Traveling on a United Basic Economy fare could save you $40-60 per round trip flight but only if you don’t pay extra to check a bag. Traveling on a Basic Economy fare means not being able to check-in online in advance unless you check a bag and earning significantly fewer base miles and zero premier qualifying miles. If you fly Basic Economy, pack nothing more than a personal item.

When United announced its Basic Economy fares for domestic flights, I was optimistic. Even though the fare doesn’t include a choice of seat and restricts passengers to only one personal item (and zero carry ons) in the cabin, I felt confident I could roll with it for short, solo trips.

Recently, when I had the option to use it for a solo weekend trip to Chicago, I went for it. I usually pack for weekend getaways in a small daypack anyway and wouldn’t be traveling with my partner, so why not?

However, when it came time to actually fly on my Basic Economy ticket, I learned the savings weren’t worth it. Here’s what it was like to fly United Basic Economy and why I’ll never do it again.

What is Basic Economy?

United’s Basic Economy fares are cheaper but offer fewer amenities—with an option to pay for them ala carte—than a regular Economy ticket. Basic Economy is targeted at price-sensitive flyers willing to rough it to save a few dollars on the flight.

Think of Basic Economy as getting the budget airline experience, like Spirit or Frontier, but on a major carrier.

Here are the “amenities” that you’ll have to do without:

• Full-sized carry-on bags
• Complimentary seat selection
• Group and family seating
• Certain MileagePlus and Premier member benefits
• Boarding before the last group

Let’s dig into how this differs from the Economy fares that you’re probably used to.

United Basic Economy vs. Economy

United created the Basic Economy fare, in part, to compete with budget airlines, such as Spirit Air and Southwest, on their domestic routes. So, like budget airlines, United’s Basic Economy fare is pretty barebones. It’s their “most restricted” fare.

Although you sit in the same part of the airplane as regular economy passengers and receive the same service, there are a few notable differences. The most important difference is that you can’t choose, change, or upgrade seats, change your flight, earn premier qualifying miles, and are restricted to one personal item for your travels. You’ll also receive fewer base miles (more on that later) and board last.

Is Basic Economy Worth It?

Opting for the Basic Economy fare over the regular economy fare will usually save you somewhere around $20-30 per leg. This varies from route to route, as shown below on a few sample routes:

* Sample fares were run through united.com for November 6th – November 9th, 2017 on September 24th, 2017 (~5 weeks prior).

As you can see, the Basic Economy fare for a flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles would save you $60 on a roundtrip ticket. For some of the longer flights, you’d only save $40 — which is less in savings than what you’d pay to check a bag both ways ($25 one way; $50 roundtrip). From a financial perspective, sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not.

However, I’d guess that United doesn’t actually want you to choose the Basic Economy fare. It’s there to make the economy fare look better and worth the extra money. In turn, this means happier passengers.

United Basic Economy Review

While some of these features don’t sound so bad on paper, especially for a solo traveler who packs light. But how were they in reality? What was the experience like? I’ve broken it down into several stages and rated each with a pain score on a scale of 0-5; 0 being pain free, 5 being the most painful.

Booking

Pain Score: 3/5

In the booking process, I could feel United trying to push me towards an economy ticket. Not only did I have to click through an “Are you sure about this?” pop-up when selecting my departing and return flights, but they also asked me again before payment. At check out, they asked, in a friendly-but-judging way, “Too many restrictions?”

Even if it added a few extra steps to the checkout process, I actually liked this. It makes it harder to accidentally buy a Basic Economy fare.

Miles

Pain Score: 3/5

For each of my two flights, I received 535 base miles, 0 premier qualifying points, and $0 in premier qualifying dollars.

On the same route with Economy, I would have earned 625 base miles, 1,846 premier qualifying miles, and $125 in premier qualifying dollars. According to the Points Guy, a mile on United is worth 1.5 cents. So I lost out on the equivalent of $1.50 in miles each way. That’s $3 in total. Oh well.

Baggage Allowance

Pain Score: 4/5

United Basic Economy passengers are only allowed one personal item on board. That’s one bag small enough to fit under the seat in front of you. I had to pack efficiently. Fortunately, for a warm-weather weekend trip, that’s not too hard. I packed:

• 2 shirts
• 1 skirt
• 1 pair of shorts
• 1 set of pajamas
• 1 pair of flip-flops
• 1 light sweater
• 1 small toiletry bag
• Chargers and phone
• Wallet
• Water bottle

The Tortuga Laptop Backpack is a perfectly-sized personal item with plenty of room for your laptop and enough space for a couple of days worth of clothes. However, packing in just a personal item takes some skills. If you’re not a light packer, test it out on a shorter trip before committing to something longer.

Checking In

Pain Score: 5/5

When I first bought the ticket, I wondered if I’d be able to circumvent the lack of seat assignment by checking in as soon as the flight opened for online check-in. However, there was one major issue with this:

I couldn’t complete the online check-in process unless I paid to check a bag.

When asked, “Will you check a bag?” I said no. The app then told me I had to see a United representative and show them my luggage to continue. And, that’s how I discovered the only way to get your boarding pass in advance is to pay to check a bag. Apparently, traveling with just a personal item is so unbelievable and unusual that you need to prove your light packing skills to a United agent in person.

Fine. Okay. I had no choice. I left the house 15 minutes earlier than I would have and schlepped over to one of the United self-check-in kiosks. The first one I chose was far from the ticketing counter. A “wait for agent” sign popped up, but I didn’t see an agent nearby. I probably could have stood there all day, and no one would have come over.

I canceled and moved, this time in front of the desk where a United agent was standing. “Sir, can you help with this?” I asked. He waved a piece of paper under the screen and said, “Must be broken. Try one of those.” He pointed to a cluster with a group of travelers and one agent running around assisting people. I raised an eyebrow and wondered if I’d ever get my boarding pass.

The third kiosk finally worked. The aforementioned busy agent waved a badge under the kiosk and finally approved me. Note: this was not what the other agent did. I finally had my boarding pass. Though annoyed, I was relieved to see “32A” on my boarding pass and headed towards security.

Boarding & Departure

Pain Score: 2/5

Although United lists all the restrictions of Basic Economy at purchase, they leave out one detail: the boarding group. All Basic Economy travelers are in the last boarding group.

Boarding last isn’t a huge deal because, without a carry on bag, you don’t need to worry about whether there is overhead bin space left for you when you board. In fact, I had extra time to grab some coffee and a bagel before boarding. I hovered around the boarding area for an extra 20 minutes before actually getting on the plane.

The Flight

Pain Score: 2/5

The actual flight experience was no different than a regular economy ticket. Same old squished seat, free drink but no food, and economy class service. 

Your seat is a total gamble on the Basic Economy fare, though. I lucked out on my seating assignment, since I had a window seat and no one in the middle, the flight equivalent of finding $20.

What’s more likely is that you’ll end up with one of the last remaining seats which may or may not be near your travel partner, next to the bathrooms, or in a middle seat.

If you choose to book a Basic Economy fare, then godspeed to you, friend. Here, take a few of our packing light tips. You’ll need them.