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United’s first class phase-out

A comfy United Global First seat. (Image: United Airlines)

A comfy United Global First seat. (Image: United Airlines)

Have you ever experienced the luxury of United’s Global First front cabin on an international flight? If not, you better do so soon, because your options to get a Global First seat will be shrinking over time.

All of the new intercontinental aircraft that United has on order — including Boeing 787-8s, 787-9s and its upcoming Airbus A350s — are being delivered without Global First cabins. United’s 767-300 fleet currently has two-class and three-class configurations, but that will change.

“Our three-cabin 767s are going through a modification that includes conversion to a two-cabin configuration,” with no more Global First, a company spokesman confirmed to TravelSkills.

But he noted that the Global First cabin that’s currently on “a few dozen” 777s and 747s “will continue to be on United aircraft for some time.” United, like other airlines, is gradually phasing out the remaining 747s in its fleet.

United's summer business class sale. A 747 at ORD (Image: Chris McGinnis)

United’s 747s still in service, but slowly phasing out (Image: Chris McGinnis)

Last summer, before his sudden firing, United CEO Jeff Smisek told a European trade publication that Global First’s days were numbered. International first class service, Smisek said, “is a money-loser, and we will be eliminating it over time.” Apparently the change in leadership at United has not affected that policy.

Smisek added: “The problem is that it takes a lot of real estate, and people are not willing to pay for that. I suspect the other carriers, apart from the subsidized Gulf airlines, would say the same thing.”

As for keeping United’s international product compatible with its Star Alliance partners, that’s a toss-up. For example, Air Canada eliminated international first class, but Lufthansa thus far seems committed to keeping it. 

Delta eliminated its first class section on overseas flights several years ago, and last year rebranded its business/first hybrid product DeltaOne.

Readers: Do you think international first class service has a future? Are improvements in international business class cabins making first class unnecessary?

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about:  Boeing 747 nearing its end? + “Targeted” for an upgrade? + 5 newest biz class hotels in New York + TSA PreCheck is exploding + Bargain hunters travel guide for 2016 

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Comments

  1. I have done it both ways (mileage and cash). At times the price the product at very competitive price. The seat will often generate more revenue than 6 coach seats especially on flights to Asia. The same compared to business class especially on flights to Europe.

  2. did you pay for it? as in with cash, not miles.
    that’s the problem right there. the space it take up they could have easily put in about 1.5-2 business class seats or like 6 economy seats in it’s place. and with everyone who flys in it simply used miles (they can’t pay employees or shareholders with miles), there is not much incentives for them to keep it. Of course if they don’t somehow turn elimination of this into an overall improvement to business, then they will just loose business all together.

  4. I appreciate the article. Hopefully UAL will pay attention to the comments and get rid of their terrible business class configuration. Lufthansa figured out their non lie flat business product was a mistake and they are fixing it.

  5. If its not new to you, why bother to read the article and comment on it?? I, for one, had not seen this elsewhere.

  6. United’s 2-4-2 business class product is by far the worst business class product I’ve flown. What good a lie flat bed is if there isn’t enough shoulder room to lie flat on? Many airline’s premium economy product used to same 2-4-2 layout.

    It’s not the name of the product that matters; it’s the quality.

    United’s first class product maybe called GlobalFirst, but compared to other airlines’ first class products, United’s is miles behind. It is comparable to others’ business class, albeit with a slightly bigger seat.

  7. Personally I think the concept of a combined Business/First cabin works well if and only if it is simultaneously made better than business class in a three-class configuration. I’d suggest that Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand get away with it because they have a superior product. While, say, Aer Lingus do not.

    If United were going the “combine and improve” route this might be a good thing. But being a US airline, we know they won’t. It seems to be just too hard for a US airline to make the transition from the “Greyhound Bus” nature of US domestic travel and true international luxury airline.

    It’s been over ten years since I used a US airline for international travel, and this move at United changes nothing.

