Originally Posted by
swanscn
They did get some things right. They made qualifying hard they only count US miles on US metal. I think they only count actual miles not minimum segment miles. And they do not count anything else. I view all of these things as US getting it right.
Then they do some things wrong.
Lifetime status that can expire before you do, 18 months or 36 months it is just silly.
Hard to accomplish minimum return on your investment in time and money(Silver Status lowest they can provide).
To bad US just when you do something right you screw it up.
Things a lifetime member should get (IMHO, many others here disagree with me):
1) Miles that never Expire
2) Lifetime status that only expires when I expire
3) A value equal to what the passenger provided the airline over all those years, I am saying something greater that Silver. In my opinion much greater, most of these people have been CP for years and will continue being CP. So it does not change the real FF program benefits all that much (as in devaluing the program with so many new CP members who did not earn it).
With such stringent qualification requirements, I think they should be a bit more generous. I'd like to see 1MM equal gold status, with platinum for 2MM and chairman's at 3MM (or 4MM).
They don't compare well to UA/CO or DL(NW) because of the lack of international reach - particularly Asia, South America, and the Middle East, so it's inherently much more difficult for many people to earn MM status on US versus the competition.
When you figure AA granted lifetime status for CC usage (among other activities), and I believe both CO (now UA) and DL granted credit towards lifetime status for non-BIS miles, US looks positively stingy by comparison.
As to your other suggestions - I don't care too much about mileage expiration - I agree it could be easy to forget when you slow or stop traveling, but it's not at all hard to have some activity at least once every 18 months. It would be great if they included that as a benefit - kind of a "you took the time to fly US, now take all the time you need..." deal.
I agree that the MM gifted status should be for the lifetime of the person.