"United launches premium service"

Friday, October 29, 2004

United launches premium service
By Chris Woodyard
USA TODAY


United Airlines on Friday takes aim at well-heeled travelers, launching
coast-to-coast flights with all premium seating. 

The USA's No. 2 carrier, which has operated under bankruptcy-court
protection since December 2002, introduces the first of 13 revamped Boeing
757s on flights connecting New York John F. Kennedy and Los Angeles
International.

United's premium service will grow over four months from the one round trip
scheduled Friday to 13 - seven daily round trips linking LAX and JFK; six
linking San Francisco and JFK.

For first-class passengers, the planes have been upgraded with what the
airline says are the first lie-flat sleeper seats in regular U.S. service.
Business-class seats will recline more than usual. Coach passengers will
have 3 extra inches of legroom over comparable domestic flights. 

All passengers get better meals, and every seat has a power outlet.

Low-end fares on the special 757s will remain the same as coach fares on
regular United flights. But the airline is betting more upscale passengers
will buy pricey business- and first-class tickets if it offers more goodies.

Round-trip JFK-LAX coach tickets bought at least seven days in advance cost
about $270. At the high end, a walk-up first-class fare runs about $4,400.

United is coping with an explosion of fare-slashing discount airlines that
are relatively new to transcontinental routes. Aviation consultant Mike Boyd
says the move "plays to United's biggest strength, which is customer
service."

The new premium service will shrink the number of seats that United offers
on the two routes nearly 35%, compared with the Boeing 767s they replace.

For struggling United, says Matthew Bennett, editor of newsletter
FirstClassFlyer.com, the introduction of premium service flights is "worth
the gamble."

"They're trying to differentiate the product," says Bennett.

United announced plans earlier this month to shrink domestic capacity by
12%. The airline plans to boost international capacity by 14%. 

Dallas-based Legend was the industry's last attempt at an all-premium
airline. MGM Grand Air flew until 1993 as an all-premium transcontinental
carrier. Both stopped. 

United's all-premium flights are unique in the USA, but the trend is well
established on foreign carriers. 

Lufthansa, for example, launched all-business-class service from the USA to
Germany two years ago - Newark, N.J., and Chicago to Dusseldorf and Newark
to Munich. Singapore also offers all-premium flights.

Primaris, a charter airline in Las Vegas planning scheduled flights, placed
orders this month for 40 Boeing jets, all in business-class configurations,
and plans to use them on international flights.


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