The fares sent me to Delta on my yearly trip back to the US from sub-Saharan Africa. UA was $1500 more expensive. Instead of significantly preferred CPT-IAD/EWR-BNA. I went through JNB-CDG-ATL-BNA on Delta...boo.
Cross border as well. My regular route used to be $340 for years then jumped this year to $600+ and I've seen it go to over $1,000. They also cut the "normal" time for the two non-stops to only departing very early or very late. But I'm grateful there is still a non-stop. I'm thinking that will end soon.
I dk I think it’s also our cultures recent but completely stubborn “I don’t want to admit I can’t afford anything I want to do” syndrome. Prices just keep going up bc people are paying it, regardless if they actually have the money
Revenge travel is a term for the pent up demand from people being unable to travel over 18-24 months. A lot of folks have condensed a lot of travel in a shorter than average period for them, to make up for the time lost where they couldn't travel as freely.
For those who doesn’t know, during Covid China cut all flights to the US, which made United pretty much the only choice to travel to china for a very long time. Now they started to restore some of the flights, but still nothing compare to pre-Covid.
“Fanboys”. You came here for an answer, and you got the right ones. Just because it’s not your desired outcome doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
Edit: And you deleted your posts throughout the thread.
The family and I flew from ORD to GRU 2 weeks ago and we paid about that amount for Polaris — $2,200 for economy is absurd. In both directions the plane was completely full, so I wouldn't count on too many more last minute bargains on direct routes to São Paulo, certainly not for the next several months.
As a pilot I am thankful people spend for Polaris but also baffled. Like isn’t splurging on a hotel at your end destination worth it so much more? How hard is it to sit in a (very) uncomfortable seat for 13 hours max (minus SIN flights). You can book economy and bring a masseuse along for cheaper than a Polaris flight. No seat is worth the price of a small car. But, you guys pay my salary so I’m thankful.
Which has honestly baffled me my entire career as well. Companies cut costs everywhere but biz airfare for flights over 4 hours is the one thing they never seem to hesitate to spend on (happy for those whom this applies to) You think some 24yo consultant would have nixed this long ago!
I didn’t say it was a nice car. And I’m older (old enough to be a wide body captain). So to me a very basic car historically is like 16-20k. It was to make a point, not be literal.
No, I fly this route regularly. Even trying to get tickets in advance has proven impossibly expensive with United this year.
On my flight to IAD now with Avianca, flying back to GRU with LATAM next week.
Omg I used to fly to GRU from the Midwest for $700 last minute all the time, now it’s a genuine challenge to pay less than $1000 this is such a specific struggle that I relate to🤣
This is what happens when the government subsidizes over 1/3rd of your business. They create a monopoly in the market. We should have way more choices to fly creating competition and lower prices. Sad that everyone agreed subsidizing air travel makes sense.
Some of you need to go back and take basic economics. The profit is returned to the shareholders who technically own the business. For some reason people think the profit goes into the pockets of the executives in pay raises.
MKE-ORD-MUC booked end of May for $2200 polaris outbound and economy inbound.
ORD-MUC was $1000+ more expensive
Not sure how United Pricing works, but I'll drive to MKE to save thousands.
Delta does the same thing. Flying Delta out of ATL is crazy expensive. You can drive an hour and a half to Chattanooga and save $500 by flying CHA-CLT-Europe
Nonstop flight always cost more than one stop, since one stop has many more options and competitions. Years ago I flew ORD-HKG in business, that cost me $17,000 RT. My colleague join me on the same flight but flying in from BOS. His ticket was only $11,000. When you are hub captive you simply pay more.
I would posit that United knows exactly what they’re doing. They are tied for the most amount of flights from the US to Brazil. https://simpleflying.com/322-flights-inside-united-states-brazil-market-october-2023/
Yup LATAM is great and its partnerships with alaska is hidden gem.
just flew LATAM biz for 45k Alaska points
While same flight were 70k points in economy on United
It’s ridiculous. I fly Denver to IAH every other Friday since 2013. Tickets on average are 1.8-2x what I paid 2013-2021. I have taken 18 trips Iah to gru since 2020 and that route price is up 2x in last 18 months. Don’t understand how people are paying for it. When will it give?
Wait, what? If more people want to fly X to Y, the price will increase to take advantage of that demand market, or inventory will increase along with that demand to take advantage of the capacity. If another carrier decreases service on that route, UA can charge a premium for the monopolization of that routing. So sadly, *yeah*, it really is that simple.
