As fierce competition with Southwest and Frontier continues at Denver, United announced a First Class fare sale on flights to and from DEN today. That’s certainly one way to distinguish UA from the LCCs.
images courtesy of United Airlines
The fares are not bad, but still much too high to justify a trip in United First. With complimentary elite upgrades starting on March 19, UA also probably figures it might as well attempt to make a few extra bucks on the First Class seats before they go to upgraders (or perhaps they are starting to move to the CO model of reasonably pricing First Class seats and actually selling out the premium cabins before upgrades are processed?). If you are interested, purchase by February 23. Sample o/w fares below:
There’s just one thing that bothers me: why are there no engines on the aircraft (737?) in the picture above? Is UA going to announce new glider service from DEN later this week? That too might explain the lowered First Class prices…
I’m seeking a UA F or A for BD status. I also have a 50% off eCert available to make it a real bargain, now I’ll have to dig and see if there is a worthy MR opportunity… Thanks for the heads up!
@Erich: Your best bet is still the ONT-TPA A Fare on UA, even though the price has jumped from $550+ to $750+ r/t.
To re-qualify for BD Gold last year, I just did two TPA-IAD-SAN-SFO-ONT-SFO-ORD-PHL-IAD-TPA trips.
I don’t know what the limitations are on your voucher, but you can use CO and US codeshares on the ONT-TPA deal as well.
The limitations allow for all US 50 states and Puerto Rico. I have been looking to see if I can get one big run in with this 50% and make up the remainder with L class travel. As a 2 run alternative, TPA-ONT looks attractive.
The nice thing is that this eCert allows up to 6 passengers on one itinerary, all getting 50% off. If I can find another person with a similar eCert, we could pair up to book 2 MR’s @ 50% off for Star Gold $750ai (thanks to your route advice).
@Erich: You’ll have quite a few BD miles as well, with no Starnet blocking!