  8. It’s not that people wouldn’t pay for an international First Class product, they just wouldn’t pay for United’s Global First product. I’ve flown Global First and while it was a comfortable flight from San Francisco to Narita, I certainly wouldn’t pay full price for it (I upgraded with Elite miles). They United experience is what makes their product so bad. International FA’s make the flight feel like a domestic commute from Philadelphia to Chicago. Not to mention, the seats in the 747’s are very old and dated.

  9. The international first was product at one time really differentiated United from other US competitors. Eliminating it to go with the worst business class product among US carriers is not a good move and will further alienate customers. I have flown the product several times to Europe and Asia including the 15+ hour Chicago/Hong Kong flight. It was a very comfortable ride and the flight did not in any way seem like it was 15 hours. I will need to evaluate and determine which product to use going forward.

  10. No Continental management is awful. They are the ones who took over United and have done such a horrible job the past few years.

  11. United got cheap thanks to being taken over by Continental management. Hopefully that will change with Oscar Munoz

  12. Smisek et al have the same ole Continental two-cabin philosophy. UA (pre-and post-merger) has more than enough high-profile routes to justify international F. They just need to invest some money in the service delivery and make it an exclusive product worth the difference in price. People WILL pay for it if it’s worth it. After all, look at the news on how the rich are getting richer. By not doing offering it, they are ignoring a nice chunk of change, and I’m frankly surprised the outspoken analysts are not all over this.

  13. Asiana (like other airlines) may be scaling back the routes on which they offer first class, but I’m not aware that they’re getting rid of it altogether. BTW if you’re referring their staggered “Quadra Smartium” business class product, it’s perfectly fine and the same basic product as many other airlines (incl. Etihad). It’s fully flat with direct aisle access at every seat. It’s not really 2-4-2 because of the staggering, and it’s definitely in no way comparable to United’s 2-4-2 business product which is far inferior.

  14. Asiana is ditching first class because they’re losing so much money so there is some argument to that (and I feel like it would have happened sooner if Korean Air didn’t have first class on so many routes). However, they need a business product that is better than their 2-4-2 777 flat bed business because if they keep that, people are just going to fly other airlines.

  15. Just another sign of how bad and cheap United is getting. This seat that is being phased out is the only way to sit on a long haul flight. I have been lucky enough to be in these seats to flights going to Japan and Australia and they are like beds and very, very comfortable.
    Unfortunately when United changed over to these flat, business class seats they forgot to figure out how to make them comfortable. In order to get more of them in, they are very, very thin and of course not as comfortable as they should be. I would rather sit in the old business class seats that didn’t lie flat, than these new business class seats.
    But United doesn’t listen to there customers, they listen to what is going to make the most money. That is probably the reason they are taking these first class seats out, they can make more money with other seats.

  16. I am surprised they said the 777s will retain first class for ‘some time to come.’ Would think they would try to reconfig those as soon as the new biz class seat is announced.

  18. Hey Guys– not brand new but it’s one of those posts I felt compelled present due to questions, comments and cocktail party prattle about what’s going on with United First Class. United has never made any formal announcements about it but they did confirm certain statements in this post for us. thanks.

  19. My point is that this is hardly new information, in fact I believe everything in this article was announced months ago

  21. Lots of airlines besides the “subsidized” ME3 – let’s leave that argument aside – still find profitability in true international first class. United’s partners Lufthansa, Swiss, ANA, and Asiana, to name just a few, all offer first class. But you have to have service levels that U.S. carriers don’t seem prepared to offer consistently. And you have to have better catering than just the business class meal plus a soup course (which is what United offers in Global First!).

  22. When I was a GS on United, it baffled me as to why I would continue to buy business when it was so much easier and cost-effective to use SWUs on the longer, more expensive routes. The only reason I could come up with was the ability to upgrade into F.

    Sure, not a lot of people buy F, as the price differential can be ridiculous, but this is more an inability of the airlines to justify their F pricing against the aged product than a positioning issue. There will always be people who will buy F and there are always reasons to treat your super-elites with F. The fact that US airlines haven’t figured that out yet is absurd, as the “subsidized Middle Eastern carriers” certainly have.

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