During last month’s quarterly earnings call, United executives postponed all strategy discussions until Investor Day (“Oscar Munoz Has a Plan, But It’s a Secret Plan“).
Today is Investor Day and United has announced details of their Basic Economy product. In June United estimated Basic Economy would increase revenue by $150 million by 2018.
When American Airlines introduced SuperSaver fares nearly 40 years ago they realized they could compete against low fare airlines by operating their own low fare airline on the same planes they were using to offer a full fare airline. Basic Economy fares take this segmentation to the next level, not just charging a different price for the same seat in economy but giving customers less who pay less.
Delta pioneered these fares in markets where they competed against ultra low cost carriers like Spirit. They would offer the same prices as Spirit, but give customers a reason to spend more than the lowest price to get the full product. It eventually spread beyond these markets and became a segmentation tool.
Basic Economy Means Charging More For Things that Are Currently Included in Ticket Price
The airline thinks customers will pay more things that they get as part of their fare today. So this isn’t a win for customers.
- This isn’t about offering you lower fares. United has already largely been matching the low fares in the market.
- Basic economy is a way of moving some passengers who buy those fares today to buy more expensive fares instead.
The entire point is to charge you more money than they do today to give you the same things. There’s nothing wrong with a business trying to do that (although most successful businesses try to drive more and more value to customers at the same price). But make no mistake, since it’s often confused in reporting around these types of fares: basic economy isn’t about lowering fares.
United Will Begin Selling These Fares in January — and Will Be Very Clear to Customers When They Do
They’re going to be very clear about the product they’re selling. They’ve had the opportunity to watch Delta’s roll out, and the challenges faced (and overcome) with third parties like online travel agencies who weren’t always clear with customers at the outset about the limitations of the fares they were buying.
And United is going to be as clear as Delta about what it means (in fact if anything Delta has been criticized for being too clear with customers).
United will begin selling basic economy fares in January for flights beginning in the second quarter. At that time it will apply to domestic flights (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and short haul Latin America markets. Basic Economy fares won’t be combinable with other fare types on the same ticket.
American Airlines also plans to roll out Basic Economy fares in January but hasn’t yet announced what limitations they’ll be placing on those fares. However considering that United delayed Basic Economy to change details of what it would(n’t) offer after hiring American’s President as its President, United’s announcement could serve as a clue about what American has been planning.
What United’s Basic Economy Takes Away
These fares take away more than Delta’s Basic Economy fares. United’s Basic Economy fares will mean:
- No seat assignments prior to check-in, and no changes to the seat you’re given
- No ticket changes at all (instead of a $200 change fee, you’d simply forfeit the entire value of a ticket and have to buy a new one)
- No elite status credit (no qualifying dollars, segments, or miles) although you’ll still earn redeemable miles on these fares.
- Bring a personal item onboard only, no carry-on bags (this is waived for elites including Star Alliance Gold members and for co-brand credit card holders)
- No elite upgrades
- No economy plus seating for elites (and no buy up to economy plus for anyone). Elites will effectively has to start paying for economy plus, on routes where Basic Economy fares are being offered, in the form of a higher fare.
To be clear, customers traveling on Basic Economy fares will not be charged to use the lavatory, though people have complained that seemed to the direction airlines are headed for the past 30 years:
How the Ban on Carry-On Bags Will Work
The ban on full size bags for customers traveling on Basic Economy fares is perhaps the most interesting innovation here. Charging for carry-ons until now has been the province of ultra low cost carriers like Spirit.
United is going to push customers with Basic Economy tickets into boarding group 5. Gate agents are being trained that boarding group 5 does not get a full size carry-on bag. They are limited to a personal item only. And agents will have mobile payment systems so they can process any full size carry-on bags as checked bags. (There will be a ‘handling fee’ – amount not yet announced – for Basic Economy customers who get their bags checked at the gate on top of the normal checked bag fee.)
Since this is being handled based on boarding group, everyone with priority boarding — elites, including Star Alliance partner elites, and co-brand credit card holders — will be exempted.
Apparently when gate agents announce that a full flight means there’s no enough overhead space to go around, and that customers at the gate can check bags for free, this will not apply to basic economy customers.
It will be interesting to see this play out at the gate, especially with Basic Economy passengers boarding with a companion that has a lower boarding group and with elite members who are boarding close to departure once Group 5 has been called.
