United Airlines develops new premium business class 'Push Button for Champagne'
United Airlines is working to revamp its business class product, which it first introduced in 2016.
One of the services they are currently investigating is premium business class within business class, where customers are willing to pay more. It may have the following characteristics:
- A limited number of seats with more space than the rest of the business class cabin, similar to those offered by the likes of JetBlue Airways and Virgin Atlantic (and also about new American products debuting this fall). guessed).
- A button that a customer presses to request champagne.
- Private check-in and priority sit-down dining in the Polaris Lounge. Pre-boarding with Global Services. Enhanced amenity kit. Pajamas; mattress pad; pre-order menu with additional courses available.
United Airlines is considering introducing a limited number of new seats in its Polaris business class cabin. These seats are more spacious than standard Polaris seats. If available, you may be able to purchase an upgrade to a more spacious seat after purchasing your Polaris ticket.
In addition to more spacious seats, United Airlines is considering premium amenities that will only be available to customers in upgraded seats.
(Credit: Live And Let's Fly)
These are all options that make United's business class more first class, despite being in the airline's more spacious business cabins. American Airlines, on the other hand, has its flagship Business Plus, which comes with first-class ground service.
I don't expect all of these to be adopted. United first deployed Polaris after CEO Oscar Munoz returned from a heart transplant. They made a big splash and green-lighted all the ideas in development during the previous CEO's tenure, all of which were not meant to be proposed. It was expensive.
Perhaps the weirdest idea here is the button you press to drink champagne.
- When Emirates unveiled its new Boeing 777 first class in 2017, the airline's president, Tim Clark, described a feature that would allow suite passengers to order “room service” using a video call button. United Airlines has now partnered with Emirates Airlines after years of unsuccessful efforts to get the federal government to block its growth in the United States.
- Sara Nelson, president of the AFA-CWA union, which represents United's flight attendants union, said people should never press the flight attendant call button to get a drink and called for a ban on alcohol consumption on planes. They even lobbied the government. services that her members have to offer. She says passengers should push the flight attendant's button in life-or-death situations.
- Three years ago, United Airlines cut its business class cabin crew, making it difficult to provide more tailored, on-demand service. Perhaps achieving this will require restoring Polaris' cabin staffing. Incidentally, United Airlines also requires its flight attendants to greet customers and express their gratitude.
- I thought there might be a trick to make it easier to request champagne, but the champagne actually served might not be what you want to drink.But it was It pointed out “The Venn diagram of people who would drink bad champagne if it was free and people who would raid the Denver United Club to eat because it was free is almost a perfect circle.”
In any case, it was a very despicable idea. Because the champagne that United Airlines serves in business class, Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top, is better than the champagne that Delta and American Airlines pour.
United Airlines has been improving its premium service after a period of cuts before the pandemic. The Polaris-branded business class that Muñoz endorsed in 2016 was surprisingly luxurious, “too good for United” and too expensive.
They exceeded their wine budget by 300%, stopped actively offering wine tastings to their customers, and stopped encouraging the consumption of Bloody Marys and mimosas. We have also changed some amenities from being part of the standard experience to only available upon request. If you don't proactively provide amenities, fewer passengers will use the service..
The idea that United Airlines is currently exploring for a new business class is not “how can business class be improved,” but “how much more money can we make if we offer certain improvements?” It provides a window into the They're taking a commercial approach to a premium product, which is smart, even if the ideas they're currently brainstorming, like champagne buttons, seem a little unlikely to ever come to fruition.