. Oh, sorry, are we still claiming UA/AA/DL are not LCC’s?
My point is, don’t discount LCC’s. *You* might not like flying them, but Spirit’s FF program has very real value, as MommyPoints points out with some regularity. Do a real analysis of the value of the program (as opposed to a review of the airline/service) and you’ll see it.
Ignorant Customers you say??? I wonder outloud if the customers in the United States who say they are concerned about jobs and such know this. These numbers are not spot on but farely close.
Airline Amount of Aircraft Amount of Mechanics
Southwest 727 2,000
United 738 9,000
Delta 852 10,000
American 942 11,000
I have never read anything relating to this on this site but I believe is absolutely worth knowing
who does the work of the Airline you fly? Im not even including international Airlines that the FAA does not have oversite of just the main 4 of the United States. (special note; Southwest about 6 years ago was pretty much the highest paid maintenance workers in the United States Aviation industry but not anymore but being that the newer Union that came in the last decade is still without a new contract for 5 years now they are droping behind not just in wages but are at the way way way bottom concerning doing their own work)
@jamesb2147 There is no value to me to pay an airline for an extremely uncomfortable seat, poor irregular ops (see FLL video) or the annoyance of being nickel-and-dimed. I’d rather pay slightly more and be treated well by WN or UA (Dr. Dao aside). And I can bank my UA and WN miles for as long as I like to use when convenient. UA miles have taken me in C/F to many continents and US cities. Spirit offers me nothing of value.
Well for one I know i am not ignorant. Low price carriers don’t offer me what I need. As a 1K I get a free meal and alcoholic beverage if i wish as well as Economy Plus at booking. I pay nothing for my checked bags and I can make changes to my flight for free within 24 hours. If my flight is delayed, I am automatically backed up on the next flight. Most low cost carriers don’t fly internationally (unless you count the caribbean) and I get 6 upgrade certificates for international flights. My wife is Diamond on Delta, and using points for Europe normally cost more points than United. I feel Delta offers a few more perks but all in all the larger carriers offer their top tier flyers a lot of perks. If i was a person who flew very infrequently on domestic routes, maybe then I would consider a low cost carrier, but because I fly frequently does not make me ignorant, maybe the title should be a little more accurate to the point you are trying to get across.
“nsx at FlyerTalk says:
May 11, 2017 at 9:12 am
Southwest is racing to the head of the pack merely by devaluing its offerings much more slowly than other airlines.
It’s like the old gag where the sergeant asks for a volunteer to step forward and everybody except one chump steps backward.”
EXACTLY. You made me laugh, you win the board for the day.
Yeah, but you are forgetting about United’s stellar customer service to balance out the equation…oh, NEVERMIND! 🙂