How Much It Will Cost to Avoid Basic Economy
United’s announcement doesn’t discuss pricing, but we can get some idea from Delta about what to expect.
A Detroit – Los Angeles roundtrip in February costs $60 more to avoid Basic Economy fares.
An Atlanta – Orlando roundtrip in February costs $15 more to avoid Basic Economy fares.
United will no doubt be pricing things wrong at the outset, and they’ll adjust both up and down as they figure out what the market will bear. They will want to sell Basic Economy customers to those that are driven purely by price, while charging as much as possible to customers that will pay a premium to avoid the restrictions that come with those fares.
Airlines Have Been Trying to Squeeze Low Fare Customers for 30 Years
Trying to figure out how to give more to high fare customers, and take things away from low fare customers isn’t new. For instance,
- United began making changes to its frequent flyer program in 1987 claiming to be trying to better reward its customers who spend more.
- 13 years ago US Airways tried to eliminate elite qualifying miles on everything but full fare tickets and their marketing head (who later became the CEO of Spirit Airlines) said at the time,
“Someone who flies a lot isn’t necessarily loyal if what they’re doing is buying the lowest-priced ticket every time they fly,” Ben Baldanza, the airline’s chief marketing executive, said at the time. “That’s not necessarily the kind of loyalty we want to reward. We want to reward those people who pay a premium for the services we offer.”
Will The Focus on Price Over Loyalty Push Loyal Customers to Buy on Price?
Delta says Basic Economy fares earn them an incremental $20 million a quarter. United is taking away even more from Basic Economy fares, and thinks they’ll earn nearly twice as much in 2018.
The risk here for United in taking away elite benefits as part of these fares — and their bet is that elites are willing to pay more to keep their benefits — is that telling your most valuable customers that they are only valuable on certain days when buying certain fares rather than every time they step onto one of your planes undercuts the very notion of loyalty.
Loyal customers buy a ticket from an airline even when they’re more expensive than the competition — indeed, they often don’t shop around at all.
And business travelers are leisure travelers, buying flexible fares for work and the cheapest fares United chooses to offer for vacation trips with the family.
United may be right that these passengers will pay more if they didn’t get elite benefits like upgrades on the lowest fares. Of course they might be willing to pay more to another airline, or at least consider another airline — especially when ‘buy ups’ to first class are sold aggressively and inexpensively.
Airlines have succeeded in turning commodity products into differentiated products, instilling a brand preference into the customers who spend the most and most frequently. They’ve succeeded in making lucrative customers relatively price insensitive. Many United elite customers choose the airline now regardless of price. They’ll lose some of those customers when they make price the most important factor in their buying decision again. The question — and whether United succeeds in generating anything close to $150 million a year in incremental revenue, fairly accounted for — is how many customers they lose.
When they report the performance of Basic Economy, they’re unlikely to report or event factor these losses.
On a few recent flights of over 3 hr, the FAs served the snacks and refreshments within minutes of us reaching altitude and it seemed like they came around again minutes after they finished for another round. The rest of the flights were beverage free. Are they required by the airline to serve refreshments once, twice or three times depending upon flight duration? And is there no rule as to how much time in between? It seemed to me that they wanted to get it over with and stay in the back. Saw them carrying a few trays from first class. Just curious as to how that works.
This will fail. Airlines are just trying to create chaos at check-in, putting their front line ticket agents, gate agents, and cabin crew at risk, delaying fliers.
“No elite status credit”—–it is to laugh, who are making these decisions? Very rotten people, I can see them with their disgusting smartphone in their faces. SAD!
I predict outright physical altercations at the gate when folks are told they cannot bring full sized carry ons. I am also left to wonder if OTA’s will ever list various classes of economy class fares.
I’ve spent more time flying Southwest ever since UA changed in March 2012. SW isn’t as bad as you think (if you’ve never flown them, give them a try). Since most upgrades for this UA Million Miler don’t exist anymore, it’s a level playing field (almost).
Time to buy stock in the LCC’s (low cost carriers).
dh
“Will The Focus on Price Over Loyalty Push Loyal Customers to Buy on Price?”
I think this has been the general trend anyway. With AA no joining the evil empire by focusing on EQDs, all three major US carriers are begging loyal (i.e. elite) customers to become free agents and exclusively buy on price. Concepts like Basic Economy will only further reinforce that process. It’s almost like they’re trying to kill their FF programs (and they’re doing a good job of it).
