What to know about United Airlines’ new basic business fares


Ready or not, United Airlines passengers booking flights in the airline’s fanciest seats are about to have a lot more choices. And by choices, we mean more fare types — and restrictions — to navigate.

As TPG first reported earlier this month, the Chicago-based airline is bringing the “basic” idea behind basic economy to its business-class and premium economy cabins.

And those tickets have started to go on sale for later this year.

Going forward, you’ll have to choose: Buy a regular Polaris ticket, or save some cash for a “Polaris Base” ticket? Regular Premium Plus or “Premium Plus Base?”

Read more: United’s new Polaris Studios are finally here: First look at the airline’s swankiest plane yet

SEAN CUDAHY/THE POINTS GUY

With these new skinny fare options, you could conceivably spend $2,000 for a lie-flat seat without being allowed to actually select your seat and without earning any miles for your trip.

Here’s what we’ve learned about these new “base” fares and what you should know before you buy one.

Mileage, Premier qualification restrictions

For starters, all of United’s basic fares — from the business-class cabin to coach — will have tough mileage-earning restrictions.

Earlier this month, United rolled out a strict new basic economy policy: no miles earned, unless you have Premier elite status or carry one of its cobranded credit cards.

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We’ve learned that policy will also apply to the carrier’s new Polaris Base and Premium Plus Base tickets, too.

Premier members and cardholders will earn miles, but at a reduced rate compared to full-fare tickets.

United mileage earning rate for Polaris Base, Premium Plus Base and Basic Economy tickets

Elite status tier Earning rate Earning rate for eligible cardholders

None

3 miles per dollar

2 miles per dollar

5 miles per dollar

3 miles per dollar

6 miles per dollar

4 miles per dollar

7 miles per dollar

6 miles per dollar

9 miles per dollar

Like with basic economy tickets, MileagePlus members who book a base fare in the carrier’s premium cabins will also not earn Premier qualifying flights toward status.

They will, however, continue to earn Premier qualifying points.

TPG deep dive: Basic economy and the ‘evolution’ that’s sweeping over airlines’ cheapest fares

Polaris Base fare restrictions

If you book a base Polaris ticket, there are additional restrictions you’ll face compared to a regular ticket.

  • You’ll have to pay a fee if you want to select which lie-flat Polaris seat you want.
  • You’ll get one free checked bag instead of two.
  • No ticket changes are allowed.
  • You won’t get Polaris Lounge access, but you will be able to enter the less exclusive United Club.
  • You can’t upgrade to the carrier’s extra-large Polaris Studio suites (that is, if you’re on one of the new planes that have these ultraluxe seats).

Don’t like the sound of those rules? The cost-savings may sway you.

On this sample flight from United’s Houston hub to Lima, Peru, you could save $400 by opting for the slimmed-down ticket instead of the standard one.

UNITED AIRLINES

Here’s a full chart United has published to help you decide which Polaris fare is right for you. The carrier now offers “base,” “standard” and “flexible” fares, which are beginning to roll out across its international network.

UNITED AIRLINES

Premium Plus Base fare restrictions

The other cabin gaining a new basic option is United’s long-haul premium economy product, Premium Plus.

Premium Plus on United Airlines’ newest Boeing 787-9 “Elevated” Dreamliner. SEAN CUDAHY/THE POINTS GUY

Like with Polaris, you’ll have three options (base, standard or flexible) to choose from.

Here are the key restrictions to know about Premium Plus Base fares:

  • You’ll have to pay if you want to select your seat.
  • You’ll recieve one free checked bag instead of two.
  • Ticket changes are not permitted.
  • No upgrades with money, miles or PlusPoints are allowed.
UNITED AIRLINES

Looking ahead

You may not see this full menu of options on all long-haul international United bookings. The carrier has just started rolling out these base fares across more flights, so you can expect to see them more and more over the coming months.

SEAN CUDAHY/THE POINTS GUY

The carrier has not announced a basic fare offering for its domestic-style, first-class cabin, which is also a fixture on many shorter-haul international destinations.

United isn’t alone. Delta Air Lines already offers a basic fare in its extra-legroom Comfort cabin, and it has made clear that a similar fare class will be introduced across all its cabins in the near future, including its Delta One suites.

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Before attending an interview on webMethods, make sure to be strong in basics. Because basics are the main thing that the interviewers look for. Along with basics, you should also have knowledge of how we can implement the services in webMethods.

In this post, we have put together 30 webMethods interview questions with detailed answers. Go through the below frequently asked webMethods interview questions and answers that help increase your potential in cracking the interview.

Most Frequently Asked webmethods Interview Questions

Explain about EAI

Ans: Enterprise application integration (EAI) unites the databases and workflows for business applications. It allows the integration of applications from disparate platforms to share business processes. It simplifies and automates business processes without having to make changes to the existing systems.

What is webMethods?

Ans: webMethods is an integration platform that focuses on application integration,business process integration, and B2B partner integration. It provides flow services to map any data format into the other format and connects applications together. It was founded by Phillip Merrick and Caren Merrick in 1996 and has later acquired by Software AG in 2007. 

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Name the modules in webMethods Product Suite

Ans: The webMethods Product Suite contains four modules,

  • Integration and B2B
  • Service-Oriented Architecture
  • Business Process Management
  • Business Activity Monitoring

List the tools of webMethods Integration

Ans: Below are the tools of webMethods integration.