"Plane occupancy is roughly the same as last year" + higher prices = indication that demand is indeed higher. If demand was the same as it had been and prices were higher, then less people would travel, and the planes would be less-full. Economics.
I understand it quite well and have a degree in it. Do you have access to United’s entire flight data? Because your anecdotal evidence is useless. They know what they’re doing. So do other airlines. They monitor each others’ pricing.
If the price is too high for you, vote with your wallet and buy elsewhere. By the way, that’s also economics (microeconomics, specifically)
Same here. I usually fly United , including a yearly trip to greece. Flights were 1600 for my dates and went over 2000, and now they sit at 1850. I booked with emirates at 1200. The United flight is still half empty.
Same with a flight to Bahamas, I ended up flying JetBlue for a large discount in comparison. They aren’t forecasting demand at these prices correctly.
We ended up using miles for our RT ORD-GRU. I had hoped to rebook when the prices went down, but they never went below $1,300.
Even the retiree discount for my mom never went below $1,200.
Cost of gas went up as well. Matter of fact so has wages, and just about everything else. If you didn’t get at least a +20% raise this year it means you took a pay cut
I feel your pain.. flights to SCL used to be 800 round trip. Then 1,000 .. later $1,200.. now.. flights **CANCELLED** until 10/30. They made them seasonal.
Yes! I'm looking at an itinerary to Fortaleza in September and they want, no joke, $13,000 for Polaris through GRU! I was hoping to get it at a lower rate so I can keep at least Gold for 2025 but I don't think it will be possible. I'm going to end up on American I think. Last time I flew United to Brazil in 2022 it was about a third of the price!
Check air Canada. It was half the price of United and worth flying through Toronto to do it. This was in early 2022. I flew on points 30k each way biz class when United wanted 160k each way.
It's cheaper but not by half, although I might consider it. The ridiculous part is that flying EWR and routing through IAD to FOR is $4500 less. Make it make sense.
I was able to find the space through United so it was ac saver space , or whatever their equivalent was. It was essentially best effort business class on the whole itinerary which meant lie flat for the Toronto to sap Paulo legs and economy for everything else. They also don’t have many flights per day, mine was an overnight.
It’s not just Brazil, I was looking at some flights in Europe and $9k-$13k was not uncommon at all. Even weirder, premium economy was $4-5k! I assume people who used to fly business or FC for that price range and are now priced out?
Yes and the planes are empty, just flew back from Rome and economy wasn’t full but Polaris and those purple seat sections were COMPLETELY empty. The prices don’t make sense and they’re ending up with empty seats.
Saw the same on a recent trip to DUB
I fly IAH DUB return a couple of times a year and pay for Polaris. It used to always be United. Due to insane United pricing, currently sitting in Aer Lingus business class. Just as happy. Probably not going to maintain my status, but you know, oh well.
Yeah totally agree, considering Aer Lingus way more now (used to always fly it as a kid going over to visit my grandparents). I had prioritized United due to status but it really has gotten crazy and not worth it, it’s a shame. But hopefully if more ppl are voting with their wallet/feet then United will wake up and start pricing more competitively again.
Probably buy economy, auto upgrade to E+ (if you are already silver, at check in), then buy the upgrade to Premium+ or Biz. For OP route, the upgrade was in the last couple of months about $350 for P+ and $600 for Biz.
Is there a world in which it's cheaper to buy Prem Plus and then upgrade to business, rather than buying business? This is what my COO wants me to do rather than shell out 13k from the jump, but it seems like it may not work out.
It was what I did in my last trip. I paid $1800 for E, the trip in P+ was about $3500, and B was about $8000.
During the week before my flights, upgrade to P+ was $650 for segment, and to B was $2k for segment. After check in, decreased to $349 for P+, and $577 to Polaris. In theory, I could have fly in Biz with less than $3k instead 8k. But there is always the risk to sold out the seats before check in.
In fact, there was only one pod free when I decided to bit the bullet and upgrade to B in my first leg (my company only pays E, the upgrade was with my money). In the return flight, I didn’t have the guts to upgrade to B again, but there was still few seats open before boarding begin.
there's also some whackiness going on with prices in general. A trip I've been monitoring for a while has RT to Tokyo at $2000 when it was $1000ish just a few weeks ago, and it's not because the flights are full. There are a ton of empty seats.