I wonder what the employee unions think of this. The Ops Agent’s job just got a whole lot more stressful. Arguing with customers about carry-on sizes and trying to collect fees during the late stages of boarding while trying to get the plane out on time? It sounds impossible. United must figure that it’s OK if there’s chaos at the gate as long as the high-value Groups 1-4 are safely our of earshot.
I don’t know, I can see chaos at times with the whole Group 5 Basic no-carryon setup. Despite being clear in booking, I still imagine a fair number of infrequent flyers, elderly, etc. ending up buying a Basic economy ticket and not paying attention, only to end up arguing at the gate. Or even pax who aren’t arguing, it will take some amount of time to scan and charge each pax with a carry-on…not a huge amount of time but it adds up.
Why am I not confident that UA’s system would never add a non-Basic pax to Group 5? Especially during irrops, or a rebooking from another carrier, or whatever the reason might be.
I think a fair amount of people, at least anecdotally, are already focusing more on price than “loyalty”. I sure am. I’d still not buy a Basic fare because I don’t want to hassle with no carryon, no advance seat selection, etc. but it wouldn’t be because I’m trying to gain/maintain status.
What makes these guys think they can execute this 2-3x better than Delta? Is that extra revenue really worth the chaos and bad will this could generate? I think this will be adjusted sooner than later once it’s rolled out.
This is an ingenious way to make checking bags great again. Basic economy customers will either have to travel without a bag, or their next cheapest option would be to check it. I doubt these price-sensitive customers would pay a premium to carry-on.
This will ration the overheard space to the highest bidder, give the airlines extra revenue streams, and may even help with on-time performance.
The price vs loyalty equation already exists. I have in mind a price premium I’m willing to pay to fly UA in different scenarios. All that will happen is that the price of loyalty will change. It might even go down as I simply buy what I want from whom I want but the exact change will depend upon a number of factors.
To me this is a logical step – regrettable but inevitable. I’m one of the lucky ones who has enjoyed outsize benefits over the years from my UA loyalty and I recognize that this is coming to an end.
This (fares with fewer services and higher airline revenues and profits) must be some of the benefits consumers are reaping due to increased competition from airline mergers that the folks at Univ. of Chi. are raving about.
I sure wish that I hadn’t just spent $600 buying a United Club membership or upgrading to Economy Plus to increase spend and earn higher status by end of year. My corporate travel policy will force me to select these Basic Economy fares where I won’t be eligible for upgrades. I won’t have the option of purchasing higher level economy if I fly United, so I will start over with a new airline. Not having a carryon, not being able to upgrade seats (on my own dime) over the lowest fare option that my company makes me purchase, makes United unflyable for me. I HATE checking bags- it isn’t a price issue. It’s a deal breaker for me. I take an average of 4 flights per week, 25,000 miles in last 3 months- exclusively United. They just lost a loyal customer.
P.S. The only “increased competition” I see is competition about which airline can squeeze the consumer the most.
I am so glad that I have flat out stopped flying United Airlines.
Looks like what British Airways has done with their HBO fares (now called Basic) – status pax don’t get free seat selection and don’t get checked luggage for free. Paying £15-30 extra gives you back all the perks – essentially forcing status pax into booking higher / more expensive fares. The upside is the now “Plus fare” has “free same day flight changes up to 1h before departure” which can be useful on routes with many flights.
I have to say that Southwest is looking more and more like a premium product relative to competitors. Southwest has reduced seat pitch but otherwise it has held still while other airlines have continued to devalue their offerings.
Southwest’s fares are no longer the lowest, but their value is still at or near the highest in the industry. Changes like this one are bound to help Southwest.
Fascinating stuff. The legacy frequent flyer programs are already almost as complicated as the tax code. And now the boarding process is going to get ridiculously complicated? I’m not sure this is a good idea, even though I understand the business rationale for it.
Honestly, I think UA would do better just allowing economy minus pax to get normal on-board baggage allowance. Sometimes simplicity is worth more than an additional, theoretical profit.
BTW, for your blog readers, this increases the benefit of flying on award tickets instead of revenue tickets.
