United Airlines was right and is always right to deny those who want to take open EconomyPlus seats without paying for them. But yes, the car analogy was deeply flawed.
A passenger noticed the seven rows in the front of the economy class cabin on his flight were wide open. He asked the flight attendant if he could move up, but was told it would be considered an upgrade and thus necessitate an additional charge. The flight attendant explained that the EconomyPlus section was considered a separate cabin.
He complained to United on Twitter, which promptly repsonded:
Hi, Krunal. Economy Plus seats do carry an extra charge and letting customers move to those seats is not fair to the customers who did pay for the upgrade. ^BA
— United Airlines (@united) September 7, 2019
Perfectly acceptable answer.
But when Krunal, who has since deleted his Twitter account, pushed back, United’s Twitter team invoked an odd analogy:
The customers who choose to pay for Economy Plus are then afforded that extra space. If you were to purchase a Toyota, you would not be able to drive off with a Lexus, because it was empty. ^BA
— United Airlines (@united) September 7, 2019
I can appreciate why most people might fail understand why they cannot move from one open economy class seat to another. There is no curtain separating economy class from EconomyPlus. Beyond a blue placard above the seat and occasionally a different headrest cover, it is not easy to appreciate that EconomyPlus seats have extra legroom.
But these seats command ancillary revenue and serve as an incentive to MileagePlus elite members, who can reserve them at no additional cost at time of booking (Silvers only within 24 hours of travel). Others can buy them in advance.
But the Toyota – Lexus analogy is flawed on so many levels. First, the seat is the same; the only difference is legroom and sometimes power port. Second, the analogy fails because the Lexus can be sold at a later time: once the flight departs, the unsold seats cannot be sold at a future point.
Still, United is wise not to just give these seats away. If they did, it is likely that far fewer people would pay for them in advance. Plus, MileagePlus elite members (myself included) enjoy having open seats when our upgrades do not clear. That’s part of the loyalty package.
CONCLUSION
Sneaking into a cabin for which you did not pay for or are otherwise not entitled to is stealing. The problem is that most people don’t know it is wrong…that must be explained. United’s bottom line was absolutely correct, but rather than accusing the passenger of being immoral it should have more gently explained why free upgrades to EconomyPlus don’t fly.
image: PriestmanGoode
I mean toyotas and lexuses are very similar… They have plastic everywhere, use the same “leather”, and share many different components, they only really differ in price.
I wonder if Krunal was a nom de plume for Elaine Bennis.
The Toyota-Lexus analogy was quite good if you’ll follow:
Lexus is a gussied up Toyota ex. Camry = ES350, Corolla = IS, 4Runner = GX etc. in each case same “seat” with added amenities
Additionally, who says FAs can’t process an in-flight upgrade via their iPhones in much the same way they process the purchases of boxed meals or alcoholic beverages? Just because the plane is in flight doesn’t mean that inventory has gone away. Admittedly, I’m unsure if this is a process they actually have in place. But no, it’s not impossible to think that the seats could still be sold once the plane departs.
That’s exactly what happens. FAs can easily process upgrade to EconomyPlus, Premium Plus, or even Polaris Business on their phones.
My only problem with most of this is the excuse “there’s more legroom!” Is usually bunk. I work in a non-customer-facing role in one of the big 3 – we are notorious for the only reason some seats are whatever we call “economy plus”, is because they’re further ahead in the plane. That’s literally the only difference. If that was the case, let him move up. If there are 7 extra rows, hell, let most people move up. Good grief. This attitude of “well he didn’t pay for it!” Is bunk with the minute differences between economy, economy plus and all those other bullshit tiers.
Going from economy to first, ok I can see that.
Now I’ll flip this one for you. I was on a flight from dtw to ams – 8ish hour flight. I was flying Delta . I found out that over half their first class cabin was empty, so 2 hours before the flight I called in and offered money to bump up to first. They told me that it was too late, that it was less than 3 hours and no amount of money I was willing to spend would bump me up to first. I’d be ok with that except I was willing to pay up to an extra $1k for that. Instead they left the seats empty. Why would a company leave money on the table like that?
At least on United, EconomyPlus does always have extra legroom and the difference is noticeable.
Wrong Matthew. The furthest an FA can upgrade you in-flight is from economy to economy plus. Going from economy to business must be done by a customer service agent at the airport. Economy to E+ is a flat fee based on the route. Upgrades to business are based on difference in fare paid, which the Fa’s don’t have access to in flight, and if you are on a basic economy fare the furthest you can go is E+
Not true Scot. I’ve seen the iphone app…
I find it interesting that one goes to social media to complain because he didn’t get something he didn’t pay for.
Whether one feels there is or isn’t more legroom that you are paying for is irregardless. That works be like saying… There are empty seats in Economy so those seats are free. Bottom line pay for it as those that are seated in E+ did.
Entitlement is a challenge for so many people. The passengers think they are entitled to something even though they didn’t pay for it.
