United Airlines has announced that it would remove basic economy fares for domestic and short-haul international flights from legacy global distribution system (GDS) channels on September 5.
According to a report in TravelWeekly.com, United sales executives Doreen Burse and Glenn Hollister revealed that basic economy fares would only be available through the airline’s official website and app, as well as New Distribution Capability (NDC)-enabled channels.
The decision was made due to the technological limitations of legacy GDS channels and their inability to “support a full slate of ancillary products.” Since travelers purchasing basic economy tickets pay extra for carry-on and checked luggage, United believes removing them from systems without ancillary options was a necessary move.
While travel advisors should be aware of the changes, United officials told Travel Weekly that the carrier has no plans to remove other content from the legacy GDS systems. Hollister said the airline has “no plans at this point to do anything beyond basic economy.”
In addition, Burse said there are no plans to cut staff assigned to supporting travel advisors, as the airline views the relationship with agents as “incredibly important.”
“We’re being really transparent and upfront that we want to do business together,” Burse told Travel Weekly. “And we’re going to continue to find ways to do that. We’ll be transparent. We’ll be proactive and we’ll be clear in what we’re doing moving forward.”
In April, United announced its NDC is available through Sabre’s GDS. Sabre-connected travel buyers, agencies and developer partners can shop, book and service United’s NDC content through Sabre’s Offer and Order APIs, the agency point-of-sale tool, Sabre Red 360 and the online booking tool, GetThere.