“Will The Focus on Price Over Loyalty Push Loyal Customers to Buy on Price?” For me, loyalty is almost forced as AA represents 70% of flights out of my local airport. I don’t think the airlines care about loyalty anymore because, with the lack of competition, loyalty doesn’t matter. If I want a direct flight out of my local airport, then in the vast majority of instances I have to fly AA regardless of how badly they squeeze us.
Do we expect that no elite miles will be rewarded even to other *A programs on these fares (e.g. Singapore)?
Incidentally, despite being a 1MM and 1K, I hardly ever fly United these days unless I’m on an award ticket. I earn significantly more United redeemable miles on Air Canada and other *A carriers. Next year I will switch to earning *gold on Singapore and stop crediting to United all together. Strange world we live in where your long time loyalty airline is the one you have not a single incentive to fly.
I’m pretty sure you can thank Scott Kirby for the gem on the carry-on restrictions. That’s something he kept talking about a lot at American…
I’ve been a “loyal” UA customer for well over 15 years.
That status just ended after reading this article
I could see bargain customers assigned to group 5 taking advantage of the “preboarding option” so they can board before first class along with their luggage.
This is another instance in which, instead of educating themselves and then the masses about a change, travel bloggers simply contribute to the chaos!
I still have in my wallet a small piece of a green tag that was used to tag my carry-on bag because it was too big to fit in the overhead compartment of a CRJ going from LGA to IAD. It this new? Hardly, and neither will be this new requirement to check in carry-ons on full or smallish planes because it’s always been there.
If you have not flown on Oscar Munoz’s United, then you really should before pontificating because he’s turned the airline around.
@pete marsden thought it strange that onboard service started too soon after take off. Well, get used to it because that is Oscar’s United, where 1Ks sitting in the back are sought out and offered free meals on domestic flights. I was on a LH flight from MUC to FCO (1hr) yesterday on which service was just as prompt and it had nothing to do with FA’s wanting to be done so that they could sit down. German FAs don’t do that and neither do Oscar’s FAs!
Oh, and get this. Yesterday, I used miles + cash to upgrade a non-GPUable Y ticket (free to me) to UA BF from IAD to FRA. Then when I went to use the UA Club lounge at C7 at IAD, the door agent looked at my BP, scribbled S/D on it and sent me instead to use UA’s exclusive GlobalFirst lounge at C3 from where my flight would depart. “Just tell’em David sent you”, he said. That’s Munoz’s UA!
People who are cynical all the time can miss out on the best that life has to offer…I ought to know because I am sending this from my automatic DOUBLE suite upgrade to a Corner Suite at the iconic Rome Cavalieri, with full Imperial Floor benefits (e.g., free full breakfast at a WA!), which would not have happened if I’d listened to bloggers about how “weak” HHonors is as a loyalty program!
Haven’t yet flown on Oscar Munoz’s United? Do it!
F* United. I only fly them on SQ Awards, usually in F.
Interesting. Now the question is, will they choose to start boarding 45 minutes prior to departure or earlier, or will their on-time performance just start to look terrible? Either way a big inconvenience to customers.
I’m curious how they’ll make all these extra charges VERY clear to customers before arriving at the gate. It will be a customer support nightmare to not only charge a checked baggage fee but also to tack on an extra charge for doing it at the gate. Will UA now have an extra gate agent to handle the mass of bags? And the majority of pax are not up to speed on all the different fare classes and what they mean, Basic Economy won’t mean anything to many people who look solely at price. The first time I looked at a flight for my parents on Delta I just didn’t even notice that the cheap ticket was Basic Economy…luckily my parents like to buy up to C+ seating which was not possible from the Basic E seat.
UA is going to have to figure out how to manage the gate ops on this…I think they can successfully implement the Basic fares but the gate headaches will be huge.
Much to comment on here but the first thing is that the no full size carry on thing is an awful burden on a gate agent that late in boarding. We will see how it works in practice.
Interesting. This is basically a stealth charge for advance seat assignment, E+ and carry-on bags that will be assessed on everyone, including elites. Not to mention it is yet another way that airlines will try to discourage price comparison on third-party websites as it will be difficult to provide a fare comparison chart for fares that fall between “basic” and C/F (since they may differ).
For once I think the blog headline understates the issue – this is a huge takeaway and perhaps even a “gutting” of elite benefits. Will be great to watch the airport reaction of the GS flyers who buy these fares.