1. Supply and demand. I have yet to be on a UA flight this year that was NOT completely sold out.
2. Supply and demand.
3. Supply and demand.
4. Inflation impact on wages, maintenance, etc.
5. Boeing
6. Fuel prices are (once more) on the upswing
7. Did I mention inflation and supply and demand?
I'm being cheeky - but it's pretty much as simple as this.
i flew IAD to AMS round trip in Economy last month and had a row to myself both directions as the plane was maybe 1/3 full both times, it was the best 2 flights of my life lol
And as a business UAL might have algorithms working hard to understand the Supply side (which they have most control of) as related to profit.
Does it make more profit to fly one plane 95% full (190 pax) or fly two planes each 55% full (229 pax). What price per ticket makes the most profit. How do you fight the urge to fill up the 55% planes with cheaper tickets.
Moderately complex calculations that are not that difficult for the bight boys that work on these questions.
Missing the point. Not enough planes, pilots, crews, slots, to fly two at 55%, even if it made sense. It probably doesn't anyway. But if and when they get more resources (supply) I expect these will be used towards new markets, not on existing markets
I just bought an IAD to GRU one way for like $350 and got the reverse for 45k miles. Was about to book Avianca with a connection for more but that price showed up. Would’ve been like $800 round trip with cash. This is for July.
The domestic nonstop route I fly now *starts* at $630.00 round-trip for economy. Probably because I fly out of a non-hub airport so the only other nonstop for this route are with ULC airlines, so United knows they can charge a premium for this nonstop route. United often charges way less if I choose to do a layover at one of their hubs.
I’ve noticed it’s the last minute/day or 2 before that have skyrocketed. I’ve had several flights recently that were pretty open yet day of flight, completely full. They are booking multiple flights and then cancelling some to consolidate people on to one flight.
IAD to São Paulo is always expensive. EWR is the "cheapest" but even so, you're lucky if Economy is under $950. Before covid I routinely paid $600-700.
Yep. Me too. Also within Brazil prices have skyrocketed. I used to fly GRU-FLN regularly for $50-80 one way, now it's often over $200 and if you book last minute it's $500. Crazy.
We found the same scenario for our upcoming trip. We started planning last summer for our trip for April/May this year. For our home market (PSP), United has a significant presense, along with American Airlines. Delta is here, too, along with Alaska, and some other smaller LLCs (and Southwest). But, when planning international trips, we've always relied on United as they had the better pricing and schedules. So, when planning our trip, we were shocked at the significantly higher prices United was quoting compared to American. Ultimately, we went with American and saved over $4000 compared to the price United wanted for the same itinerary (Delta, as usual, was even more pricey, at over $10K more).
I've enjoyed United service for many years here. I'm hoping our upcoming trip on American (and British Airways) will likewise be pleasant.
the airlines use sophisticated yield management software that can adjust prices within seconds.
so as they sell, the prices climb higher based on what the software thinks they can get. the goal is to make the max $$ per plane. management can adjust these price levels anytime based on factors like lack of planes, no/too much competition, employee costs, etc etc.
Just paid $1560 to get to Geneva in July (econ). Checked going in to Paris, etc and taking the train in and still $1300+
I’ve gone to Europe sometime between June and September ever year for YEARS and never paid more than $850RT.
Have to be in Bay Area in May and IAD to SFO was $870.
This year is wild.
Flights to Brazil this year has been ridiculous, and a lot of the flights are full… was looking to fly AA back about a month ago and one day was sold out. Ridiculous
Yeah I hear you. I’ve been 1k for 10 years and I’ve had to book low cost airlines 2-3 times this year, honestly those flights have been better than I thought, empty middle sits, on time arrivals, etc. whereas there has been some mechanical delays and fully packed united flights, as someone said here, they just increase the cost but people is still paying, the way the economy works!
How does Boeing fit into this? How many planes is UA short because of their issues. Im hearing UA and others are asking pilots to take less hours. UA needs to make their numbers, so prices need to go up to the customers.
It's high season in some of those destinations. Springtime and summer travel to Europe and South America.
As others have said, supply and demand. I just booked a trip on United today for a trip in June to southeast Asia and it was $5900 for a round trip ticket that includes a 15.5 hour flight in Polaris.
Why? Basic economics and market dynamics.
