Basic economy fares have become an increasingly popular way for full-fare airlines to rival budget, low-cost airlines. Basically, these fares offer nothing except the right to a seat on the plane. You don't get to bring a carry-on, check a bag, or even get a seat assignment.
In most cases, basic economy is simply a way for higher-end airlines like Delta (DAL) and United (UAL) to show up at the top of the list when people sort by price on sites like Priceline or Expedia. Low-cost carriers including Spirit (SAVE) and Frontier (ULCC) use similar tactics while Southwest Airlines (LUV) and JetBlue (JBLU) offer prices that more closely reflect what your final price will be.
Basic economy or the basic fares offered by Spirit and Frontier allow or force customers to pay for everything they need on their flight. If you want a carry-on or a seat assignment you will pay more. And, in a broad sense, the more you pay, the earlier you will get on the plane.
That makes sense as people paying more money should reasonably expect better treatment. United Airlines, however, has created a system on its flight where passengers who don't pay to be in a top boarding group face an unpleasant, intentionally terrible situation.
Robert Alexander/Getty Images
Here's Where United Airlines Treats Passengers Poorly
While not everyone like Southwest's open seating and boarding process, you can't say it's not organized. The airline issues each passenger a boarding group letter (A, B, or C) and a number (1-60). Boarding is in order of group and number with seats not being assigned.
The "A" group boards first after lining up based on numbers followed by the other groups with the same rules. You might be holding a "bad" number like C 45, which means you will be one of the last people on the plane, but at least you know where you stand.
United Airlines has five boarding groups. People in the first or second group line up before boarding begins in areas marked by stanchions near the walkway to the plane. No numbers are assigned because people have set seats, so at least for those first two groups, there's no real reason to be earlier or later in the line.
Once you hit the later groups, however, things change. Overhead bin space runs out toward the end of the third group making it important for people looking to carry a bag on to board earlier in that group. That's where the lack of numbers or any form of organization creates a mess.
People in the third group, and later the fourth and fifth never get asked to line up. The groups are sometimes called and at other times, know they're supposed to board because a digital sign changes.
This creates chaos like Black Friday back when doorbuster deals were a thing. It's a dangerous sort of chaos and it's something United Airlines has done very intentionally.
United Airlines Wants Passengers to Be Uncomfortable
The basic economy system is designed to make people who pay less for their tickets feel like they're a lower class than people who pay more. That would be fine if it was explicit. The airline could say that people in the fourth and fifth boarding groups can't bring a bag that needs to go in an overhead bin but doing that would defeat the airline's unstated goal.
United Airlines only wants people in the first two boarding groups to have a pleasant, orderly experience. Everyone else has not paid for that dignity, so the airline has decided that they should have to engage in a subtle scrum for line positions that determine whether they have to deal with the inconvenience of a gate-checked bag.
Airlines have always treated passengers who pay more better. There's a difference, however, from one group getting perks that another doesn't to intentionally creating a bad experience.
Southwest offers an orderly process where passengers know exactly what's happening. United Airlines has a system designed to shame people who chose to not pay up.
It's not a subtle difference. Southwest has transparency and respect for all its passengers, United will deign to let people on their planes who paid less, but the airline wants you to know exactly where you stand when you opt to not pay up.
If you fly United on a basic economy fare without buying extras, recognize that you're Jack, not Rose, on the Titanic. It's a class system and while that's legal, it's not pleasant.
The airline wants the basic experience to be bad so you're more willing to pay up next time. It could offer low fares with fewer perks along with dignity, but it has chosen to not do that in order to maximize future revenue.
