Here’s the ironic thing about buying a Basic Economy ticket on United Airlines. By not being able to pre-assign a seat, you often end up with one of the best economy seats on the aircraft.
My brother’s girlfriend accidentally purchased a Basic Economy ticket on a recent flight from Los Angeles to Houston. Interestingly to me (since I would never buy an Basic Economy ticket), the boarding pass is orange in color (versus the normal blue) in the iPhone wallet.
Of course that’s not all — here are the warnings when you buy a ticket:
And it is exactly for these reasons I would never buy a Basic Economy ticket.
But she did. And she ended up with an exit row aisle seat, one of the most coveted on the plane, despite having no status and buying the cheapest ticket available.
How? Basic Economy seats are assigned just prior to boarding and that prime exit row seat was the only one left.
How United can Remedy This
While I’m truly happy that she enjoyed a complimentary exit row seat, that just seems totally counterintuitive to purchasing a Basic Economy fare.
And this is not a one-off event. I’ve witnessed this myself.
But prohibiting Basic Economy passengers from EconomyPlus would create a potentially burdensome two-step process. Passengers seated in United Economy would need to be moved to EconomyPlus then Basic Economy passengers would be accommodated in their old seats.
This seems too time-consuming.
In an internal memo to employees, United addressed this very issue-
There will be instances where the only seats available for customers who purchased Basic Economy are Economy Plus seats. In order to minimize this occurrence, we are working on a few initiatives that will help to identify high-value customers with a standard Economy ticket. We can then offer a free Economy Plus seat to these customers prior to the check-in window opening in order to free up seats in economy for customers who purchased a Basic Economy ticket.
Indeed, this is the only practical solution: pre-emptive upgrades to EconomyPlus. Not only will this make some customers happy, but it will alleviate the burden upon gate agents.
CONCLUSION
United still has not figured out how to keep Basic Economy passengers out of EconomyPlus. While you are certainly not guaranteed an EconomyPlus seat if you buy a Basic Economy ticket, you stand a decent chance of ending up with one. That’s at least one reason to buy a United Basic Economy ticket…
The issue I have is families booked in basic economy showing up with no assigned seats and wanting to sit together. I don’t blame the families as much as I blame United, I don’t feel anyone should be asked to switch seats without due compensation.
I was recently on a DEN-IAH flight in mid-July booked with miles (I have no status) where I was given the chance to book a free Economy Plus seat at check-in.
@Nick : ” I don’t blame the families as much as I blame United”
why would you blame UA ? it’s very clear from the screenshot above that families can’t sit together. The interstitial is prominent front-n-center, not something hidden under layers of legalese.
The bigger blame should go to 3rd party OTAs who aren’t doing enough to provide warnings/disclaimers on these basic econ fares.
This isn’t really new. UA has done the same thing for passengers on standby or who buy a ticket when E is sold out but don’t have status or want to buy an E+ ticket for a long time. What is new is that it’s more visible now due to basic Econ.
@henry LAX, I guess I feel that families shouldn’t have to pay an extra fee to sit together, which is basically what Basic Economy forces them to do. Maybe United should block the last 5 rows of the plane and give those to families? Basically United created this issue – they need to solve it. Asking their elites to give up their E+ window/aisle seats is basically how it’s being resolved at the moment.
@Nick,
United is offering a product – basic economy – of which the customers, if they ever took the time to read the CLEAR DETAILS about seating, baggage, etc. on United’s website then make a CHOICE to buy it or not. United has not “created” the problem. Passengers themselves “create” the problem by not reading or educating themselves about what they are buying. As well, if you were asked to give up your E+ seat for a family, just say ‘NO’ (duh…..simple). Good grief.
@JoEllen
United isn’t offering a product of Basic Economy moreso then they are taking away from the previous product to tax people a min of $60 per person for a family to sit together. The -Basic Economy- didn’t drop in price in comparison to what Regular Economy used to be. The Regular Economy is now more expensive on same flights. Yes blame United. They are becoming like Spirit airlines and exposing themselves to competition.
I flew on a United Basic Economy flight two days ago and the boarding pass was blue like normal on the iphone. Maybe because I have the united card and got boarding group two?
Also @Nick, that’s silly but I guess it’s an opinion. Why should families be treated any different than other passengers?
if anything, families sitting together emboldens the unruly brats because they know they have no negative consequences for misbehaving.
Great, next time, we’ll sit you with our 2 year old, put another stranger in charge of the almost 4 year old and let someone else deal with our 6 year old. I’ll enjoy a movie for once! I think the airline wants to sit families together for a reason.
Wow that is fascinating! Hopefully UA can predict how many E- seats it needs as to not overcrowd E+. I firmly believe they should fill every goshdarn white seat before touching the blues but that rarely happens IMO.
I was recently on SAS and they have a sign to taunt you as you walk back to cattle class! Now that is some strict IM.
@ Henry LAX – families should not be treated any different. If it’s that important to sit next to someone then don’t be so cheap and pony up the extra $ to be able to do so. Ya get what ya pay for.
@Henry LAX – Oops, I meant my previous post directed for Nick, not you.
I will be interested in seeing how they identify economy passengers to bump up. All passengers with status would presumably have already been upgraded. I guess they can go by fare class alone, or perhaps some algorithm based on a customer’s recent flight history.
Dear Matthew,
Thanks for your commentary on this, as well as the highlighting the fairly interesting difference in color on the Apple Wallet pass.
On a totally unrelated note, but one which I’m hoping you might have some insight into, United has always been responsive when submitting genuine issues via their customer care form, which has been key, as they are my airline of (mostly) choice.
However, atypically, I submitted a comment two full weeks ago, and have not heard anything. I also submitted a related followup comment about 12 days ago, and have not heard anything back from that, either.
Are you aware of any changes which would account for this lack of response? It is dispiriting, to say the least.
Best regards,
Ivan.
I’m hopeful that Basic Economy finally fulfills United’s goal of becoming the least desirable airline to fly. First we’ll make the bad seats SUPER bad, then we’ll remove all the international nicest seats. It’ll be a grand race-to-the-middle. But don’t worry, our cheap champagne just won a fake competition!
Not seating families together makes everyone on the plane lose. It’s a cheap attempt at additional revenue. Very sad!!!
My brother and sister-in-law booked Delta cheap fares last and ended up with exit row seats together one way and comfort + on the way back!!! Same thing going on at Delta. They see no reason to buy the more expensive ticket (no status)!! Kind of don’t blame them.
I think the only people that should ever be allowed to sit on an airplane are readers of this blog with multiple FF status.
can my reservation get bumped by purchasing a basic economy at the last minute?
Yes. It increases your likelihood of being bumped on a full flight, though you can save money by paying to assign a seat in advance.