April 18th marked the true beginning of the United Basic Economy era. The first flights under the new branding began flying in and out of Minneapolis that day. The company is celebrating that milestone with the expansion of the fare product into new markets. The next tranche of Basic Economy fares take effect starting with travel on 9 May 2017 and include routes between some hubs and also to spoke destinations. Additional markets are launching effective fore travel beginning 16 May 2017.
$UAL's basic Y fares launched this morning on flights from @mspairport, says pres Kirby. So far so good, he says.
— Edward Russell (@ByERussell) April 18, 2017
Much like with the initial Basic Economy rollout the new markets are essentially seeing fares increase to cover the BE addition. Expect to see a $15-30 increase in fares for most markets, depending on segment length to avoid the Basic penalties. And Basic Economy is still not selling in connecting markets yet.
While many of the markets added in this latest round are ULCC competition, the theoretical target of such a product when it was first contemplated, not all are. This reinforces the reality that Basic Economy isn’t about the LCCs. Alas, United President Scott Kirby used yesterday’s earnings call and product launch to reiterate that the product is about “giving passengers a choice.”
"That's the wonderful thing about Basic Economy: It gives our passengers choice." $UAL Pres Kirby. #PaxEx #AvGeek //But not really. :/
— Seth Miller (@WandrMe) April 18, 2017
I don’t know many passengers that would take the “choice” to pay $20 more for the same service on the same flight compared to yesterday. The part where United is also choosing to only selectively match LCC fares in some markets. Charging $100 extra for a similar product is rarely a strong market position.
Of course, there are examples cutting both ways on this front.
As a reminder, the Basic Economy fares do not permit a carry-on bag (only a small personal item that fits under the seat) and passengers on such tickets will default to the last boarding group. Earning rates in the MileagePlus program are also reduced as part of the fares.
In the end this is neither a surprise nor particularly awful. Some fares went up this week. More will go up in the future. Thus is the way our travel industry is set to evolve in the coming months and years.
Happy flying!
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basic economy would be less preferable than a forced removal #zing
i have ONE sacred route among their entire network. as long as the B/E curse doesn’t spread there, i’m good (I won’t list it here and give them any ideas of where to gut next)
Hate to break it to you but that is almost certainly coming soon enough. 🙁
Just what UA needs more angry customers..The airlines do this to themselves with stupidity like Basic Economy.
It’s really dumb. And t really effects business travelers. It’s very easy to have a secretary or HR associate or whomever book a ticket, and they have to use the cheapest fare, and all of sudden you can’t bring your business travel stuff with you. I was recently traveling with a bunch of technical equipment that had to be carried on, and we ended up having to buy a new ticket because it was cheaper than upgrading.
I can’t wait for a UA FA to taser a BE passenger over a carry-on luggage dispute
I can already see the pax saying, “Don’t tase me bro…”
Not an FA issue. Once you’re past the scanner at the gate a BE passenger is the same as any other. The process is explicitly designed to not affect FAs, though the lack of advance assigned seats and families split apart is likely to still fall on them to try to help resolve at some point.
I booked a flight yesterday from ATL to MDW and Southwest where a lot cheaper than Delta. And they didn’t fly to MDW where I was going to pick up my rental car for my annual trip to Oshkosh via Dayton Ohio for the air force museum. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the flight was only $130 including 2 checked bags and early bird boarding. Delta wanted $147 and that doesn’t include checked bag at $25 extra. So if Southwest can do it and make a profit why can’t the other airlines ? I have heard that Southwest have just wonderful customer service so I really looking forward to my flight in July
Your assumption that Southwest is always cheaper is horribly flawed.
Also, different airlines operate with different costs so it is entirely possible that if they sold the exact same set of tickets on the same routes one would be profitable and another not. These are not simple businesses to operate not to understand. Trying to process them as though they are is a recipe for disappointment.
True I guess I was just lucky that Southwest is cheaper and went exactly where I wanted to go. You just have to shop around for the best prices every time you fly
Sad days for airline travel lately. Being asked to purchase a bottle of water on BA the other day…might as well have flown easyjet.