rob_flies_ua

Please let me know of any corrections or additions.

Names:

• So far, mostly United - the big ones being the company name and Mileage Plus.
• Club name goes from Red Carpet Club and Presidents Club to United Club, kind of a wash.
• PremierAccess is based off both the old UA branding (Premier Line, Seating, etc) and the old CO branding (EliteAccess).

Mile earning:

• Original Routing Credit - UA will grant ORC pretty much on request, CO will grant ORC if you get rerouted on another airline, but usually when rerouted on CO you will receive miles for what you actually fly; future status unknown
• Miles expiration - UA will expire miles after 18 months of inactivity, CO in theory could cancel an account after some time of unuse but in practice doesn't; new UA will expire miles
• Partner mile earnings - See sbm12's blog for some speculative detail; for the most part, PMCO earning rates won it, which were more generous than PMUA earning rates.

Mile burning:

• Close in award fee - UA had gotten rid of a while back, CO had it, new UA will have it
• Award Change fee - UA had a high fee for everyone but 1Ks and GS, CO had reasonable fees with elite discounts, new UA follows CO policy
• Award redeposit fee - UA had a high fee for everyone but 1Ks and GS, CO had high to reasonable fees with elite discounts, new UA is a hybrid of the two
• Free Award changes - (for people who don't have elite status sufficient to waive award fees) UA only allowed date/time changes, CO allowed more flexibility to changes, new UA will follow CO policy
• Open Jaws - UA allowed double open jaw itineraries, CO only allowed single open jaw itineraries, new UA allows double open jaws
• Short awards - UA had gotten rid of lowered award pricing for short trips, CO had it for less than 750 miles, new UA will have it for less than 700 miles
• One way awards - UA had them, CO didn't, new UA has them
• Mixed Partner awards - CO allowed non-Star Alliance partners to be mixed in with Star Alliance partners in awards, UA doesn't, status unknown
• International award routing flexibility - CO was very flexible, if you could convince the agent to punch in the segments, UA was a bit more strict, new UA looks like it's heading slightly in the more flexible direction with the recent changes to allow awards as long as the MPM+15% was met
• Starnet Blocking - UA would state that partner award availability was not actually available, CO didn't, new UA has stated that they won't block available award space
• Last Seat Availability - on UA if a cabin was available for sale, anyone could book a ticket into it with miles if they were willing to pay double the saver award rate, on CO this was available to elites and capacity controlled for non-elites, on the new UA this is available to elites and certain branded credit card holders and capacity controlled for others

Elite status:

• Million miler status - for UA, used to be 1MM = Pr. Exec, 2MM = RCC for life, 3MM = 1K with two regional upgrades per year, for CO used to be 1MM = Silver, 2MM = Gold, 3MM = Platinum, 4MM = Pres. Platinum with your spouse getting whatever elite status you have; new UA is a mix with 1Mm = Gold, 2MM = Plat, 3MM = 1K, 4MM = GS with the spouse benefit
• 1K by segments - used to be 100 segments for 1K, now 120 segments, likely because the new 75k level from CO was 90 segments
• Compensation - UA used to compensate people heavily for any issues, and elites more heavily, CO didn't, new UA won't

Upgrades:

• YBMups - CO has instant upgrades in certain circumstances to elites who buy Y, B, or M fares, UA doesn't, new UA has YBMups
• HQups - UA files fares that look like H, or Q, or other coach classes that actually book into F or A or other premium fare classes, CO doesn't, new UA has HQups in addition to YBMups
• Regional Upgrades - UA had them for 1Ks, awarded 2 for each quarter in which 10,000 miles were flown on UA metal, CO didn't, new UA will have them and will be awarded at the 75k EQM level and every 25k EQM after that
• Hawaii - UA has UDU for Hawaii flights, CO only has it for certain HNL flights, regionals will be valid on flights to Hawaii, complimentary upgrades will only happen on select routes
• SWUs - UA had them, CO didn't, new UA will have them. When first introduced, CO SWUs had no fare restrictions while at the same time UA SWUs did have fare restrictions; current CO SWUs have fare restrictions.
• SWUs on Partners - UA SWUs can be used on LH, CO SWUs can't, new UA SWUs will be usable on LH
• Upgrades for Cash - CO willing to sell to anyone before upgrading waitlisted passengers, UA (with some station exceptions) supposed to upgrade all waitlisted passengers first, then offer upgrades for cash
• UDU/EUA - CO has EUA, UA has UDU; UA probably wouldn't have implemented UDU if it weren't for CO joining Star Alliance, which is well prior to the merger
• International Upgrade Failures - On CO if you try to upgrade to BusinessFirst with Miles+Copay/SWU and it doesn't clear, you'll get the Miles+Copay/SWU back even if a domestic segment cleared, on UA if a domestic segment cleared and the international segment doesn't, your Miles+Copay/SWU are still deducted, new UA you will get your Miles+Copay/SWU back even if a domestic segment clears
• Companion Upgrades - CO will EUA people in the same reservation at the lowest status of everyone in the reservation if everyone can clear at the same time, or at the gate can upgrade any companion (see post15 for more info from Seth) where people will clear at their own status level and not everyone has to clear at once. UA will upgrade only people on the same PNR, prior to departure everyone must clear at once at the highest status level in the party, at the gate, UA will waitlist people at their individual elite status level; new UA will do both
• Upgrades on Award Tickets - CO offered upgrades on award tickets to branded credit card holders, UA didn't, new UA will
• Upgrade Waitlist Order - UA used to order the waitlist by status, fare, then time added, CO used to go by full fare, then elite status, fare, time added; new UA will go GS, full fare, supported (miles/certificates) upgrades, then elite status, fare, time added

