Its Time to Fly

Last week I discussed the impact of the new fees for legacy carriers Amerian and United. On Friday the Cranky Flier chimed in as well lambasting United for missing an opportunity to further differentiate itself from the competitors. With economy plus and PS, United has long catered to business travelers, but also has been scared to cut the garbage traffic loose. Cranky writes:

This shows the problem that United is once again trying to serve all different
types of passengers when that really shouldn’t be the case. Yes, I understand
that they need cash right now and that they’re in worse shape than others due to
mismanagement, but if you want to be a premium carrier, you don’t implement fees
like this. You try to differentiate yourself instead of helping Southwest
establish itself as the true premium carrier that doesn’t actually charge these
fees.

United has made a choice to join the bottom dwellers and it will be interesting to see if, over the long run, this erodes its base.