Executives Point To United Introducing a ‘Basic Business Class’ Product

The unfortunate trend of “unbundling” airline tickets shows no signs of slowing down, with United Airlines indicating that it may be close to introducing a stripped-down version of its Polaris business class product.

Here’s a look at what we know so far.

Is United Readying a ‘Basic’ Polaris?

We’re all well-acquainted with basic economy at this point, but is it time to start getting used to the concept of “basic business class?”

It seems like it could become a reality very soon. As pointed out by Market Screener, United hinted that it will be introducing a bare-bones version of business class, even as it begins to roll out an even more premium version of Polaris as part of its United Elevated initiative.

During its second-quarter earnings call, United CCO Andrew Nocella said the following when responding to a question about whether it’s considering a basic Polaris product, similar to what Delta more or less has confirmed with regard to its Delta One product:

“Not everybody wants the full experience. Some people want other experiences. And so the value to United as an airline and to that of our customers has been proven by the segmentation of revenues that we’ve done. And we look forward to continuing to diversify our revenue base and segment it in the appropriate way, and I’ll leave it at that.”

United, like almost every other airline, has realized that further segmenting airline tickets has led to greater revenue and profitability. Foreign carriers like Air France and KLM have already introduced some sort of basic business class, and Delta’s version is supposedly coming soon. Thus, it’s no surprise to hear this kind of talk coming from United.

What would a basic United Polaris look like in practice? Well, we don’t know yet, but we can make some guesses. We could see reduced mileage and/or status earning potential, restrictions on lounge access, or even additional charges for choosing a seat in advance.

We’d agree that those are logical places where airlines could make cuts to effectively “unbundle” a business class ticket. However, time will tell.

Final Thoughts

Unbundling — or “segmentation” — is an unfortunate trend for consumers, though it’s likely to increase in scope, as indicated by airlines’ moves to create basic business class products.

United hasn’t explicitly confirmed that basic business is coming. Delta hasn’t announced specifics but has all but confirmed it’s on its way. And where there’s smoke, there’s fire, so we won’t be surprised to see these products roll out in the coming months — or to see American Airlines announce that it’s working on the same thing.