Airport policies:

• Boarding - UA did zone with only 1Ks across the carpet, CO did by row with all elites across the carpet, moving to a hybrid of both with zone but all elites across the carpet
• Express ground handling - UA outsourced most Express ground handling at hubs, CO handled it mainly inhouse; if SFO is any indication, new UA will bring it inhouse (how I hope so for IAD!)
• Clubs - UA didn't offer free alcoholic drinks or wifi to everyone at all times, CO did, new UA will. There's some complaining about the exact mix of snacks or beer being offered for free, again, some people like the changes and some don't, no one can claim that everyone is being disserviced by the changes.
• Lifetime Club Membership - CO sells lifetime memberships to the Presidents Club, UA doesn't, new UA doesn't but will honor previous lifetime memberships
• Club Age Policies - CO requires members to be 21, UA requires members to be 18, new UA requires members to be 21
• VDB - PMUA ordered volunteers by status, offered a flat $400 in paper vouchers that could only be used on UA/UAX; PMCO ordered volunteers by first-come, offered varying amounts of compensation in electronic vouchers that could be used on continental.com; PMCO VDB process looks to be the survivor

In-flight policies and product:

• Economy Plus - UA had it, CO didn't unless you count Extra Legroom Seats which are a subset of E+, new UA will have it
• E+/ELR Companion Access - UA allows 1 companion on the same reservation for most elites, 8 for 1Ks, CO allows (I'm not 100% sure of this) 9 companions on the same reservation, new UA will allow Platinum/1K/GS 8 companions on the same reservation and Gold/Silver 1 companion on the same reservation
• Channel 9 - UA had it, CO didn't, new UA will have it
• Large regional jets - UA had 70 seat regional jets with First class and E+, CO doesn't, status unknown
• Pillows in First - UA had them, CO didn't, new UA won't; also blankets domestically switched to CO blankets
• Magazine - Hemispheres remains from the old UA
• Food in coach - UA had Buy on Board, CO had meals in coach up until a few months before the merger and then Buy on Board; as much as some partisans would propose, it's doubtful the removal of free meals in coach had anything to do with the merger; new UA has Buy on Board
• Special meals - UA had special meals available all over the place, CO restricted what stations special meals were available to and from; new UA has the restricted special meals
• Alcohol in First - CO charges for specialty mixers in First, UA doesn't have specialty mixers in First but also didn't charge for anything; future status unknown
• IFE - CO has DirectTV and AVOD in large portions of the fleet, UA has screens domestically and in most coach internationally; DirectTV probably won't be added to PMUA aircraft, but global wifi and streaming media looks like it will be added to most aircraft
• Cross-Fleeting - Much has been made of the fact that CO 737s are now flying out of HKG, or that IAD-CDG has a CO 757 on one frequency, or that EWR-ZRH is now a UA 767, or GUM is changing. At the end of the day though, these changes should end up being a bit of a wash for passengers, potentially better for CO fliers based in Washington who need to get to Paris or UA fliers based in NYC who need to go to Zurich.
• Premium Service - UA has a premium service subfleet for SFO/LAX-JFK, CO didn't, new UA will but with two classes of service and the addition of normal economy in addition to E+
• International First Class - UA had it, CO didn't, for now the status quo will be maintained but it won't be added to any existing CO aircraft and it's unclear what new deliveries will have
• Meal order in First class - UA takes meal orders by a combination of status and fare paid, CO takes meal orders from front to back, with much speculation on FlyerTalk, the future status is unclear
• Snack baskets in First class - UA started offering them fairly recently, CO didn't, new UA will offer them on less flights than PMUA, but more than PMCO
• Coffee - UA was using Starbucks, CO I'm not sure what they were using, new UA is using a new blend called Freshbrew which is generally disliked and in the process of being replaced
• Pre Departure Beverages in First - UA is supposed to offer water or OJ (and occasionally sparkling wine), CO offers beverage of choice, new UA will offer beverage of choice but it might take a while for all FAs to do it
• First Class Headrests - (really?! :P ) UA's headrests in first tilt, CO's do not; future status unknown
• Exit Row Seats - new UA no longer gives Silver members access to exit row seats at booking time, old UA did temporarily, old CO did not
• Row Numbers - CO tried to keep row numbers like exit rows consistent across aircraft types, UA didn't, new UA will
• Other First Catering - PMUA offered warm nuts, PMCO didn't; PMCO offered ice cream sundaes on transcons, PMUA didn't (except on p.s.); new UA will ofer warm nuts and ice cream sundaes on transcons

