United Airlines ditches more economy seats for bigger premium cabins
United Airlines aircraft at Denver International Airport, Aug. 4, 2023.
Antonio Perez | Chicago Tribune | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
LOS ANGELES — United Airlines‘ formula for higher profits: fewer but better seats.
The country’s second-most profitable carrier after Delta Air Lines on Tuesday unveiled new cabin designs, including on some of its smallest planes, that feature more premium seating options and fewer in standard coach.
The differences in airfare for those seats can be vast. For example, a flight between United’s hub at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and San Francisco in the first week of May is going for $423 in standard coach and $5,556 in the carrier’s top-tier Polaris class on a Boeing 757.
Even with the spike in fuel prices, United’s executives have said in recent weeks that demand remains strong, noting that premium-travel demand has outshined the main cabin.
“The main cabin is also improving, and we’ve seen very strong demand across the board for United in Q1, but premium did lead the way yet again in the quarter, and continues to do so,” Andrew Nocella, United’s chief commercial officer, told reporters last week.
More premium
United plans to introduce a subfleet of narrow-body Airbus A321neo jets dubbed the “Coastliner” for transcontinental flights that will have 20 Polaris seats, which can recline into beds. Each Polaris seat will have aisle access.
Those jets will also have 12 premium economy seats and 36 extra-legroom seats on board, with the rest regular economy. United said it removed three seats from the plane’s standard configuration to install a snack bar at the back of the plane.
Current layouts of the plane don’t have premium economy, but they do have 57 extra-legroom seats and 123 seats in standard economy, along with 20 that are first-class recliners, not the lie-flat Polaris seats.
United said the first Coastliners will begin flying this summer and it will have 40 of them by the start of 2028.
The airline also announced its configuration for its longer-range Airbus A321XLR aircraft, which will replace some older Boeing 757s.
That layout also includes the 20 Polaris suites, 12 premium economy seats and 34 in extra legroom. The plane will debut this summer, and United said it could operate on some of its existing routes to Spain, France, Portugal and Brazil.
United will also add a seven-seat first-class cabin to its Bombardier CRJ-200 jets for a total of 41 seats on board, compared with the current 51-seat layout, which has only one cabin.
Furthermore, the airline is adding a new product to its main cabin that lets customers buy a row of seats that converts to a couch on some of its wide-body aircraft. The so-called “Relax Row” is designed for families but can also be purchased by one person who can then convert the seats into a bed, Nocella said at an event at Los Angeles International Airport. That will debut as early as next year and…
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