United to Upgrade Amenities on Cross-Country Flights
United Airlines is reintroducing an amenity to its Los Angeles-to-New York flights: comfort.
The carrier plans to announce today that it’s upgrading first-class and business-class cabins on the nonstop flights to provide roomier seats, better food and more in-flight entertainment. First-class also will have lie-flat seats for sleeping, just like on international flights. And there will be far fewer seats back in economy, giving low-fare fliers more leg and elbow room.
The changes will be phased in, starting Oct. 18, on United’s seven daily flights between Los Angeles International Airport and Kennedy International Airport in New York. The six daily flights between San Francisco and New York will be upgraded between late December and late February.
The hope is that the beefed-up service will attract more high-profit passengers at a time when United and its parent, UAL Corp., are trying to emerge from bankruptcy proceedings. Beyond that, United needs a fresh tactic to combat rivals in coast-to-coast service, where discount carriers like JetBlue Airways, AirTran Airways and America West Airlines, have entered the market and triggered fare wars.
“We’re going to focus on these cities and our most valued customers and give them a product that’s significantly better than we offer today,” said John Tague, United’s executive vice president for marketing.
Like most of the traditional airlines, United is enjoying strong passenger traffic this year but still struggling to turn a profit, in good part because average fares for leisure and business travel have plummeted.
There’s also a relatively new attitude on the part of many business fliers who are no longer willing, or permitted by their bosses, to pay steep fares. They are copying leisure travelers by using the Internet and booking in advance to snare the cheapest seats.
But a key segment of business passengers is still willing to pay extra for a premium seat, especially on coast-to-coast flights, said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group for corporate fliers.
“If there’s any market where you need to differentiate yourself, it’s the transcontinental market,” he said. “There has been such a price war there that customer service ... is going to be the next battle ground.”
United, based in Elk Grove Township, Ill., and American Airlines, owned by AMR Corp., once dominated the transcontinental market. In the last two years, some important high-fare customers -- significantly, clients in the entertainment industry -- have defected from United, according to sources familiar with United’s operations.
Tague wouldn’t say how much United would spend on the upgrade program but contended it wouldn’t drain the carrier’s depleted coffers. Last week, United angered its unions with plans to stop making payments to its employee pension funds while it remained in bankruptcy proceedings, saying it needed to conserve cash.
United’s plan calls for replacing the 168-seat, double-aisle Boeing 767s it currently flies on the transcontinental routes with narrower Boeing 757s that have 110 seats and a single aisle. Premium customers will be given a wider choice of meals, specialty wines and standard electrical outlets for their computers and hand-held DVD players.
Ticket prices won’t rise, United said. Current round-trip fares between LAX and JFK, assuming a seven-day advance purchase, are $363 for economy, $1,016 for business class and $4,448 for first class.
