LEAKED: United Airlines is launching a new product, United Coast
It seems that United has been in the press a lot lately, but mostly for bad news. The airline has taken quite the beating (pun intended) over the past few months, so it’s not shocking that they would want to make some changes to hopefully get some positive press. Enter, United Coast.
It would seem that United Airlines has decided to launch something new, but in name only. A source with direct knowledge of the change has informed us that United is going to be launching a new product in a few weeks called United Coast. While exact details are still kept under lock and key, the premise is that the current p.s. product (their transcontinental service) will be replaced with the new United Coast product.
United Dreamliner via YouTube and Kris Trexler
While the current p.s. product (which could stand for piece of…) goes between Newark and Los Angeles/San Francisco, it looks like they will be adding the Boston-San Francisco route, perhaps to try and compete with the JetBlue mint and the Virgin America product.
United p.s. service, from United.com
The change is supposed to take effect early to mid June but, according to our source, nothing is changing from a hard product standpoint. Having lie-flat seats will be a huge improvement over some of the current BOS-SFO offering, if that is truly the case. Here’s a seat map of the 737 plane used for the current route:
737 seat map
And a map of the current p.s. product offering (I mean… United Coast offering)
United 757 PS
The interesting part is that if you pick a random date in the future, all the routes from BOS-SFO show either a 777 flat bed or a 757 flat bed product. The 737s have disappeared from the seat maps.
757 United Coast Product
Big Change for Boston passengers
It’s true that this does represent not only an increase in capacity on the flights, but also a net positive for customers flying coast to coast. While the product itself hasn’t changed (it’s still the p.s. seat), having a nice flat bed to go across the country is a win, even if all they’re doing is changing the name. It would seem that this is in direct challenge to the JetBlue mint product.
There’s no word yet on when the Boston-Los Angeles flight will be updated to the new United Coast service yet, as the seat maps are still showing the 737 product, but if United truly does want to compete with JetBlue, this would be the next natural progression
May 19, 2017
What do you call a piece of crap in wrapping paper? It’s called a piece of crap.
Why would you spend $$$ on United coast only to have crappy service on crappy planes everywhere else?
May 19, 2017
At first, seeing the headline, I wondered if United Coast was going to be some sort of “TED 2.0”!
May 19, 2017
that’s because coast-to-coast flight in business class are much higher yield than regular domestic flights – more like international flights. Lots of people insist on flying first class coast-to-coast.
By the way, p.s. flights are quite nice, and in terms of the service, definitely competitive (I would say, better) than American’s or Delta’s coast-to-coast flights to JFK and SFO. Jetblue has a better product, but so many other issues operationally, that I usually choose UA.
May 19, 2017
So, do comp upgrades clear from economy into this higher grade biz class? There are more routes to EU flying out of BOS, but coming from the west coast I would never think of traveling 1/2 there via BOS in the old style biz seats. Now if purchasing biz might be an option.
May 20, 2017
Again, so why spend spend $$$$ money on United on coast to coast and then get abused on United Express from Washington-Cleveland, Houston – Colorado Springs, etc, etc? Seems to me a better strategy is to “slum it” on Delta coast to coast (assuming United is really better), earn better status on Delta and then get treated like a human being on the rest of Delta route network.
May 20, 2017
Let’s not forget that pre-merger United was the “creator” of these coast to coast PS flights, and when they first started with a three-class configuration of Lie-Flat First, Business and an all Economy+ cabin. It was a GREAT service….
Then came along the merger/buyout with Continental and they changed the product by eliminating First and adding regular economy. Gone were the seasonal signature cocktails. Then came the competition. Sounds like they finally figured they need a re-do…let’s see what happens next.