Phil Level

Exit row seating? Isn't that a perk of Gold or above? Row 9 on PS is a treat, but alas, that is going away also...

harryhood

Definitely worth it. I've been Gold for the past 3 years. The lounge access on international trips is worth it alone.

While upgrades on elite heavy routes are few and far between, you can definitely score some upgrades if you select your flights carefully (757, 767 or 777, midweek or off hours relative to business travelers).

I have been moderately successful at nailing upgrades on TATL and TPAC flights as a Gold as well. Not every time, but if I book in a higher fare class (usually B, but sometimes M -- the nature of my travel is often variable and requires timing flexibility, which is how I justify the refundable tickets) and pick my travel days and routes carefully I can and will score upgrades.

International routes with high degrees of success on upgrades for me have included IAD-LHR, ORD-LHR, SEA-NRT. TATL, travelling on Monday evening and returning on a Thursday or Saturday seem to work best for upgrades as a 1P. Old C equipped 777's are becoming super easy upgrades as people avoid them, so if you don't mind the barcaloungers this is a viable option. Although I have even scored LAX-SYD (in 2009 as a 2P no less, but it was literally last second at the gate), SFO-NRT this summer and SFO-ICN upgrades.

Domestically, my base is DEN. DEN-IAD is a tough upgrade but DEN-DCA and DEN-BWI are not, s again, if you have flexibility it helps. DEN-EWR has worked before as well. DEN-SFO is fuhgeddaboutit, DEN-LAX has worked fine (including once when my entire family was upgraded due to oversold coach and undersold C) while DEN-SEA is running about 50-50 for me (usually as a connector to my 2 SEA-NRT trips). DEN-ORD usually works when the flight is a 777 but mostly doesn't if it's a 757 or below.

I will be a 1K by the time the year is up as I am at 78k miles now and have enough travel scheduled this year to get it.

Dsybok

As a mostly domestic gold, it is worth the upgrade, but don't expect angels singing on high and the heavens to open their arms for you and geese to crap golden eggs.

My upgrade percentage has dropped to sub 15% down from 2011s rate which was double that. Hub to hubs are almost nonexistant now. Assume you won't get upgraded and then once in a blue moon when it happens, rejoice, briefly cause it will be LAX to SFO and you'll enjoy it for all of 55 minutes.

Same day changes I have made quite a few this year, and thats a huge perk. Its seamless and hasn't failed me yet.

I save a little bit on UC membership.

Boarding in group 2 guarantees me bin space, but I think silvers do ok there as well.

E+ ahead of time makes life more bearable knowing I am going to be stuck in Y.

When I have a late arriving flight, calling ahead or having the gate agent hold me a seat on the next flight takes a lot of the pressure off when I know I dont have to run like a tourist to catch a plane I have no hope of catching. Just happened to me in IAH, where my name was being paged in terminal B for a flight in C leaving in 4 minutes. Its a 20 minute trip and you have to take a train. Not gonna happen. I just smiled knowing I had 21A on a flight 90 minutes later, and I could have a leisurely dinner instead.

So its not all roses, but its better than cattle class.

dmurphynj

Worth it? It terrifies me to think there may be a day I go backwards!!

I've had a great year for upgrades - about 40-50% or so, even scoring EWR-IAH more than once this year. (I'm EWR based ...)

Pre-booking E+ / exit rows is a godsend. Free same day changes comes in super handy. 3 bags for my annual vacation trip is fantastic.

Really, it's a wonderful thing. I'm on the cusp of Platinum and frankly, about the only thing that brings me is a slightly higher showing on the upgrade lists.

Gold is the 'magic' level as far as I'm concerned - it's a big bump up from Silver.

infamousdx

Gold is definitely worth it for me. Over the past year, I've taken advantage of:

- pre-booking E+/exit row for myself + wife
- SDC for $0 for everyone on my PNR or who I book awards for
- boarding group 2

I don't get many upgrades as I'm EWR-based but not really concerned about that. I would LOVE to make Plat for some RPUs though.

CLEContinental

Am currently Premier Gold. Sitting at 37,805 PQM for 2012, and with additional booked December travel, will hit 45,593 by year-end.

Found a same-day, CLE-DEN-SEA(with 8 hour layover)-ORD-CLE that gets me to 50,038 for the year. Cost all-in is $241.

Basically, the question is: is maintaining Gold in 2013 worth $241?

hangpilot

Do you fly internationally? Do you value lounge access when flying internationally? Do you need the extra luggage allowances *G provides? Do you value being able to select E+ seats at booking?