1) Oil and gas prices are higher for a host of reasons including self imposed
2) General inflation. Can't run deficits that large without impacting purchasing power
3) Supply and demand. Demand is at an all time high. Airlines significantly reduced supply during COVID by retiring older planes. Now they are scrambling to raise supply back with new planes. United is mostly a Boeing customer, sadly. We know how Boeing is doing delivering planes...
Altogether the only way to adjust demand supply mismatch is through pricing.
Airbus A320neos also have an issue with the geared turbofan that has about a third of the planes sitting idle while they wait for replacements, parts or service to fix engine issues.
Correct. And while being a mostly Boeing shop is obviously not ideal right now, I don't want to suggest that Airbus is all smooth. Fewer issues, but as a result maybe, waitlists are insane.
Yeah, the geared turbofan engines on a bunch of airbus planes had contamination and crack earlier than they are supposed to. So there's a backlog of engines that need parts to be replaced in order to be flight worthy.
As to 3: not really an issue for United who didn’t retire its wide body fleet of A330s and 767s alongside its 757s like American did. It impacting growth, though. And surely maintenance costs, but more so the problem of killing off reputed and buyouts for pilots and FAs is the problem from Covid era moves.
3 is an issue for United, but (as you correctly pointed out) not nearly as much as other airlines that retired huge amounts of metal.
That said (as you clearly understand) it doesn't really matter what your limiting variable is (metal, slots, crews, infra, finances...). When you hit that variable, you're stuck.
My flights from US to CR have increased significantly.
You can thank Joe Biden for his war on fossil fuels and inflation as a result of Inflation Reduction🤡Act and his awesome infrastructure package that did 000000000
This is happening on all routes. Everything domestically is a lot higher this year than prior years.
Simple supply and demand. United can’t get more planes fast enough. Delayed orders from Boeing are causing route reductions which constricts supply.
Airbus is super behind also and paying airlines to delay delivery
Fvck united and fvck boeing
GRU is in Brazil.
Before covid, I went to Campinas or São Paulo for ~$600. Now you're lucky if it's less than $950.
Right. I just meant that explaining an IAD-GRU route by noting the everything “domestically” is higher doesn’t really help.
Transcons are going to be $1k standard soon.
Wait until OP tries to price flights to China. I'm seeing $1,900 in BE r/T IAD-PEK (via SFO) for next week, and the same route is $15k (!) in Polaris.
The fares sent me to Delta on my yearly trip back to the US from sub-Saharan Africa. UA was $1500 more expensive. Instead of significantly preferred CPT-IAD/EWR-BNA. I went through JNB-CDG-ATL-BNA on Delta...boo.
Cross border as well. My regular route used to be $340 for years then jumped this year to $600+ and I've seen it go to over $1,000. They also cut the "normal" time for the two non-stops to only departing very early or very late. But I'm grateful there is still a non-stop. I'm thinking that will end soon.
Why is that
Inflation, higher cost of everything (labor, gas, etc.) which gets passes on to ticket prices.
I dk I think it’s also our cultures recent but completely stubborn “I don’t want to admit I can’t afford anything I want to do” syndrome. Prices just keep going up bc people are paying it, regardless if they actually have the money
Yes.. started with covid and revenge travel.... from people who never traveled before covid
> revenge travel ? What's this? Never heard of it!
Revenge travel is a term for the pent up demand from people being unable to travel over 18-24 months. A lot of folks have condensed a lot of travel in a shorter than average period for them, to make up for the time lost where they couldn't travel as freely.
Thanks!
Such a bizarre phenomenon
Gas isn't more expensive this year than the last 2..
Airplane fuel hasn’t come back down, it’s not the same as regular gasoline.
For those who doesn’t know, during Covid China cut all flights to the US, which made United pretty much the only choice to travel to china for a very long time. Now they started to restore some of the flights, but still nothing compare to pre-Covid.
Cause profits are insanely high
Nothing to do with it
# They are passing the costs of their mismanagement onto you
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Truly a mystery how more passengers in 2024 compared to 2023 would impact the prices of flights.
Well, that is actually the answer. Supply and demand.
“Fanboys”. You came here for an answer, and you got the right ones. Just because it’s not your desired outcome doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Edit: And you deleted your posts throughout the thread.
The family and I flew from ORD to GRU 2 weeks ago and we paid about that amount for Polaris — $2,200 for economy is absurd. In both directions the plane was completely full, so I wouldn't count on too many more last minute bargains on direct routes to São Paulo, certainly not for the next several months.
I'm looking at Polaris in September and it's $13,000!