It would be smart for UA to offer some sort of modest “buy up” for elites from the economy minus fares. Like I’m a 1K. It sounds like if I buy an economy minus ticket, I still get a free carry-on and priority boarding. But I don’t get economy plus seating, or even the ability to pick out a seat more than 24-hours in advance (I don’t really care about the loss of an upgrade, because I assume I won’t get it anyway).
The problem for UA is that if you don’t give me all these perks, I have no real reason to fly UA over the low fare competitor. I certainly won’t go out of my way to do so. If you gave me all my perks for, say, 10 bucks more, I’d be happy enough. The problem is that paying the next highest publish fare will almost never make sense for the modest additional perks of economy plus.
As bad as this is… Is it even worse?
How does this affect award travel? Will SuperSaver Awards=Basic Economy? What about using partner points towards United flights?
Curious how this will affect the value of award travel.
How are they gonna define personal item? I usually carry a backpack that I stick under the seat in front of me. I’ve seen “personal items” like purses big enough to make Santa Claus jealous. I don’t have issue with buying a cheaper fare. But, if they’re gonna be sticklers and not let me carry on a backpack without paying for it, well…then I’ve got problems.
I don’t fly United but wonder if they have a practice of letting elites board and then if first class does not board full having an agent go on the plane and move the person(s) at the top of the list to first class (like AA and sometimes DL). If so, the hassle of checking and taking payments for checked bags may mean the agent won’t bother with this courtesy.
This just forces their remaining price-conscious customers to airlines like JetBlue, Southwest and Alaska who deliberately won’t play such mind-boggling money-grubbing games. Look for them to up the advertising emphaszing this: Grandma at the gate being challenged on her knitting bag, fumbling in it for cash to pay while final boarding annoucement blares, being told they don’t take cash (like it’s trash) and being shuffled to the side in tears while across the way SW “Trans-farency” with free everything rolls out a red carpet.
I will cancel my UPEx card before the AF is due. Although they’re convenient out of EWR and I have flown with them A LOT, it’s time to become a free agent. Price point now rules.
The bags thing I don’t get. United already has one of the poorest OTP of all major US carriers. More bags in the hold means more time on the ground, means more delays.
I’m lifetime Platinum, with 2,000,000 butt-in-seat miles. I was 1K for fifteen years in a row, and Global Services for a year. I’m retired, so only fly once or twice a year now. (I used to fly about 48 weeks a year, almost all domestic and all on United.) For me, this change will most likely have me flying on Southwest (admittedly, I’m very low value customer at this point, but geesh…I wish I’d be treated special for my past 30 years of loyalty to UA!). Southwest lets me check bags for free, doesn’t charge for change fees, has flight attendants that enjoy their jobs and treats people well. Their prices aren’t all that competitive anymore, but their flexibility and willingness to treat customers well certainly is attractive.
Not that anyone in this forum is ever in it, but the last boarding group is always a mess. Least experienced fliers, no more room left in the overhead so lots of last minute checks, etc. This new baggage policy might even improve boarding times, once the initial hiccups are ironed out.
I’ve flown Spirit a few times, and the carry on policy is not a problem. Normal backpacks are fine, and I’d expect the same to be true with United, to answer a previous question.
Finally for people who have businesses requiring the lowest logical fare- just wait to purchase your ticket- I’m sure these fares will have a 3 week advanced purchase requirement, or something like that.
Will SuperSaver Awards=Basic Economy? What about using partner points towards United flights?
Downgrading award flights would be bad but not as evil as BA’s “fuel” surcharges of more than half the cheapest coach fare.
Sigh
Carla has it exactly right. My company will require me to buy the lowest fare United offers, so my elite status as a million miler is meaningless as I won’t even be able to sit in economy plus. No reason for me to fly United anymore over anyone else.
Yeah, what Ed said. Also F Delta and AA. When the economy goes south, I hope the airlines go with it and no bail outs this time!!
Well, I just flew United to see my dad before he died. All four legs of my flight were delayed. As I walked through the terminal, I passed United gate after gate—all with delayed flights. I was flying to Florida from California: there were no weather issues, nothing to explain all the delays. I will never fly United again . . . this simply puts the final lid on their coffin.
I couldn’t agree more with what Justin and iahphx said. United is killing it’s frequent flier program which is supposed to drive revenue and keep the buyers captive with golden handcuffs.