For me, yes it is worth $241!

Even better if the layover is timed to allow some good seafood in SEA!

zabes64

Yes

E+ at booking, 12,500 more miles next year assuming you fly nearly 50,000 and lounge internationally.

gonezen

Affirmative. Go for it.

mherdeg

Plenty to see in Seattle! Stay longer if you can — it's a great place to spend a full weekend day if you can find the time.

Just for example, at the Museum of Flight, you can see a boatload of aviation history, and you can walk through a Concorde and marvel at how much the passenger cabin feels like a CRJ-700.

ORDnHKG

Also SDC for free vs $75 as a silver. This alone, 3 checked bags at 70lbs each and E+ at booking already save you more than $241 even if you don't fly international.

frankmu

US Customer Service!

SFOTurtle

Yes. My flying is down substantially from the past two years as 1K. Until a week ago, it looked like my travel was going to only get me to 45K PQM. I was looking at MR to ensure *G b/c of E+ seating and SDC alone, as well as some reduction in fees for awards. I now have a transcon for work tomorrow that will take me over 50K, but if I hadn't, for $241, I would have done a one day MR.

EmailKid

As others have pointed out, well worth it

Some of it depends on your travel patterns, and since most of my travel is int'l, well worth the MR, but to each his own.

And to add to earlier poster, a day in SEA is great. Did an MR to SEA earlier this year, and made a weekend of it with cheap hotels and cheap rental cars, though you can catch Light Rail downtown and spend time exploring there (I wanted the car for a trip to Olympic Peninsula).

EmailKid

RdFltErr

It used to be that Premier Executive (now Premier Gold) meant something. But with the new Premier Platinum level of 75,000, I'm feeling like Premier Gold has been largely ignored. Is flying 50,000 really status quo these days?

In addition I've seen UAInsider post at least three enhancements for 1K's in the past few months. But no love for the little guys?

In 2012, I received:
* 0 Complimentary Upgrades
* 0 Upgrades on p.s. despite requesting them with miles
* 0 Certs for anything (drinks / SWUs / Regionals / etc.)
* 18 Exit-Row Seat Assignments (out of 36 flights)
* 50% bonus miles (instead of 100% from last year)

In addition, I attempted to use miles twice this year. Usually I'm amazed at how many award seats are available. This year, I couldn't find any saver awards during the times I needed to travel. But there was inventory for the 1K folks.

In almost every case where I paid to fly, I booked flights on United instead of $50-100 cheaper flights on JetBlue, Delta or American. So in other words, I spent $1,000-1,800 more to fly United.


I was a huge United and Continental fan-boy prior to the merger. United because there were fun MileagePlus bonuses through the year in 2011, double EQM opportunities sometimes, and I got upgraded periodically for free or fairly easily with miles. And I loved p.s., which I flew almost exclusively on my transcon flights.

Now, for the first time ever, I'm seriously considering Delta or someone else. Which kills me. I really want to be a million miler!


It seems that with United/Continental's merged route network I am now constantly competing on domestic flights (which I fly exclusively, and a lot) with more people, including those who fly international routes infrequently (since they count for drastically more PQM). I know SFO is a hub, but it's definitely been harder since the merger. In other words, I might fly 20 trips domestically a year and yet I'm competing with a slew of international travelers who have only flown three or four times. Mathematically, this would be reasonable if the international folks were paying $2-3k per ticket, but I doubt they are. From my experience you can get to London Heathrow for $1,000 these days, or less. Yet these folks are beating me out for upgrades and other items.

In 2012, I spent nearly $10k on airfare, fees, food/drink, etc. from United. The spending was mostly on economy tickets (which, these days, has been about $400-500 a round-trip with an occasional cheaper short-haul), but with each ticket usually came an occasional change fee, seat upgrade purchase, co-pay, late booking award close-in fee, etc. About 4 or 5 times I coughed up the $150 for a change fee. I'd say I actually spent about $550 per ticket average when all was said and done on about 18 trips.

I know $10k isn't a lot. But it would seem like enough to get an occasional complimentary upgrade or other perk based on the setup of the Premier program. Something more than the average person who takes 5 trips a year and carries a United Visa.


Am I an entitled snob and I should be happy with being able to select Exit Row seats for free? That and priority check-in lines (which are usually full) seem to be the only perks for sticking with United and paying a premium on airfare these days.


I guess I'm a little frustrated. Suggestions? Am I off base here?