On a tight travel budget, I was on the hunt for the most affordable ticket with the shortest travel time.
Less than a month after the highly publicized incident of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly dragged off an overbooked flight, I needed to purchase a return airline ticket from Austin, Texas to the New York City area.
On a tight travel budget, I was on the hunt for the most affordable ticket with the shortest travel time. Since getting to and from Austin can typically involve layovers on non-direct flights from New York City, I was enticed by the nonstop flights scheduled from Newark International Airport, in New Jersey, an airport that happens to be one of United's main hubs.
After searching my usual go-to's including Southwest (which I flew out to Austin on from Newark) and American, I begrudgingly went to United.com — an airline I hadn't flown since 2014. There, I found a very reasonable nonstop, direct flight for $188. I thought I had just won the lottery...until the email confirmations for my purchase came through.
I didn't realize it at the time, but the price I had found was a Basic Economy ticket — a new tier of ticketing that United began rolling out in early 2017. Something like the prompt below appeared as I checked out, but in a rush to get my ticket, I foolishly didn't pay attention. At this point in my purchase, I had a chance to upgrade to Economy for $20.
Immediately after my ticket purchase, United sent me a series of three emails — which I thought was excessive, and, in all honesty I figured was a reaction to the incident that happened in April, when 69-year-old David Dao was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight. "They really want to be sure I know that I don't have an assigned seat," I thought.
By the second email, I realized what I had done — my Basic Economy ticket had a number of restrictions on it, including the fact that I wasn't able to bring a carry-on suitcase with me and I would be forced to check the carry-on I always take with me on trips, for $25. That means I paid $5 more than if I had simply upgraded to the Economy ticket when prompted earlier.
By the third email, I felt like they were just rubbing salt in the wound. Basic Economy tickets aren't covered by United's "24-Hour Flexible Booking Policy" — I either had to completely cancel the ticket in the next 24 hours and get a full refund, or stick with my choice. At this point, I didn't want to risk losing my seat if the flight were full.
Read more about United's 24-Hour Flexible Booking Policy.
Like most airlines, 24 hours before my flight time United sent their usual "Check in now for your flight" email. I was glad I could at least check-in and get my non-negotiable seat assignment before checking my bag the next day.
However after clicking the "Check in now" button from the email, I kept getting directed to a page that said "Server error occurred. Please try again." Naturally, I did this about 10 times before realizing something must be wrong with their website.
When I got to the airport and into the United line for my old-fashioned paper boarding pass and to check my bag, I talked to the United attendant about how I wasn't able to check-in via email. She confirmed this was not a glitch, but done on purpose to ensure that I, a Basic Economy ticket purchaser, came in person to check my bag, and get a boarding pass before going through the security check-point.
Another "perk" of flying Basic Economy is you're automatically put into the last boarding group: number five. Here, I waited as groups three and four with their lucky carry-ons waited to board.
Here's everyone in boarding group number five — with no carry-on bags, we were definitely the easiest-going group. Luckily, my flight was on time and I made it back to Newark safely. I would fly United again, however, I'll never buy Basic Economy, since like most travelers, I carry a bag with me on trips. Instead of the $25 check-bag fee, I'll simply upgrade to Economy for $20.
On a tight travel budget, I was on the hunt for the most affordable ticket with the shortest travel time. Read Full Story
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