The new basic fares hurt all those folks who are trying to drive spending to the airline because their employers want them to choose the lowest fare possible. They loose any benefits or incentive to do so when they can only choose basic fares but have no personal benefit. (Look at the comments on Facebook when United announced this for confirmation).
And in my own situation where I don’t have to choose the lowest available I’m far less loyal to United and happy to fly other airlines. If you have the money or budgetary discretion to not fly miserably pick an airline with a better product or routing. In the past I might have been more likely to select United even if their product was not as good simply because of the program but those days are over. They are loosing a lot of my business as a result. And if the economy goes south … god help them.
How do these fares work when you have a MP Explorer credit card that promises 1 free checked back and group 2 boarding?
UA is not “killing” its FF program any more than Hilton “killed” their loyalty program with the 2013 “thermonuclear” devaluation. This is a tempest in a teapot, that will blow over in no time, when everyone realizes that it will affect them very little, especially is the basic economy tickets make travel more affordable but higher quality than on Spirit,
UA is trying to turn thingsd around, and offering a competitive BE class and not a give away is the way to be competitive,
Chill!
Gate NIGHTMARE!
Million-Mile-Matthew boards first, like usual, but the gate agents harass him because his boarding pass says “Group 5” (his new travel agent didn’t associate his rewards account w/ the purchase). Million-Mile-Matthew gets it straightened out after causing a scene for 3 minutes.
Then regular boarding begins. Sneaky Sally’s pass says “Group 5” but she got in line with the “Group 2” folks so strutted right through with her rollerbag. Later, in Group 5, Johnny Jr tries to board w/ his rollerbag but the gate agent refuses to let him board until he finds his credit card & pays the checked-bag fee PLUS a penalty. Bobby-Sue standing right behind him gets to roll her precious rollerbag down the gangway because her boarding pass says “Group 4”. (She arrived late & had stood in line w/ Group 5 folks.) Grandma Gertrude is right behind her, and the mean gate agent tells Grandma she’s in Group 5 so can’t take her suitcase on board without a credit card. Grandma Gertrude doesn’t even HAVE a credit card…she’s never used one! Cool Carl (in line behind her) starts cussing and eventually Grandma cries and wets her Depends. Then Cool Carl pushes through the gate with his backpack containing his 60-lb weight-vest he uses for bodybuilding. (After all, a backpack is a personal item.) Business Bonnie in Group 5 also busts through, with her 40-lb laptop bag (contains 2 laptops, personal) and her girl-purse. Vacationing Vinnie is next in line, with his wife and 3 kids all pulling their own Superman or Frozen rollerbags. Gate agent tells Vinnie he has to pay $125 + $50 penalty RIGHT NOW or his fam won’t get to board their flight to BWI connecting to MIA. Honest Abe waits patiently until Vinnie pays $175, then Honest Abe tries to board but the gate agent stops him, saying he too has to pay. But wait, says Abe, this is my 3rd leg and they also made me pay on leg 1 & leg 2!!!
In effect, United will be selling vastly different products to passengers in different points along their journey, and all it will do is delay flights further and cause anger amongst customers.
What the hellishness is United thinking?
After everyone finally boards, pissed because of watching inconsistent treatment of the 100 people in front, Breathless Ben runs to the gate with his roller-bag. His 1st United leg was 45 min LATE because of passenger confustion, so Ben just barely made this 2nd leg. He flies United every Monday, always choosing the cheap seat. Gate agent says he can’t board unless he pays a penalty & the checked fee. He has no idea why United is pulling this crap on him.
Once companies discover that United is changing to Ultra-Low-Fare w/ add-ons (like Spirit & Wow), their corporate offices will establish new policies excluding United flights. Next year, the FedGovt removes United from its contract-pair flights.
Now, lets pretend United would offer an extremely better product mid-flight… for example, everyone gets a massage. Or, repeat customers get handed a $20 green along with their napkin & beverage. Maybe in THAT scenario, knowing something good is coming in 15 minutes, perhaps passengers might tolerate the gate fiasco. We humans seek immediate rewards. But absent that kind of reward, passengers will just say “I’ll never put up with United’s crap again! I can get the same product on American”.
Truth be told, all airlines provide the same product for most customers… a beverage and 5 mini-pretzels or 2 shortening cookies. United gives you NOTHING special. The clear winner is Southwest, who gives every customer $60 of free baggage, every time. Guess what… Southwest customers are LOYAL.