All of our non-airline Telluride Flyer deal specific posts fall under the master category of General Posts.

United New Basic Economy Fares

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Who does the NEW United Basic Economy Fares Benefit?

Basic Economy Fares

Basic Economy Fares

United recently announced they will be offering Basic Economy Fares. While lower fares usually means less services or benefits sometimes the lower rates can mean a better deal. This will depend on the type of traveler you are. For me, I personally don’t really need a meal unless I’m traveling long distance international. I’d take a savings and be willing to lose the meal if the savings was big enough. Some features, however I value more and would not like to lose pending the drop in fare. Below we’ll look at some of the features of the New United Basic Economy Fares.

In United’s release of this NEW Fare, United claims “Customers will enjoy the same United Economy® cabin experience and services, including dining options, Wi-Fi and inflight entertainment. However, the following differences do apply”:

Basic United Economy Fares Core Features:

  • United Basic Economy Fares will assign seats at check-in. Passengers traveling in large or small groups will need to acknowledge that seating together is not guaranteed.
    (You cannot purchase an upgrade to extra leg-room or first class seats. United Elite Frequent Flier Members cannot purchase an upgrades as well. You will need to be good with a smaller seat and very possibly a middle seat!)
  • Passengers are limited to one personal item for their carry-on bag. This is true unless the customer is a MileagePlus® Premier® member, primary cardmember of a qualifying MileagePlus credit card, or Star AllianceTM Gold member. (The size on this small carry-on is 9 inches x 10 inches x 17 inches (22 cm x 25 cm x 43 cm) or less. There will also be no option to even purchase the ability to carry-on an even larger bag)
  • There will be no voluntary ticket changes except as stated in the United 24-hour flexible booking policy. (You’ll need to be locked into your flights!)

Basic United Economy Fares Core Features:

  • MileagePlus program members will earn redeemable award miles; however they will not earn Premier qualifying credit. This refers to miles, segments, or dollars, no lifetime miles, and no contribution to four segment minimum. (It’s gonna take you a lot of flights to earn a free flight via the basic economy fare).
  • Customers will not be eligible for Economy Plus® or premium cabin upgrades. (You are locking yourself into the smaller seat. There will also be limitations on services you receive with a basic economy ticket purchase!)
  • Customers will board in the last boarding group (currently Group 5) unless they are a United Elite member. This means a MileagePlus Premier member, primary cardmember of a qualifying MileagePlus credit card, or Star Alliance Gold member. (If you had the ability to bring on a bigger carryon this would mean something. Since your limited to smaller carryon bag only,  the fight for the overheads won’t be there. You’ll just put the small carryon under the seat in front of you.)
  • No combinability with regular Economy fares or partner carriers. Interline travel is not permitted. (You won’t be able to check any checked bags all the way through if you fly more than one carrier. You’ll have to pick-up in-between carrier flights your bags and recheck for your next flight adding hassle AND cost to checking a bag).
Basic Economy Fares

Basic Economy Fares

Basic Economy Fares Additional Information:

What markets will United Basic Economy Be Available:
+ Select markets which are subject to change. In the markets it is offered, you will see it designated in the flight search. You’ll be able to book the same way you book other United Tickets

What are the Basic Economy Fare Checked Baggage Policies:
+ Same as they are with Regular Economy Fares with the exception of the interline capabilities noted above.

What will be my Mileage Plus – Frequent Flyer Mile Accrual Benefits with Basic Economy?:
+ Same except you won’t earn Premier qualifying miles with a Basic Economy Ticket

What are my inflight benefits with a Basic Economy Ticket Purchase?
+ Same as Regular Economy Ticket with the exception concerning your not being able to bring on large carryon bags.

What are my United Travel Options with the Basic Economy Ticket?
+ When booking Basic Economy, you can still personalize your trip with many United Travel Options™ packages. Enjoy added convenience with Baggage Delivery and access to United ClubSM locations. You will also have the option of protecting your booking with FareLockSM or trip insurance. If you have an eligible itinerary, you can also buy more miles with the Award Accelerator® program. Premier AcceleratorSM miles will not be available.

So is the value of fewer benefits worth the cost?

Hard to say. It will depend on your trip and whether you can travel lighter and with less control over your experience.

If you are traveling up and back within a day or two and won’t be bringing a larger carryon depending on the fare the savings could be worth it.

If…you are ok with getting your seat assignment last minute and ok with a middle seat it might be worth it. Depending on the airfare difference of course. Are you ok with boarding last etc…again pending the fare difference it might be worth it.

Personally I like an aisle seat because I have long legs. On an ultra low-cost carrier like Allegiant I can purchase a seat assignment to insure I get a seat I like. I don’t see many situations where the United Basic Economy Fare would work for me. I’m typically a one carry-on bag traveler. I don’t like checking bags. Based on this, this wouldn’t work well for me. Since the upgrade cost is typically (But not always) +$60 I imagine on most trips, especially longer duration flights… I’ll purchase regular economy.