Reservation policies:

• Same day confirmed change - UA charged everyone but 1K and GS and didn't allow routing changes, CO charged everyone but Platinum and was much more flexible with routing, new UA is heading down the CO path
• Standby - UA charged everyone but 1K and GS, CO charged everyone but Platinum, new UA will charge but with elite discounts and free for 1K, GS, Pr. Exec, Platinum, and Golds
• Price of First - CO had somewhat reasonable prices for First class fares, UA had pretty expensive ones, future status unknown
• Call centers - CO uses only US call centers, one common complaint is that at times of very high call volumes (widespread irregular operations), the reservations line will tell you that there are no available agents and then disconnect, UA used US call centers for 1K/GS and a mix of US and offshore call centers for everyone else. Going forward, pre-merger UA is going to use US call centers for all elites and a mix of US and offshore for general and non-members, it's unclear if the merged entity will then move all calls onshore as CO did, or retain the new mix.
• Baggage Fees - CO charges baggage fees based on the set of segments that you're checking in for, UA charges baggage fees based on your total itinerary, future status unknown

Parnerships:

• Amex - CO had a partnership, UA didn't, new UA won't
• Emirates - CO and UA both had partnerships, new UA won't
• Virgin Atlantic - CO has a partnership, UA doesn't, new UA won't
• Chase - both UA and CO partner with Chase, but the future products offered by Chase are only starting to take shape, first with the Mileage Plus Explorer card
• Chase Ultimate Rewards - UA didn't allow UR transfers, CO did, new UA will
• Amtrak - CO has a partnership, UA doesn't, negotiations are apparently under way to keep this, but currently scheduled to end at the end of 2011
• Partner mile earnings - See sbm12's blog for some speculative detail; for the most part, PMCO earning rates won it, which were more generous than PMUA earning rates.

Technology:

• Website - UA's website is known as .bomb, CO's website isn't. Both websites now have expert mode. continental.com is the surviving system (albeit renamed to united.com).
• Mobile - UA has a mobile website, CO has a mobile app and website; looks like the CO mobile app is sticking around, slightly renamed, which is great
• Ticketing - UA is instant, CO is some time after purchase; status unknown but with CO's reservations system surviving, ticketing will probably be "sometime after purchase"
• Backend - will be a mix of systems from each company (see badly titled upgrd summary), and it's unclear which system will help out handling irregular operations recovery

Things that everyone complains about but don't really matter to passengers in the grand scheme of things:

• The Premier Access boarding carpet color will be blue (CO) not red (UA)
• Headquarters location is Chicago and not Houston
• Management was actually pretty evenly split, CO got CEO, HR, CMO, Gov Affairs, CFO, UA got non-executive Chairman, loyalty program, CIO (although he later left), COO (though was recently fired as of 11/28/11 and replaced by a PMCO guy), general counsel; middle management was CO marketing, network planning, sales, revenue management, flight ops, cargo, line airport ops, operations planning, environmental and security, maintenance, catering, inflight, and UA got COO of loyalty unit, alliances, airport ops, tech ops, system ops and express, airport ops planning, real estate, safety. Below middle management was also pretty evenly split. As of July 2011, 15 out of 25 officers listed on the United Continental Holdings website are former CO, 9 are former United, and 1 is an outside hire.
• Rhapsody in Blue remains the theme music of the new UA from pre-merger UA
• Globe logo remains the logo of the new UA from pre-merger CO
• Mileage Plus account numbers will be PMCO OnePass type
• Ticket stock will be PMUA 016, not PMCO 005

Things that people think have changed but probably can't be blamed specifically on this merger:

• Customer Service - UA (in general) treats elites much better than non-elites. CO (in general) treats most people roughly the same, but better than UA treats non-elites. Different people will have different experiences. I've personally had great customer service experiences with UA, but then, I'm an elite with them. I've generally not had great customer service experiences with CO, but then, I wasn't until very recently an elite with them.
• Prices - Capacity is down, demand is coming back, and fuel prices are high. There's much less competition in the marketplace with multiple mergers occurring, and joint ventures being approved by the relevant authorities. DL/NW, UA/CO, WN/FL, added on to the pacific joint ventures getting approved and BA/AA/IB across the Atlantic mean that competition is way down.
• Cleveland Hublette - nothing's actually changed yet
• Denver Hub - Denver's fate is more in the hands of Southwest and Frontier than the merger
• Taking away Economy Plus at booking time for Silvers; this is a downgrade for both PMUA and PMCO and is tangentially related to the merger in that there's less competition and more low-level elites

