Comments on: United starts selling Economy Plus at time of booking

By: bill

bill — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:14:28 +0000

I totally agree, but United’s economy plus is actually the old economy seats of 7 years ago.

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2007/nov/09/legislation-limelight/

By: The Cranky Flier » United Sells Economy Plus at Time of Booking

The Cranky Flier » United Sells Economy Plus at Time of Booking — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:19:22 +0000

[...] noticed on One Mile at a Time yesterday that United has quietly started allowing people to upgrade to Economy Plus at the time of [...]

By: lucky

lucky — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:45:48 +0000

Yep, indeed, although back then it was very rare, while it’s becoming a standard feature now. Good catch though.

By: mudba

mudba — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:38:03 +0000

Lucky,

They may have just started advertising this, but the discussion of this started on FT almost a year ago

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=712739

By: lucky

lucky — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:59:22 +0000

Thanks for the correction, Cranky. I didn’t think of the fact that they seem to be charging the same, be it at the time of booking or at the airport. That’s an excellent point, and maybe something they’ll reconsider depending on how well this program goes.

By: EconWatch.com

EconWatch.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:07:46 +0000

United starts selling Economy Plus at time of booking…

[Source: One Mile at a Time] quoted: I actually commend UA for this one. It’s a good way they can further profit off of Economy Plus, and while it may make elites a little bit peeved, United has more legroom in Economy Plus than any of their comp…

By: Cranky Flier

Cranky Flier — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:02:50 +0000

Sorry to follow up my own comment . . .

Looking at this, it makes it seem like the pricing will be the same whether you do it in advance or at the airport. That doesn’t make sense to me. There’s a much higher risk of bumping an elite customer out of Y+ if you book in advance, so someone should have to pay extra for that.

Oh boy, I may have to post about this one.

By: Cranky Flier

Cranky Flier — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:01:24 +0000

Nice catch, Lucky. I couldn’t believe it when they took away Y+ access from people booking in Y and B. Now it’s nice to see that anyone can upgrade at the time of booking. I’ll be very curious to see how this gets priced.

(BTW, you say “time of check-in” in your link, not “time of booking.”)