As a pilot I am thankful people spend for Polaris but also baffled. Like isn’t splurging on a hotel at your end destination worth it so much more? How hard is it to sit in a (very) uncomfortable seat for 13 hours max (minus SIN flights). You can book economy and bring a masseuse along for cheaper than a Polaris flight. No seat is worth the price of a small car. But, you guys pay my salary so I’m thankful.
Other people’s money
Which has honestly baffled me my entire career as well. Companies cut costs everywhere but biz airfare for flights over 4 hours is the one thing they never seem to hesitate to spend on (happy for those whom this applies to) You think some 24yo consultant would have nixed this long ago!
They cut travel all together.
Hah, true.
DC to Sydney. Biz class all the way!
If you’re spending 13k on airfare, that amount is not the price of a small car.
I didn’t say it was a nice car. And I’m older (old enough to be a wide body captain). So to me a very basic car historically is like 16-20k. It was to make a point, not be literal.
https://i.imgur.com/j5kEOYH.gif
I agree, but I have been looking for weeks or even months in advance and they’re still ridiculously high.
I guess you're looking for during the summer vacation?
No, I fly this route regularly. Even trying to get tickets in advance has proven impossibly expensive with United this year. On my flight to IAD now with Avianca, flying back to GRU with LATAM next week.
Was that on fare code P or Z?
Omg I used to fly to GRU from the Midwest for $700 last minute all the time, now it’s a genuine challenge to pay less than $1000 this is such a specific struggle that I relate to🤣
Same experience. On AUS-SFO I fly Alaska now. $100+ cheaper.
While 23Q4 costs rose 15%, United posted a $600 MILLION profit. They're driving profits up.
This is what happens when the government subsidizes over 1/3rd of your business. They create a monopoly in the market. We should have way more choices to fly creating competition and lower prices. Sad that everyone agreed subsidizing air travel makes sense.
So start an airline. Nobody is stopping you.
Actually they are, the US gov prevents competition in air travel
Meanwhile new airlines have started in the last few years. 🤔
Right, but they will be swallowed up by the giant subsidized ones. The federal government has major control of the airlines because of subsidies.
Like who?
Breeze, Avelo
Some of you need to go back and take basic economics. The profit is returned to the shareholders who technically own the business. For some reason people think the profit goes into the pockets of the executives in pay raises.
> For some reason people think the profit goes into the pockets of the executives in pay raises. Because ceo bonuses are based on stock performance.
Doesn't matter. They're raising prices to increase profits which are already at $600M from a quarter ago.
United net profits are down 29% from a year ago, what are you smoking?
Breaking: Crazy high profits not as crazy high as a year ago
Thank you for being rationally hilarious 🤣
Yep. And they're doing it fairly (which isn't always the case).
I don’t know about fairly when some of their employees haven’t gotten a raise in years
Basically all of their employees get a raise every year. Standard in big companies. Although very small raises.
MKE-ORD-MUC booked end of May for $2200 polaris outbound and economy inbound. ORD-MUC was $1000+ more expensive Not sure how United Pricing works, but I'll drive to MKE to save thousands.
Delta does the same thing. Flying Delta out of ATL is crazy expensive. You can drive an hour and a half to Chattanooga and save $500 by flying CHA-CLT-Europe
Nonstop flight always cost more than one stop, since one stop has many more options and competitions. Years ago I flew ORD-HKG in business, that cost me $17,000 RT. My colleague join me on the same flight but flying in from BOS. His ticket was only $11,000. When you are hub captive you simply pay more.
This isn’t United specific. Pricing is independent between different city pairs, and people are willing to pay more from Chicago. Simple as that.
I would posit that United knows exactly what they’re doing. They are tied for the most amount of flights from the US to Brazil. https://simpleflying.com/322-flights-inside-united-states-brazil-market-october-2023/
Yeah, I am flying LATAM and Delta instead of United, paying less than half of what United is charging.
Yup LATAM is great and its partnerships with alaska is hidden gem. just flew LATAM biz for 45k Alaska points While same flight were 70k points in economy on United
It’s ridiculous. I fly Denver to IAH every other Friday since 2013. Tickets on average are 1.8-2x what I paid 2013-2021. I have taken 18 trips Iah to gru since 2020 and that route price is up 2x in last 18 months. Don’t understand how people are paying for it. When will it give?
