The hard sell
January 2, 2009
Has anyone tried booking an airline ticket lately?
I’m checking off another item on my list of things to do, having just booked my flight for a meeting in January and, my goodness, United.com is shilling hard for the upsell.
First, I was redirected to the Economy Plus option for $24/way when I was selecting my flights; when I didn’t take the bait and proceeded to purchase the plain vanilla economy itinerary, I was redirected again.
This time, they had a screen offering me a One Time Deal! Good for Five Minutes! to upgrade to the next class. Goodness, people, this plane probably won’t even have a proper First Class! There was even a little doomsday countdown, showing how much time I had left to come to my senses and snatch up the opportunity to pay another $95 for a FC seat on one of the two flights. Pf, not even both ways at that price? Count me out.
United is hurting. I don’t get that much upsell with Delta. I don’t think I get any really. They do offer hotels, cars and tickets to things at your destination (rail passes, admission etc) but I don’t think that benefits Delta.
United was sending me emails for a while, but since I booked through Expedia I didn’t suffer it when I was booking.
Tey almost never have worthwhile upgrades when I fly… they’ll have an upgrade to first class during my shortest flights, but not during my 4-hour+ flights.
karen: I don’t think United has been stable for a number of years. Unfortunate since they’re the only ones who fly certain direct routes that I like.
paranoidasteroid: I’ve noticed that about the upgrades, too: inconsistent and low value since it’s mostly for short flights.