Play it safe this summer: visit an RNLI-lifeguarded beach. If you get into trouble in the water, float to live, until help arrives.
27.07.2023 - 18:35 / smartertravel.com / Scott Kirby
Bare fares—cheap coach fares with few perks and plenty of restrictions—are a thing. The unbundled fares, as they’re also called, are what have made Spirit, Frontier, and other ultra-low-cost carriers the darlings of the most price-sensitive customers, and of Wall Street. And the legacy carriers can’t afford not to compete for those flyers.
When American announced, in late 2015, that it would roll out its own bare fares, the airline noted that air travel is increasingly viewed as a commodity, with price playing a leading role in the purchase decisions of fully half the airline’s customers. As explained by Scott Kirby, then American’s president and now United’s, “87 percent of the people who have flown American in the past year flew us only one time… And they represent over 50 percent of our revenue. For many of those customers, air travel is a commodity. With 50 percent of our customers up for grabs, we have to compete for them. We can’t just walk away from that size of a business.”
Related:New DOT Rules Aim to Spur Competition, Protect Travelers. Do They?Shortly after American’s announcement, United promised that it too would soon be offering unbundled fares, for the same reasons cited by American.
At that point, almost two years ago, Delta had already introduced its version of bare fares, Basic Economy, in selected markets, and it has since expanded their availability to many domestic markets. The expectation, therefore, was that American and United’s cheapo fares would be brought to market sooner rather than later, probably in the first quarter of 2016.
Better Late than Never?
Here we are in the fourth quarter of 2016, and still no bare fares from either American or United. What gives?
American, in this week’s quarterly earning call with analysts, provided some clarity on both the delay and the new timing of the fares introduction. As reported by USA Today, American was on track to roll out bare fares in late 2016, but decided to wait until after the holidays. So the new target date: January 2017.
United, meanwhile, has delayed a planned October launch by “several months,” according to Skift, which would put its bare fares in circulation early in 2017 as well.
So, by the end of the first quarter of 2017, the Big 3 should all have their versions of bare fares available for sale. If that’s a blessing, it may be a mixed one.
Sure, cheaper fares trump more expensive ones, all things being equal. But with bare fares, all things aren’t equal, by definition. Depending on how they’re structured, they’re stripped of such niceties as seat selection, boarding priority, the ability to change flights or receive a refund, upgrades, frequent flyer miles, and so on.
And then there’s the more general concern, that
Play it safe this summer: visit an RNLI-lifeguarded beach. If you get into trouble in the water, float to live, until help arrives.
Whether you’re about to go on vacation or just coming back from a trip, summer is always a good time to treat yourself to a spa service. It’s when we show the most skin and typically socialize the most, so why not put your best foot forward when it comes to your appearance and wellness. Here are six summer travel-ready beauty treatments in New York City you’ll love.
United Airlines has banned a woman from flying with the airline after she forced a flight to divert from its intended destination, the airline told Insider in a statement.
It’s been a long time coming, but it’s now a bare fares world.
The AP reports that while travelers are currently enjoying a prolonged period of cheap fares, even for international flights, airlines are already taking steps that will result in steadily increasing airfares over the coming months. All good things must come to an end.
The media—social media, asocial media, major media, marginal media, all media—has been positively aflame for the past 24 hours with reporting and editorializing on United Airlines’ latest mishandling of a passenger confrontation.
Score two for the airlines, nil for consumers.
Eight years ago, seat maker Avio showed off an airline “seat” that supported passengers but didn’t really seat them. Instead, passengers would lean against a padded backrest and tiled semi-seat attached to a vertical pole, but they’d still support some weight on their feet. Dubbed the Skyrider, the seat would allow passenger rows with a front-to-rear spacing, or pitch, as low as 23 inches, compared with the minimum of 29 inches for today’s worst economy cabins and 30-31 inches for most giant lines.
If you’re looking for yet another reason to cross the Atlantic, WOW Air just gave you one: The Icelandic-based airline is expanding low transatlantic fares and “second city” air routes.
If so-called basic economy fares aren’t yet a pervasive fact of travel life, they soon will be.
Norwegian Air, famous for offering ultra-low fares to Europe, has long had its legitimacy challenged here in the U.S. At question is the airline’s subsidiary headquartered in Ireland, which is seen as (possibly) a way of dodging local labor standards. Despite these concerns, the Department of Transportation (DOT) approved to fly to and from the U.S.
Segmented pricing and extra-cost amenity bundles are all the current rage among airline marketers. To compete with the likes of Spirit and Frontier, the full-service carriers are expanding their pricing schemes to include their own bare fares—super-low fares for no-frills transportation. And for those willing to pay extra to upgrade their coach-class trips, there are amenity packages such as United’s Premier Access, which give travelers priority check in and boarding, and expedited security clearing, and the carrier’s Travel Options packages, which add extra perks to Economy Plus seating.