To me, a wholly biased observer, it actually seems somewhat balanced and like there are some good combinations of features from each company going forward. Having said that, there are some combinations of bad features from each company going forward too. I don't think anyone with a straight face can say that one pre-merger company is destroying the other pre-merger company. However, each individual's circumstances are slightly different, and the mix of changes that affect someone might be more or less negative than the changes that affect someone else.

rcheneyjr

^ thanks!

UA-NYC

Great, very comprehensive list.

However, I do find this part ominous:

I, like many others (primarly PMUA flyers) see the overall "feel" tilting towards CO. And this is borne out as management is supposed to be 50/50, but we see an obvious CO bias here. I won't be surprised if there's further PMUA turnover in the ranks, similar to the UA CIO departing, and we're left with a strong % of PMCO leadership.

rob_flies_ua

I thought about putting some more info in there but didn't. I'll try to rectify that now. If you look at the comparative seniority levels of the various officers, it's more balanced:
At the top, the CEO, is PMCO.
At the next level down, the President of Mileage Plus is PMUA as is the Chief Operating Officer. Various others at the same level are PMCO, but from a passenger perspective, I either care much less about it or, in the case of HR and Labor Relations, prefer a PMCO manager. It affects me not at all that the EVP of Communcations and Government Affairs is PMCO.
Below the EVPs, the SVPs are a little more skewed towards PMCO, but they're also somewhat concentrated in finance, sales, and marketing, again, things which don't really affect me individually.


Edit to add: As you can tell by my username, I'm also a primarily PMUA flier.

smn

Thanks for a great summary ^ Of all the things I've read on FT, this seems to be one of the most fairly written and un-biased posts I've read!

WineCountryUA

^

mherdeg

One more thing I'd think about adding (spilling over from the other thread ):

* CO upgrades on trips involving a BusinessFirst sector: if the BF upgrade does not clear, you get your miles/copay/SWU back and any domestic segments that did clear are "freebies"
* UA upgrades with SWUs/CR1s: if any segment clears, you lose the instrument and cannot get it back -- a recent rule within the last month or two, which agents have been saying is very firm. You *may* be able to swap a SWU for a CR1.

goalie

Agreed ^. Very nicely done.

rob_flies_ua

Thanks, both threads (and my local text copy of this) updated.

Red_Rob

^

musing

Great summary!!!

Particularly like the: "Things that everyone complains about but don't really matter to passengers in the grand scheme of things"


^^

sbm12

A few other unknowns where the policies are currently different:

* Companion Upgrades: UA is same PNR only and at the same time; CO is any companion but only at the gate.

* Y-Up: CO provides instant upgrades to all elites on Y fares; UA does not.

* B/M-Up: CO provides inventory-restricted instant upgrades to all elites on B fares and to top elites on M fares. UA does not.

* H/Q-Up: UA provides some markets where mid-level coach fares book into first on an inventory-restricted basis. CO historically has not though they seem to be doing more of this lately suggesting that the PMUA policy will survive.

* Meal order in F.

I'm sure there are many more.

FriendlySkies

Thanks for posting ^ Perhaps this should be a sticky?

rob_flies_ua

Thanks Seth; I had a point about YBMups but didn't really go into much detail, I added a little bit as well as points for HQups and meal order. On companion upgrades, I'd appreciate any correction of my understanding of how CO companion upgrades work. At least on UA, companion upgrades depend a little bit if you're waitlisted on the departure management list yet. As far as I know, when you're on the DM list, your party can clear at different times, or individuals can clear while others don't, and each person is listed at their own status. Prior to DM, it's all-or-none at the same time.

sbm12

On CO the EUA process is based on the lowest status in the reservation. It is possible that multiple passengers on the same PNR will clear EUA at the same time but it will only happen at 1) the upgrade window of the lowest status in the PNR; and, 2) if enough R seats are available to clear both passengers.

The EUA process "owns" upgrade handling until at the gate. Once at the gate the battlefield upgrade list takes over. To get on that list as a companion the member with status must request such from a CO agent. The companion will be listed separately from the elite member and there is a decent chance that they will clear at different times or that only one will clear. The companion can be literally anyone booked on the same flight as the elite member traveling; they do not need to be on the same PNR and, in fact, listing for the upgrade at the gate generally requires splitting the PNR to accommodate the ability to assign different status priorities to the passengers.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Neither is perfect.