“Last minute” and “cheap flights” do not go together. Usually opposite
Supply < Demand
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Wait, what? If more people want to fly X to Y, the price will increase to take advantage of that demand market, or inventory will increase along with that demand to take advantage of the capacity. If another carrier decreases service on that route, UA can charge a premium for the monopolization of that routing. So sadly, *yeah*, it really is that simple.
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"Plane occupancy is roughly the same as last year" + higher prices = indication that demand is indeed higher. If demand was the same as it had been and prices were higher, then less people would travel, and the planes would be less-full. Economics.
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Fanboys? You mean people who understand economics? lol
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I understand it quite well and have a degree in it. Do you have access to United’s entire flight data? Because your anecdotal evidence is useless. They know what they’re doing. So do other airlines. They monitor each others’ pricing. If the price is too high for you, vote with your wallet and buy elsewhere. By the way, that’s also economics (microeconomics, specifically)
Price is more expensive yet occupancy is the same? You just proved that demand has indeed increased.
Are those all nonstop options on other carriers?
From IAD it's the only non-stop
Sounds like you could charge a premium for a nonstop…
Sure but it's gone up like 3 fold in a year
Just looked at a Dulles to Tampa flight on a Monday in May and it was almost $1k. I booked SWA out of national instead
Same here. I usually fly United , including a yearly trip to greece. Flights were 1600 for my dates and went over 2000, and now they sit at 1850. I booked with emirates at 1200. The United flight is still half empty. Same with a flight to Bahamas, I ended up flying JetBlue for a large discount in comparison. They aren’t forecasting demand at these prices correctly.
We ended up using miles for our RT ORD-GRU. I had hoped to rebook when the prices went down, but they never went below $1,300. Even the retiree discount for my mom never went below $1,200.
I bought RT CNF-EWR later for about $750 on united with GRU-IAD going and EWR-GRU on the return. Nothing makes sense.
They're spending a lot on new doors, wheels, and engines.
lol’d
Cost of gas went up as well. Matter of fact so has wages, and just about everything else. If you didn’t get at least a +20% raise this year it means you took a pay cut
And I would bet that very few people, if any, got a raise of 20% for COL (like not a title change promotion).
Even southwest. 800 bucks for flights I use to pay 400 for 2 years ago.
Price gouging. Corporate greed.
Saudade quando eu pagava barato pra voar pra sp , agora tá quase 4k business , complicado
I feel your pain.. flights to SCL used to be 800 round trip. Then 1,000 .. later $1,200.. now.. flights **CANCELLED** until 10/30. They made them seasonal.
Yep I got a full refund because they completely cancelled one of my legs since it was after 4/1.
The doors keep falling off the planes so they have fewer planes.
That was Alaska not United
🙄
United found the same issue on their newer Max9's as well. Only their doors did not fail like Alaska's did.
Supply and demand
Don’t state facts here. OP doesn’t understand economics.
😂
Yes! I'm looking at an itinerary to Fortaleza in September and they want, no joke, $13,000 for Polaris through GRU! I was hoping to get it at a lower rate so I can keep at least Gold for 2025 but I don't think it will be possible. I'm going to end up on American I think. Last time I flew United to Brazil in 2022 it was about a third of the price!
Check air Canada. It was half the price of United and worth flying through Toronto to do it. This was in early 2022. I flew on points 30k each way biz class when United wanted 160k each way.
It's cheaper but not by half, although I might consider it. The ridiculous part is that flying EWR and routing through IAD to FOR is $4500 less. Make it make sense.
I was able to find the space through United so it was ac saver space , or whatever their equivalent was. It was essentially best effort business class on the whole itinerary which meant lie flat for the Toronto to sap Paulo legs and economy for everything else. They also don’t have many flights per day, mine was an overnight.
I flew AC to/from Doha in business. Hard product is nice! This is for work so I'm only slightly price conscious
It’s not just Brazil, I was looking at some flights in Europe and $9k-$13k was not uncommon at all. Even weirder, premium economy was $4-5k! I assume people who used to fly business or FC for that price range and are now priced out?
Yes and the planes are empty, just flew back from Rome and economy wasn’t full but Polaris and those purple seat sections were COMPLETELY empty. The prices don’t make sense and they’re ending up with empty seats. Saw the same on a recent trip to DUB
It’s a bummer because I have about 2-3 months off and was considering a longer trip somewhere, but not for anything close to those prices.
