Nation/World

United offers cheaper airfare, but it'll cost you a carry-on

What is cheaper airfare worth?

United Airlines is betting that to some travelers, it is worth giving up their ability to carry on luggage, a previously untouched perk of flying with the major airlines.

The airline's new "basic economy" ticket promises lower fares than its standard economy ticket, but passengers would be assigned a seat on the day of the flight and be in the last boarding group. Passengers would have to check their luggage, taking only one personal item like a shoulder bag, backpack or laptop bag that fits under the seat.

"Customers have told us that they want more choice, and basic economy delivers just that," Julia Haywood, United's executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said in a statement.

Basic economy fares will be available for purchase in January for travel starting next spring.

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Choosing the option would mean families and couples could be separated when the seats are assigned, maybe not ideal for parents traveling with a young child.

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"If there are people in your group who need to sit together, this fare may not be the best option for you," United said on its website.

United, which is based in Chicago and serves 339 airports on five continents, said the in-flight experience for "basic economy" ticket-holders would be the same as for those with standard economy tickets, including food and beverage service, entertainment and Wi-Fi.

The lower fares are an attempt to compete with budget airlines like Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Air, which offer bare-bones fares but add fees to otherwise standard options like carrying on bags or printing boarding passes. Spirit, for one, has marketed itself as offering a "cheap seat for a cheap-ass."

United is not alone among the major airlines in creating less expensive options, sometimes referred to as "last class." Delta Air Lines offers a basic economy fare that assigns a seat after the passenger checks in but has no additional limits on carry-on baggage. American Airlines said it would begin offering "no-frills" fares in 2017 but has not offered specifics.

"This is almost like putting another curtain, a virtual curtain, in front of the last few rows of the plane," said Seth Kaplan, managing partner at Airline Weekly, an industry publication.

The message, he said, is that passengers who just want to make it safely from Point A to Point B and are willing to give up some perks can still fly with the major airlines, but they will not get quite as much as the rest of the passengers in economy seating. The hope of the major airlines is to keep those price-conscious customers from fleeing to the budget airlines without cannibalizing the higher-priced options elsewhere in the cabin.

Until recent years, the budget airlines did not jostle much with the major airlines for customers, Kaplan said. The fares were much lower at the budget airlines, which saw themselves as part of a totally different marketplace. But as fuel prices decreased along with ticket prices, the major and budget airlines began bumping into each other more, he said.

Now, it is not so clear where travelers will find the cheapest fares.

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On average, budget passengers can still expect to pay less, even accounting for fees, Kaplan said. The major airlines are likely to selectively match or approach the price of budget airlines for certain flights, he said.

In other cases, there is not much budget airlines can do. An American Airlines ticket from Washington to Chicago recently cost Kaplan $128, which would be hard for an airline like Spirit to undercut. And the larger airlines can lean on their other advantages, like reliability, rewards programs and a larger network, Kaplan said.

"There's nothing Spirit can do to save me hundreds of dollars when it's 128 bucks on American," he said.

Still, asking customers at the major airlines to give up carry-on luggage is new. Although a personal item would still be allowed, it is not uncommon for passengers to load all of their belongings into a carry-on bag, hoping to avoid checked-baggage fees or the possibility of being lost in transit.

At least one group was happy about the change: flight attendants. Too many bags in the cabin leads to injuries, slower boarding times and passenger altercations, Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said in a statement.

"United's move to encourage fewer carry-on bags, similar to practices at Frontier and Spirit, will create a safer cabin for passengers and crew," she said.

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