United Airlines will introduce new Polaris and Premium Plus fare tiers, including a lower-cost base option with fewer perks like lounge access and seat selection.
United Airlines will introduce new fare tiers in premium cabins later this year, stripping out some current benefits from the new lower fare tiers, the airline revealed Friday.
Fares in the United Polaris and United Premium Plus cabins will have three different tiers: base, standard, and flexible. Standard and flexible fares are currently offered as refundable and nonrefundable fares, each including access to the United Polaris Lounge, two checked bags, advance seat assignments, and flight changes.
After the new fare options are rolled out, the new base fare will only include one checked bag, access to United Club lounges (but not United Polaris lounges), and will charge a fee for advance seat selection. Base fares, which are nonrefundable, also won’t allow flight changes, so passengers unable to travel on the original flight they booked will forfeit the value of their ticket if they don’t travel.
United Polaris is the business class brand for United’s long-haul intercontinental flights, certain transcontinental flights, and nonstop flights from Hawai‘i to Chicago O’Hare, Newark, and Washington Dulles (flights from Hawai‘i to United gateways in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, and Houston will remain part of the domestic United First product). Shorter international flights to Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America north of Peru are branded United Business.
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United Premium Plus is a separate premium economy cabin, with seating similar to domestic United First, available on most flights operated by aircraft that have a United Polaris cabin.
The new standard tier is analogous to the current nonrefundable Polaris fare, offering two checked bags, United Polaris lounge access, and flight changes. Passengers will also be able to pay a fee to upgrade to the United Polaris Studio, a roomier seat with added amenities like caviar and premium Champagne. United Polaris Studio will debut on some Boeing 787-9 aircraft later this month and will be installed on some 30 aircraft by 2027. The flexible fare is the refundable version of the standard fare.
The tiers are similar for United Premium Plus, although those fares do not include lounge access. Base fares won’t allow upgrades to United Polaris using cash or miles, but standard and flexible fares will.
United will launch the new fare tiers in a handful of markets later this month, growing the number of available markets later in the year. The fare tiers are already available in United Economy. United and other legacy carriers introduced basic economy in the mid-2010s to compete with ultra-low cost carriers, which had similarly stripped-down fare options. Basic economy on United and most other carriers doesn’t include carry-on bags (a personal item is allowed), flight changes, or advance seat assignments. In new changes rolled out in early April, basic economy fliers on United won’t earn miles unless they have a United credit card or are a Mileage Plus Premier member.
“These new tiered options give customers more choice and make it easier to find a fare that includes the benefits they want most – whether that’s a great value, added perks, or maximum flexibility,” Andrew Nocella, United’s chief commercial officer, said as part of the announcement.
The new base fare in business could appeal to passengers who aren’t concerned about whether the fare includes lounge access, seat assignments, or a generous checked baggage allowance and would be willing to pay a lower fare in exchange for foregoing those benefits. This would allow United to offer Polaris seats at a lower price point targeted for the leisure traveler (rather than the business traveler on an expense account) traveling during periods when business travel slightly wanes, such as across the Atlantic during the summer months or over the winter holidays.
It’s also possible there’s a fare increase hidden in the new tiers. In theory, the new base fares would be discounted over the standard and flexible fares (because they have fewer included perks), but there’s nothing to stop United from shifting the matrix in the other direction–taking the fare level for the current nonrefundable fare and making it the new base fare, then charging more for the new standard and flexible fares.