While the concept of basic economy has now been around for well over a decade in the United States, we’ve known that airlines here are planning to expand that concept to premium cabin tickets. Executives at the “big three” US carriers — particularly Delta and United — have been clear about their intentions to roll this out ASAP.
Earlier this month, United announced plans to introduce tiered fares across cabins, and that includes the introduction of “basic” premium cabin tickets. I’d like to provide an update, as these tickets are now on sale, and they’re arguably even more restrictive than we first assumed, in terms of implications for MileagePlus members.
United wants to segment business class revenue more
United has introduced a new tiered fare structure, which is described as making it easier for customers to find the flight experience that best matches their preferences.
As part of this, the airline is offering three fare options — basic, standard, and flexible — in premium cabins for many flights, including long haul international, transcontinental, and select Hawaii flights. This change is now live in select markets, and will expand to additional markets throughout the year.
So, what new restrictions come with these basic fares? Travelers booking the basic fares in Polaris business class:
- Have to pay to select seats (compared to them being included)
- Get one free checked bag (compared to two free checked bags)
- Receive United Club access, but not United Polaris Lounge access
- Are not eligible for changes or refunds (standard fares allow changes, while flexible fares allow refunds)
- Earn MileagePlus miles at a reduced rate, similar to basic economy; without a co-branded credit card, members earn 0-6x miles per dollar spent based on their status, while with a card, members earn 3-9x miles per dollar spent
- Don’t earn any Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs), but do earn Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs), so these fares only count toward one metric of status
- Are not eligible for paid upgrades to the United Polaris Studio
The restrictions are similar for basic Premium Plus premium economy tickets. You have to pay to select seats, have a more limited checked bag allowance, aren’t able to upgrade, tickets aren’t as flexible, and mileage accrual and elite status qualification are limited.
United claims that for now, MileagePlus and partner award tickets will continue to book into non-basic fare classes, so will still come with full perks. However, I have to imagine that it’s only a matter of time before United also introduces similarly tiered award tickets.
I suspect that before the end of 2026, we’ll see these basic premium cabin fares at all major US carriers. This announcement came just shortly after United completely changed how it awards miles for flying, as it’s now all about whether you have a United credit card or not.
It’s also interesting (and perhaps logical) to note that Polaris Lounge access is on the chopping block. United recently announced that the forward cabin on premium transcontinental flights will soon be marketed as Polaris, meaning those passengers will finally get Polaris Lounge access. One wondered how crowding would be handled in light of that, and I guess these basic fares are one way to address that.
Will customers benefit from basic business class fares?
Over time, we’ve seen the concept of basic economy become pretty widespread, whereby the cheapest economy fares include the fewest perks. The purpose of this is twofold — to expand a carrier’s potential customer base, and to get existing customers to “buy up” to a higher fare, in order to avoid punitive restrictions.
The concept of basic business class is similar. These basic fares are always framed as being good for customers, and giving them more choice, and allowing them to only pay for the services that they want. But make no mistake, that’s not actually how the implementation of these fares typically works.
I wouldn’t expect basic business class fares to be materially cheaper than previous standard business class fares. Instead, I suspect that more often than not, the previous cheapest fares are just being made the new basic fares, in an effort to get people to buy up to more expensive fares. I wouldn’t consider that to be good for consumers.
At the same time, I’m not surprised to see the trend. Premium leisure demand is strong, while business travel hasn’t fully recovered. Leisure travelers are often willing to pay a lot for business class, but they’re typically not willing to pay $10K+, as some corporate customers previously may have. So it’s not surprising to see airlines using whatever strategies they can to get people to part with more of their money when flying business class.
The thing to keep in mind is that adding basic business class fares in long haul markets requires a bit more coordination, given the joint ventures that the major airlines belong to, which create metal neutrality. So I’d expect to find these fares across Star Alliance transatlantic joint venture partners in the near future, given how these kinds of flights are sold. It’s not surprising I guess that Lufthansa also recently rolled out basic business class fares.
It is still kind of wild to me that one could book a $4K+ business class ticket, and not have it count as a qualifying flight (PQF) toward status, while a $100 short haul economy ticket would count as a qualifying flight.
Bottom line
For quite some time, United executives have been hinting that the introduction of basic premium cabin fares would be imminent. This is now official — United is introducing new fare categories across cabins, and the idea is that we’re going to also see basic premium cabin fares. These are now on sale, and will be expanding to more markets over time.
In the case of the new United Polaris business class basic fares, they only allow seat assignments for a fee, have a reduced checked bag allowance, don’t allow changes or refunds, limit mileage earning and status qualification, and only allow United Club access, rather than United Polaris Lounge access.
Make no mistake, this is a way to generate more revenue, and I’d view this as being a fare increase if you want the same as before, rather than some amazing new discount opportunity for premium cabin tickets. Expect Delta and American to also match in the very near future.
What do you make of United introducing a basic Polaris business class product?
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