On Southwest, you can improve your boarding spot by purchasing Early Bird, and you’ll pretty much always be in the A group. They did raise Early Bird prices recently, but it is still cheaper than what these other airlines are doing. I also get 4 free upgrades to the A1-15 group a year with my SW credit card.
On Delta you get annual silver medallion status for life for a million miles (which doesn’t give you much more than picking your seats, rare upgrade and free bags). I’m close to two million, which gets me gold status. However, I’m not sure if you get upgrades and seat choices on those basic economy fares no matter what your status is. I don’t purchase those.
When I talked with the ticket agent on the phone, she said basic economy on United is NO seat upgrades and restrictions on what you can have as luggage and more. I decided not to get that class and bought regular economy so I could get upgraded to economy plus seats, which we prefer.
“I decided not to get that class and bought regular economy…”
Perhaps United is not that stupid, after all this is their desired outcome…
Yes, I think they want their fares to LOOK competitive but after you pay the full economy price, it’s not as reasonable. For young poor students, it’s not so bad but for us older folks who prefer more comfort, not so good.
It really depends on how you look at it. United added a class of service and people who care about saving $25-$30/flight (that’s the $ difference I’ve noticed) have the choice to not fly with a bag that doesn’t fit under the seat and not get to select a seat in advance. I think others have mentioned other airlines that added this class of service. People don’t have to choose this class of ticket; they can continue to get regular economy. What I don’t know is if what used to be regular economy fares all just went up by $30(ish) or not. So, we might all be paying more per flight but one can just continue getting the class they did and not downgrade.
Having said that, we are flying cross country in June and I just looked at flights; $400 r/t for regular economy, less for basic economy. Those fares seem consistent or even better than regular economy fares we’ve paid over the years.
Yeah, lifetime gold on United needs a million actual flight miles on United, not partner, flights. I am stuck around 900k because I usually use Lufthansa these days, and those miles don’t count for that purpose.
The fares I paid when I was in college (in the 70s) don’t seem all that different from current fares. Basic economy is significantly higher priced for flying between HI and anywhere (at least $100+ more), but I’d rather have the option for an upgraded seat so it’s worth it to me to pay for a seat capable of being upgraded in regular economy than getting the lowest possible price. We are frequently upgraded as silver premier.
@Sorghum, it sounds like it’s time for a couple of mileage runs!
@Twoin18 my issue with United simply has to do with keeping up with the times. In this day and age where everyone uses their phone as a boarding pass, United is in effect charging you $30 for this service. It is a waste of resources (human and/or paper) to print out boarding passes at the airport.
I’ve flown basic economy on American and it was fine. I was by myself so it didn’t matter where I sat, I’m fine being in the back. At that time American was allowing a carry on and personal item, although I don’t know if that has changed.
I don’t remember having to print out a paper ticket though.
I’ve flown basic economy once or twice on American and Dellta - if you know it’s not going to be a full flight or if you know you are okay with a middle seat in the back because it’s a short flight then I would go basic economy and check any baggage. However, I don’t like middle seats, even for short flights - my regular flights have been to and from Atlanta/DFW and those flights are almost always full no matter what day/time - I have been able to pay $10 for seat selection AFTER I checked in online on one of those airlines but I don’t recall which. THAT was a bargain because the cost difference between economy and basic for that flight was something like $150…unfortunately, you don’t know if you’ll get that option. I was hoping to get it the next time and it didn’t give me the option so I guess it was sold/oversold with assigned seats at the time I checked in
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/inflight/basic-economy.aspx
I think the idea is that they want to give everyone who has bought a higher priced ticket a chance to select their seat before people with basic economy are assigned theirs. It’s never taken me more than 5 minutes to check in at a kiosk so I wouldn’t find that all that inconvenient.
I haven’t read the entire thread, but yes, this is happening with more than just United.
Here’s what happened with DH, though, on United, quite awhile ago (before Basic Economy), when he and our son didn’t have assigned seats when they were flying to Colorado for a short ski trip: They got to the gate and were told, “Oops, sorry, there are no seats left. You’re getting bumped.” He was furious. They lost a day of an already short trip.
I knew he HAD to get back from the trip on time because of a meeting, so I called United to get them seats on the return trip. The agent said she couldn’t do that. I was so mad. I asked to speak to a supervisor and said I wouldn’t get off the phone until seats were assigned. The woman finally did it.
We do not fly United any more.
One can usually purchase a seat for an additional $5-10 at the time the ticket is purchased. It may be worthwhile if it is important to you.
My son and I flew from Europe to Miami and back. We got a super cheap flight, so was happy about that but no pre-assigned seats. On the short flight to London, we didn’t even get to sit on the same ROW. Luckily, we got to sit together on the long-haul flight. That’s never happened to me before but I happened both ways. Guess its a new thing. :neutral:
Here are details on American’s Basic Economy for those interested:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/seats/basic-economy.jsp
The quality of air travel has eroded for some time now but to the airlines defense:
When booking tickets, they are quite clear and upfront on what you get with each class. Caveat Emptor.
Changes seem consumer driven as many, many passengers care most about price when choosing a flight.
As @HImom alluded to, airfares are very cheap, actually cheaper than they have been over time.
" Even after deregulation, a basic domestic round-trip airfare in 1979 averaged $615.82 in today’s money. That average fare dropped to $344.22 by 2016. Fees have risen dramatically from the equivalent of $1.65 in 1979 to $22.70 by 2016, but even with those fees added back in, airfares are much cheaper.
The Compass Lexecon study showed that, between 1990 and 2016, the domestic price per mile to fly decreased by 40 percent (and by 36 percent when you factor in fees)."
https://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/history-of-flight-costs
Running an airline is a tough business. Look at the story the charts in this article tell:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/how-airline-ticket-prices-fell-50-in-30-years-and-why-nobody-noticed/273506/
Except airplane profits have increased significantly since all of these fees have been added to the “cheap” fares. https://www.statista.com/statistics/232513/net-profit-of-commercial-airlines-worldwide/ And other articles note that even with fuel price increase that “ancillary revenue” -fees- have saved the day https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/28/what-headwinds-airlines-to-book-their-10th-straight-year-of-profitability/#783731d82965. All those people who shop the cheap fare and pay the extra fees.
Or you claim some kind of disability. Sorry for being a cynic. I don’t fly SW anymore. SW has the most people who needs early boarding. The last time I flew with SW, I had something like B36 and I was the very first person in line.
Profitability is a good thing for airlines ( or any business 
). You certainly don’t want to be flying a nonprofitable airline.
People like to gripe about the fees but I see it more as A la Carte pricing vs. Prix Fixe, to use a restaurant analogy . Buy what you want and use. If you’re a college kid traveling light, buy the basic economy/fly Frontier, etc. If you want more comfort, that’s available, too. Flyers have choices now. Choice isn’t a bad thing. Even if you add in $25 to check a bag or $30 to pick a seat or $15 to buy some food at the airport to bring on the flight, you’re still coming out ahead price-wise on an historical basis adjusted for inflation, IMO.