Well, that's my question, but perhaps it's rhetorical.
I'm US2 through 2004 (whew!), and in 2003 US has eliminated/reduced service to a few places I've used them for up to now (Kalamazoo is an example).
I've never flown UA metal for US miles, but it's beginning to look attractive. Have I got this right? On UA as a US2...
Preferred seating (first-come, first-served with E+)
Preferred boarding
100% Bonus miles
Miles count toward US elite
Club admittance (for US Club members on day of flight)
I think what I don't get are...
Free upgrades (still a lot of US E-upgrades that haven't expired)
Access to an elite 800# for reservations (but I guess I can call the US2 number)
Am I missing anything?
bfunkjeep
Dec 15, 03, 9:39 pm
I knew US pulled out of Lansing, but I didn't know about Kalamazoo...
US needs to serve these cities from PHL or CLT - simply to sell seats on its Caribbean and European markets. US barely goes anywhere out of PIT anymore. Know wonder why they were unprofitable.
Tickets out of Lansing were astronomically higher than GRR. I never liked that.
MikeLaw
Dec 16, 03, 5:35 am
The other thing that you don't get is that the miles on UA metal don't count towards your 10,000 miles for e-upgrades. I didin't realize this for some time.
EnvoyBoy
Dec 16, 03, 6:16 am
You neither earn nor can use US upgrades on UA. Your only option is to buy upgrades upon check-in at the airport. Web check in does nothing for upgrading--it's when your body is in front of them. You can not call in and be upgraded in advance either.
I'm flying UA for US miles for the first time soon and the advice from UA res agent was to call the night prior or earlier in the day of your flight to see if there's anything open in F to determine how early you want to get there.
Obviously, if all seats are taken, you needn't arrive terribly early in hopes of buying some upgrades.
I'm currently in E+ for my flight, hoping to upgrade. If you go to seatguru, some planes have an E+ seat (row 10 I believe) with no seat at all in front of it for the emer exit row! On other threads, E+ has gotten high praise--I'm curious and anxious to try.
------------------
--Wishing for you safe travels and for me Row 1.
j_mee
Dec 16, 03, 6:34 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bfunkjeep:
I knew US pulled out of Lansing, but I didn't know about Kalamazoo...
Tickets out of Lansing were astronomically higher than GRR. I never liked that.</font>
I never knew they pulled out of LAN. That's quite suprising as I used to fly there all the time back in 2000-2002.
[This message has been edited by j_mee (edited Dec 16, 2003).]
PHLbuddy
Dec 16, 03, 7:08 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MikeLaw:
The other thing that you don't get is that the miles on UA metal don't count towards your 10,000 miles for e-upgrades. I didin't realize this for some time.</font>
D'oh! No wonder I am missing some e-upgrades http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
US_Usually
Dec 16, 03, 1:50 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MikeLaw:
The other thing that you don't get is that the miles on UA metal don't count towards your 10,000 miles for e-upgrades. I didin't realize this for some time.</font>
Thanks.....I didn't know this either!
gardener
Dec 16, 03, 3:05 pm
So as a US1 the only thing I am giving up is free upgrades, and on an RJ I am giving up nothing.
Going to TPE/NRT in March. Company policy is must fly UA (in C, thankfully). As a US1 and a United no status, I am thinking I should credit to US to get the tier miles and 100% CP bonus, right?
UAL_Rulez
Dec 16, 03, 4:16 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gardener:
Going to TPE/NRT in March. Company policy is must fly UA (in C, thankfully). As a US1 and a United no status, I am thinking I should credit to US to get the tier miles and 100% CP bonus, right?</font>
Depends. With the 2004 changes to MP, paid C on UA will earn 125% EQMs, so this trip would get you most of the way to Premier status on UA (PHL-ORD-NRT-TPE and v.v. is 16,616 miles according to Great Circle Mapper (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=phl-ord-nrt-tpe-nrt-ord-phl&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=&PATH-UNITS=mi&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=&MAP-STYLE=), x 1.25 = 20,770 EQMs). If you also sign up for the 2004 3x, 2x, or 5000 Bonus Mile Promo (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/024105.html) you'd earn at least 5000 additional redeemable miles (much more if you could manage to do 10,000 paid UA metal miles in Jan or Jan - Feb and get 3X or 2X on all your subsequent 1Q04 UA metal flights including your trip to Asia).
If you did earn 2P status, you would start earning upgrades usable on UA domestic flights. I assume you could then use your US1 status to secure these ahead of other 2Ps.
If you plan to do little or no other UA travel in 2004, it probably doesn't make sense to break up the miles this way though.
US_Usually
Dec 16, 03, 9:30 pm
Welcome to the board, UAL_Rulez!
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by UAL_Rulez:
...If you did earn 2P status, you would start earning upgrades usable on UA domestic flights. I assume you could then use your US1 status to secure these ahead of other 2Ps....
</font>
Sorry, help me out: what's UA's 2P? (And what are the other abbrevs?)
OK, beginning 3/1/04 with the new unlimited upgrades:
If the choice is a UA jet with E+ or a US RJ, there's no reason not to fly UA
If the choice includes a US 2-class plane (and I have a good shot at the upgrade), US gets the nod.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by US_Usually:
On UA as a US2...
Preferred seating (first-come, first-served with E+)
Preferred boarding
100% Bonus miles
Miles count toward US elite
Club admittance (for US Club members on day of flight)
I think what I don't get are...
Free upgrades (still a lot of US E-upgrades that haven't expired 3/1/04: And now they won't)
Access to an elite 800# for reservations (but I guess I can call the US2 number)
</font>
[This message has been edited by US_Usually (edited Jan 01, 2004).]