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It's a silly name, sure, but will United's new Twitter-only, limited-time specials—or "twares"— yield savings?
Whether United has hit upon a way for companies to actually have a useful presence on sites like Twitter is a point that will likely be debated. But as someone who prefers newsy or factual tweets over the what-I'm-doing-at-this-exact-second (eating a sandwich, standing in line) variety, I have to admit I'm intrigued. The first "tware" sale fare of $63 one-way between Chicago and Washington, D.C., just expired, but offered decent savings over the regular fare of $80 I found directly through the United site. It's hard to say if savings like that will be the exception or the rule, but it's an auspicious start.
One issue I noticed: United's announcement page doesn't have a link to the airline's Twitter page. So for people for who aren't familiar with Twitter but want the sale scoop, there's no easy way to bridge the gap between a legacy line carrier and this new social media experiment.
To promote special fares ONLY on "twitter" is to discriminate against seniors (like me) who do not twitter and have no interest in doing so! OTOH, this is just one more way that United has not thought its policies through.