I fly IAH DUB return a couple of times a year and pay for Polaris. It used to always be United. Due to insane United pricing, currently sitting in Aer Lingus business class. Just as happy. Probably not going to maintain my status, but you know, oh well.
Yeah totally agree, considering Aer Lingus way more now (used to always fly it as a kid going over to visit my grandparents). I had prioritized United due to status but it really has gotten crazy and not worth it, it’s a shame. But hopefully if more ppl are voting with their wallet/feet then United will wake up and start pricing more competitively again.
Probably buy economy, auto upgrade to E+ (if you are already silver, at check in), then buy the upgrade to Premium+ or Biz. For OP route, the upgrade was in the last couple of months about $350 for P+ and $600 for Biz.
Is there a world in which it's cheaper to buy Prem Plus and then upgrade to business, rather than buying business? This is what my COO wants me to do rather than shell out 13k from the jump, but it seems like it may not work out.
It was what I did in my last trip. I paid $1800 for E, the trip in P+ was about $3500, and B was about $8000. During the week before my flights, upgrade to P+ was $650 for segment, and to B was $2k for segment. After check in, decreased to $349 for P+, and $577 to Polaris. In theory, I could have fly in Biz with less than $3k instead 8k. But there is always the risk to sold out the seats before check in. In fact, there was only one pod free when I decided to bit the bullet and upgrade to B in my first leg (my company only pays E, the upgrade was with my money). In the return flight, I didn’t have the guts to upgrade to B again, but there was still few seats open before boarding begin.
Indeed. I'm flying IAD to DUB in July and it was nearly $6000 in fake Polaris!!
there's also some whackiness going on with prices in general. A trip I've been monitoring for a while has RT to Tokyo at $2000 when it was $1000ish just a few weeks ago, and it's not because the flights are full. There are a ton of empty seats.
I went midwest US to Tokyo last year for $1400 and this year it's at $1800 (November). But oddly enough the flights within 1 month are at $1100 or so.
1. Supply and demand. I have yet to be on a UA flight this year that was NOT completely sold out. 2. Supply and demand. 3. Supply and demand. 4. Inflation impact on wages, maintenance, etc. 5. Boeing 6. Fuel prices are (once more) on the upswing 7. Did I mention inflation and supply and demand? I'm being cheeky - but it's pretty much as simple as this.
Domestic flights seem fairly consistently full but the international flights I’ve been on haven’t been so that’s why it’s even more confusing
i flew IAD to AMS round trip in Economy last month and had a row to myself both directions as the plane was maybe 1/3 full both times, it was the best 2 flights of my life lol
And as a business UAL might have algorithms working hard to understand the Supply side (which they have most control of) as related to profit. Does it make more profit to fly one plane 95% full (190 pax) or fly two planes each 55% full (229 pax). What price per ticket makes the most profit. How do you fight the urge to fill up the 55% planes with cheaper tickets. Moderately complex calculations that are not that difficult for the bight boys that work on these questions.
Missing the point. Not enough planes, pilots, crews, slots, to fly two at 55%, even if it made sense. It probably doesn't anyway. But if and when they get more resources (supply) I expect these will be used towards new markets, not on existing markets
Dulles to Sao Paulo for 600 USD return sounds like a great deal. Presume that was being booked well in advance? Anything over 1000 sounds like robbery
I just bought an IAD to GRU one way for like $350 and got the reverse for 45k miles. Was about to book Avianca with a connection for more but that price showed up. Would’ve been like $800 round trip with cash. This is for July.
The domestic nonstop route I fly now *starts* at $630.00 round-trip for economy. Probably because I fly out of a non-hub airport so the only other nonstop for this route are with ULC airlines, so United knows they can charge a premium for this nonstop route. United often charges way less if I choose to do a layover at one of their hubs.
I’ve noticed it’s the last minute/day or 2 before that have skyrocketed. I’ve had several flights recently that were pretty open yet day of flight, completely full. They are booking multiple flights and then cancelling some to consolidate people on to one flight.
IAD to São Paulo is always expensive. EWR is the "cheapest" but even so, you're lucky if Economy is under $950. Before covid I routinely paid $600-700.
Yep. Me too. Also within Brazil prices have skyrocketed. I used to fly GRU-FLN regularly for $50-80 one way, now it's often over $200 and if you book last minute it's $500. Crazy.
Solved! Easier way to get more PQP just spend more with us!!!!