Will United be using the basic economy fare as as a tool to yield up (Charge More) for the economy ticket I’m used to buying on United? Yes

Coming in the future: A post comparing basic and regular economy fares on all the major US carriers so that Tucson Flyers can make an educated flight ticket decision.

More on the United Basic Economy Fare Here

Air Deal

THE One Requirement to Getting an Air Ticket Deal…

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It’s NOT What You Think!

When we’re planning to travel by air, I think its universal that we all want a good air deal.

You may think, since I don’t book air tickets frequently, I haven’t learned the strategies to find the best deal. Yes…please share with me strategies that can help me find and book the best deal.

Ok. That’s exactly what Montrose Flyer is about. Montrose Flyer wants to help Flyers to/from Montrose fly better, book faster and save money!

This post, however, is intended to emphasize THE one action necessary to get yourself an air ticket deal. This one action is important over all the others…ready…

Here it is…The One Requirement to Book an Air Deal

YOU NEED TO RECOGNISE AND PULL THE TRIGGER ON BOOKING A GOOD AIR DEAL WHEN YOU SEE ONE!

Really? That’s it you may be saying to yourself.

Yes….and its not as easy as you may think to recognize and book a good deal. First, you need to know what a good deal is. Second, When you see the good air deal you need to pull the trigger and book it. This all seems reasonable and easy to do but how do you know when you’ve found a good air deal?

  1. Define what a good air deal is before you start searching.

How do you know what a good deal is? Well I recommend you figure out your travel budget for your trip as a FIRST STEP in planning any trip. 

Briefly: If you’ve budgeted your trip, you should have a budget for air tickets. If this budget for air is $300 per ticket for a particular destination, once you’ve found an air ticket situation below $300 – buy it.

But…what if the price goes lower after I buy?

Some airlines will refund the price difference or give you a refund in the form of a travel voucher if you point this out. It’s important to understand, however, that you also may not see a refund in any form.

The better deal that never shows up…

What often happens to many air ticket purchasers is that they keep waiting for a “Better” deal. This “Better” air deal often doesn’t show up. The air price instead, goes up. They pay more than their budget due to always looking for the better air deal.

What if I budget $300 for my air ticket and when I start looking its at the $500 range. What if it doesn’t look like it will drop to $300?

You have two options. 1. Adjust your air budget to a more reasonable level or 2. You’ll need to look at changes to other aspects of your travel plans.

If you have travel date flexibility this can sometimes lower your rate. You can consider another airport destination in the region to fly to where the cost of air tickets is lower if you have travel date flexibility. Can you fly out of another airport? Sometimes this can SAVE you money if you don’t have to fly out of your local airport. (You’ll want to consider your total cost of travel, however, including drive cost, hotels if you overnight etc…) If you are locked into travel dates, destination and airport, you’ll need to adjust your budget. If you find your air budget is too low, you may also need to change your travel budget.

Get Montrose Flyer Air Deal Notices – FREE

NOTE: Our Montrose Flyer Air Deals Notices is a price tracking service you may want to consider. We offer a FREE membership. On our air deal notices we will note a price savings when compared to the average fare paid last year to help you set a air ticket target or budgeted price. We think this helps you gauge a good air deal.

      2. Buy Your Ticket when Your Budget Air Price Shows up!

Duh…you say. That makes sense.

It does until you realize that for most of us…we’re always afraid a better air deal price will show up. This is why its important to commit to setting an air price budget and most importantly, purchasing your air ticket when your budget price is met!

Recommendation:

After your air ticket purchase, forget about this aspect (Air Ticket) of your trip. If the price drops later and you find out about it don’t bemoan purchasing when you did. Air prices are extremely dynamic and they will as often increase as they will drop although my experience has been that they will more often increase rather than decrease in price.

SUMMARY

All the air strategies and tactics in the world mean nothing if you pass up on purchasing an air ticket that falls below your budget price – when its available. Therefore, the most important action to getting a good air deal is set your air and travel budget and purchase when prices fall below or at your budget.

Do You Value Your Time?
Montrose Flyer Will Do Most of the Looking –

So You Just Book!

Note: This searching for an Air Deal and a price that meets your budget may take some time. Like many people these days you may not have the time to search daily for air deals. With air prices changing quickly in many cases, a regular search helps find the best deals. You may not want to devote your limited free time to this endeavor. In this case we’d recommend signing up for air deal notices with the airlines and other sources.

Of course we think you should SIGN-UP with MONTROSE FLYER. We focus our FREE MONTROSE FLYER AIR DEAL CLUB on scouring various sources for air deals specifically to/from Montrose Colorado region. Unlike many other search options that focus mainly on huge cities, our attention is focused specifically on flights to/from Montrose. LET MONTROSE FLYER LOOK so that all YOU have to do is BOOK!