United - What are you doing to loyal business travelers?
I am a loyal frequent flyer on United Airlines, mostly due to their p.s. service from San Francisco to New York. For roughly $450 round-trip plus the equivalent of $250 in frequent flyer miles, I can usually upgrade to the largest domestic business class seat in the US and get a hot meal on the way. I find this a pretty reasonable fare to pay for a seat and service that is akin to business class on an international flight (and better then first class on most domestic flights), and since I hate flying, I’ll do just about anything to make my experience more comfortable.
Now the reality is I fly about 20 times a year so I probably generate roughly $10,000/year in airline revenue. Half those flights are NOT on p.s. because I’m not going to New York. But I still keep my business with United so that I can maintain my flying status within the UAL Mileage Plus program. In doing so, I must endure many “normal” configurations of United planes, especially annoying on Ted where business class cabins are not available. This is still a reasonable trade-off to me. Again, the tickets are usually more but the long-term benefit is the EQMs and the increased upgrade availability due to frequent flyer status.
And the upgraded seats really do help me conduct business. I use the extra space to spread out papers, go through old contracts I have yet to review (though sometimes I’ve already signed), and on a really crazy week I occasionally go through old personal mail. If I’m with a coworker, we can talk business without having an occupied seat in the middle. The value is high to me, because I ultimately save time and energy while I travel, and I also get some good focus time for thinking about difficult problems.
This latest trend of nickel & diming, however, has now begun to irritate me. It seems that United Airlines has finally gone from catering to business travelers to treating everyone like they are on a Greyhound. As one SF Chronicle article puts it, “The savings they will get doing away with lunch in business class - they will lose more than that when corporations yank business.”
So what am I so annoyed about? Well yes, it looks like I must finally admit it. I like my airline food. It’s not unusual that I’m catching a 6am flight and haven’t had a chance to grab breakfast, or a noon flight that was directly after a long-running meeting. Does the money actually bother me? No, not really - what bothers me is having to have cash on board. Or having to settle for a shrink-wrapped selection of garbage. Or having to ask a flight attendant for a receipt if I plan to file an expense report for said meal. Or maybe I’ll just absorb the cost out of pocket (as small as it may be), which annoys me further.
For the first time ever, I am now looking at other airlines mileage programs. This is the worst thing for you, United.
I really wish you’d just raise the business class fares by $10-20 to cover my meal. Isn’t that reasonable? We business travelers don’t mind. We want to fly without thinking or reaching for our wallets. We’re busy people.
So please stop with the nickel & diming - it’s fine in coach, but we don’t want “a la carte” in business class.