  • webMethods Integration Server
  • webMethods Integration Platform
  • webMethods Adapters
  • webMethods Developer
  • webMethods Broker
  • webMethods Monitor
  • webMethods eStandards Modules
  • webMethods Optimize for Infrastructure
  • webMethods Trading Networks
  • webMethods EDI Module
  • webMethods EDIINT
  • webMethods PIM

What happens when the pub.flow: trace pipeline service is invoked?

Ans: When we invoke pub.flow:tracePipeline service, the Integration Server logs the name-value pairs in the pipeline. 

What is the primary function of the built-in pub.flow: save pipeline service?

Ans: It saves the current pipeline to a specific memory location on the Integration Server.

How can we remove a system lock from an element?

Ans: We can remove the system locks by making the server-side files of an element as readable. Right-click on the locked element, and select lock properties, to view the server-side files of that element. Make the files as readable to unlock them and click on the refresh button.

What is the use of a Web Service Connector?

Ans: A Web service connector is a flow service that contains input and output signatures. It is generated from the WSDL document in the Integration Server. It invokes a Web Service on a different web server.  

How to invoke a service from a browser?

Ans: To invoke a service, open a browser and give the below URL.

http://servername:port/invoke/folder.subFolder.subsubFolder/serviceName

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. Can we restore a session on a server?

Ans: If the server goes down or if there is a problem with the network, the developer gets disconnected from the server. When the server gets back online, the developer will get connected to it automatically, and the session will get restored.

. What is the process for opening a session?

Ans: Open the Integration Server and select ‘session’ from the toolbar menu. Give the IP address and port details of the server that you want to connect to.Give the username and password and click on ‘connect’.

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. How can we change the JVM used by Integration Server?

Ans: We can change the JDK used by webMethods by updating it in either IntegrationServer\in\server.bat file or IntegrationServer/bin/server.sh file. Change the JDK path as follows and save the file.

SET JAVA_DIR=

. Explain about startup service

Ans: Startup services are used to generate initialization files or for preparing the environment. The server automatically executes a startup service when it loads a package.

. What is a shutdown service

Ans: Shutdown services are used for executing cleanup tasks like closing files and purging temporary data. It gets automatically executed when a package is unloaded from memory. 

. Explain the use of a pipeline in webMethods?

Ans: Pipeline refers to a data structure that maintains the input and output values of flow service. It collects inputs and outputs from subsequent services in the flow. When we execute a service in the flow, it will access the data from the pipeline.

. Define structural transformations

Ans: Structural transformations refer to the transformation of data in hierarchical nature. It involves splitting data into several fields, merging fields, renaming fields, etc.

. What is a flow service?

Ans: We can use a flow service to wrap a sequence of services within a single service. It manages the flow of data among the services. We can write the flow service in webMethods flow language. 

. What are the ways to check memory usage?

Ans: We can check the memory usage by using any of the below three ways.

  • Administrator Page
  • Top command
  • Free command

. Explain about webMethods Developer

Ans: webMethods Developer is like an IDE used for developing code in the webMethods Integration Server. We can write graphical flows, create, and configure web services. It also provides tools to test and debug the created flows.

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. If a flow exit does not specify a ‘form’, what is the default behavior?

Ans: If the exit is not specified in a loop, it will throw a java.lang.NullPointerException.

. How do ACLs affect locking?

Ans: We can give authorization to a specific user group by using ACLs (Access Control List). An element can have different ACLs assigned for each level of access. Users in the allowed list of ACLs can lock an element.

. Can we change the order of steps in a flow service?

Ans: A flow service has an order of sequence steps. We can change the order of these steps by using the buttons present on the editor panel. We can use ‘Shift Up’ and ‘Shift Down’ buttons to change the steps, ‘Shift Left’ and ‘Shift Right’ buttons to move a service or branch in a sequence.

. Explain the difference between a drop and delete pipeline variable

Ans: The drop pipeline variable is used for removing a variable from the list of variables. It makes the variable available for garbage collection.The delete pipeline variable is for removing a variable from the current view. If the variable is also present in the previous pipeline, it will appear when you change the view.

. How can we sort using the JDBC select adapter service?

Ans: The sort function is available in the ‘select’ tab. It has a column that says ‘Sort Order’ where we can specify the column that we want to sort by.

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. Can we organize connection pools?

Ans: Avoid connection pool sharing across different functional areas, even if they are pointing to the same database. If the pool is being used by multiple types, then it becomes difficult to tune the size of the pool. It is also difficult to change the database settings without impacting the other. 

. Can we use a sequence as the target of a branch?

Ans: Yes, we can use a sequence as a target of a branch. We have to set the evaluate label property of the branch step to true. Then set the label property of sequence to the value that it has to process.

. Explain about branch operation

Ans: The branch operation supports conditional processing. It is similar to if-then-else functionality in other programming languages. Based on the value of a variable at runtime, a branch operation gets executed conditionally.

. What are some of the common issues faced while migrating a project?

Ans: Here are some of the common issues faced while migrating a project.

  • A missing jar file
  • Thread hung
  • JDBC adapter is not suspending
  • The scheduler is missed in internal DB or the next run time is not visible

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. What should we set the count parameter to repeat operation to execute as long as the specified repeat condition remains true?

Ans: To execute a repeat operation as long as the specified condition, we have to set the count parameter to ‘-1’.

. What is the default port to which the webMethods integration service has an HTTP listener?

Ans:The default port for the HTTP listener is 5555.

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