@Bill, That’s what happens when too many liberals are out there. They think everything is their “Rights”. Parents don’t seem to teach their kids about responsibilities and duties. Politicians do not seem to teach people of their responsibilities and duties. Even media do not seem to tell people that one is responsible for their own actions and have to take responsibility for their actions.
Rather we have a society that thinks free food is a rights, housing is a rights, healthcare is a rights, immigrating to any country as one wishes is a rights,. We even have politicians like Beto who just yesterday suggested, living near to the work and forcing rich to live among the poor is a “rights”.
Steer clear of the politics, bud. For starters, our head politician in the white house must have missed the memo on teaching people about duty and accepting responsibility. Further, conservatives have taken this example as license to blame everyone else for whatever problems exist rather than looking in the mirror. Then again, I’m neither liberal nor conservative, so I guess it could be argued that I don’t deserve a say in these things.
I do wish you stayed out of politics as the blog writers on these type of travel blogs do enough of that. But I have to say I agree with everything you said. To other replies, of course politics will make its way into anything. There are too many differences for any of us to be happy when we are forced to live together and be slaves to each other through tyranny of the majority and bureaucracy. As a conservative/libertarian/Christian, I have no problem with liberals who want to govern themselves and live in their own territories and countries. We want the same freedom.
Conservatives are pieces of [redacted]. The world becomes a better place every time a conservative dies.
oh geez lighten up
Only in America today could a blog post on premium economy end up as a political argument.
Would be nice though if they did save exit row seats some of which don’t recline for people who do need extra leg room. I’m quite tall and don’t physically fit in regular exonomy seats due to my height. I’ve tried a few times and wound up in the hospital with blood clots from them in the past.
Sounds to me like a warning call to the airlines that if the (insert name for coach with 2″ of extra legroom) looks the same to customers and they can’t understand why they can’t sit there – than they clearly are trying to sell a product that is a heap of BS. Because they are. And it’s BS. Just make all coach reasonable for normal human bodies and screw with the semantics of trying to justify an extra charge for a product that is just a different version of crap.
I get the Premium economy value on intl flights on carriers like Virgin. But this domestic shell game of offering it is complete nonsense. And UA and DL are going to regret it. All a coach passenger sees are empty rows of the same damn seat with the most minuscule addition to leg room that is non-discernible.
Matthew, I’m 100% agreeing with your points on self-upgrading.
But to be fair, this guy didn’t self-upgrade. He asked permission from the FA, was denied with explanation, and then took to Twitter. I think – other than UA’s unpolished twitter response – everyone stayed well in their lane.
“Sneaking into a cabin” and “stealing” may be appropriate in self-upgrading cases, but it’s totally inappropriate here.
The analogy is correct. You purchased a toyota in a showroom. Then you saw a lexus which nobody buy. You cannot leave the showroom with the lexus just because they came from the same showroom and no one buy the lexus.
Whether it can be sold next day or next week is a different matters entirely.
If the analogy is correct, then it means your logic is flawed.
Have you actually seen these seats on domestic aircraft? They are just further front and have a minuscule addition of an inch or two in leg room. It’s an identical coach seat. There is no extra padding, additional width…nothing but a cheap sticker on the overhead compartments. This is comparing a blue Toyota to a brown Toyota. Not a Lexus to a Toyota. Of course people are confused and find it absurd. Because it is.
I’d say five inches can make a huge difference. 😉
There’s only one thing where a few inches matter.
Whew this “discussion” is polarizing, just like a whole conservative/liberal “debate” which is just internet trolls (probably Russian) churning up controversy when we don’t even need that.
Anyways, to speak to both sides, yes United has it as a “product” that they sell so yes just giving it to people without having them pay might not be perceived as fair. The problem is that just a couple short years ago gate agents would give it away free to people, I asked and got it plenty of times, so when you get it without paying or see it not utilized, it makes some sense that United may say “it’s unfilled, we’ll be nice and let people sit there.” I think they should sell it in flight for a discount, obviously they could make a little more money that way. I bet if it were at the right price point they could get some people like that guy to do it, e.g. maybe $15-25 something like that. This way if you want the absolute guarantee of the seat (but they don’t actually guarantee it, e.g. if they have an equipment change) you can pay with your reservation but if you want to take a chance and risk it being full, you can pay at the time of boarding. Other airlines do this, e.g. European airlines like Swiss and Norwegian and Aegean take “bids” for premium [economy]. I’ve gotten it for Norwegian several times for about $200 extra which is a savings (usually premium about $600 more at the time of booking). What I did balk at recently was Norwegian trying to sell off their unused premium inventory in flight, but at a high price (I inquired when my regular exit row seat I paid extra to pick, had a non functioning TV unit and they refused to do anything)… They wanted like $500+ for the unused premium seats in flight, which as a value proposition doesn’t make sense when people can get it for a $200 bid.
I actually think it was a hilarious reply and clever analogy.