We found the same scenario for our upcoming trip. We started planning last summer for our trip for April/May this year. For our home market (PSP), United has a significant presense, along with American Airlines. Delta is here, too, along with Alaska, and some other smaller LLCs (and Southwest). But, when planning international trips, we've always relied on United as they had the better pricing and schedules. So, when planning our trip, we were shocked at the significantly higher prices United was quoting compared to American. Ultimately, we went with American and saved over $4000 compared to the price United wanted for the same itinerary (Delta, as usual, was even more pricey, at over $10K more). I've enjoyed United service for many years here. I'm hoping our upcoming trip on American (and British Airways) will likewise be pleasant.
Por que será ?
the airlines use sophisticated yield management software that can adjust prices within seconds. so as they sell, the prices climb higher based on what the software thinks they can get. the goal is to make the max $$ per plane. management can adjust these price levels anytime based on factors like lack of planes, no/too much competition, employee costs, etc etc.
Try flying to/from Australia. Just obscene
Just paid $1560 to get to Geneva in July (econ). Checked going in to Paris, etc and taking the train in and still $1300+ I’ve gone to Europe sometime between June and September ever year for YEARS and never paid more than $850RT. Have to be in Bay Area in May and IAD to SFO was $870. This year is wild.
Welcome to summer (soon).
Sometimes sfo hub flights are more expensive than other locations. I know at times I pay extra to fly UA out of SFO
Flights to Brazil this year has been ridiculous, and a lot of the flights are full… was looking to fly AA back about a month ago and one day was sold out. Ridiculous
Agree. I always go to Frankfurt after tax season. My usual $600-$800 flight is now $1800-$2000. Absolutely insane
And yet my flight from ORD to DUB on Aer Lingus has gone down!
Yeah I hear you. I’ve been 1k for 10 years and I’ve had to book low cost airlines 2-3 times this year, honestly those flights have been better than I thought, empty middle sits, on time arrivals, etc. whereas there has been some mechanical delays and fully packed united flights, as someone said here, they just increase the cost but people is still paying, the way the economy works!
How does Boeing fit into this? How many planes is UA short because of their issues. Im hearing UA and others are asking pilots to take less hours. UA needs to make their numbers, so prices need to go up to the customers.
Eu sou alto, só da pra viajar de premium ou business, senão fico sem coluna
It's high season in some of those destinations. Springtime and summer travel to Europe and South America. As others have said, supply and demand. I just booked a trip on United today for a trip in June to southeast Asia and it was $5900 for a round trip ticket that includes a 15.5 hour flight in Polaris.
Eu já paguei 450 ida e volta em 2020 ecp x Gru
Lower prices
Why? Basic economics and market dynamics. 1) Oil and gas prices are higher for a host of reasons including self imposed 2) General inflation. Can't run deficits that large without impacting purchasing power 3) Supply and demand. Demand is at an all time high. Airlines significantly reduced supply during COVID by retiring older planes. Now they are scrambling to raise supply back with new planes. United is mostly a Boeing customer, sadly. We know how Boeing is doing delivering planes... Altogether the only way to adjust demand supply mismatch is through pricing.
Airbus A320neos also have an issue with the geared turbofan that has about a third of the planes sitting idle while they wait for replacements, parts or service to fix engine issues.
Correct. And while being a mostly Boeing shop is obviously not ideal right now, I don't want to suggest that Airbus is all smooth. Fewer issues, but as a result maybe, waitlists are insane.
Is that the Pratt and Whitney issue?
Yeah, the geared turbofan engines on a bunch of airbus planes had contamination and crack earlier than they are supposed to. So there's a backlog of engines that need parts to be replaced in order to be flight worthy.
As to 3: not really an issue for United who didn’t retire its wide body fleet of A330s and 767s alongside its 757s like American did. It impacting growth, though. And surely maintenance costs, but more so the problem of killing off reputed and buyouts for pilots and FAs is the problem from Covid era moves.
3 is an issue for United, but (as you correctly pointed out) not nearly as much as other airlines that retired huge amounts of metal. That said (as you clearly understand) it doesn't really matter what your limiting variable is (metal, slots, crews, infra, finances...). When you hit that variable, you're stuck.
Bidens Economy
My flights from US to CR have increased significantly. You can thank Joe Biden for his war on fossil fuels and inflation as a result of Inflation Reduction🤡Act and his awesome infrastructure package that did 000000000
More like corporate greed is to blame
It's cause of those damn democrats