United Increases Award Ticket Changes for Non-Premier Members as of 19-Jun-2013
Jun 19, 2013, 1:36 pm
#62
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But the change only applies to new award tickets, not existing award reservations.
I suspect UA didn't give advance notice because they didn't want nonelites (churners) advance booking a gazillion awards as "placeholders" under the existing rules. And this seems totally 100% reasonable to me. In fact, it seems to me that the way this was handled benefits elites because it prevents nonelites from tying up award space in order to take advantage of the old rules.
I suspect UA didn't give advance notice because they didn't want nonelites (churners) advance booking a gazillion awards as "placeholders" under the existing rules. And this seems totally 100% reasonable to me. In fact, it seems to me that the way this was handled benefits elites because it prevents nonelites from tying up award space in order to take advantage of the old rules.
Jun 19, 2013, 2:28 pm
#64
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Originally Posted by 5khours View Post
So here's a theory. UA wants to improve the experience of the their HVFs. So
1. They thin the ranks with the PQD requirement to free up more upgrade space.
2. They make it harder no Gold/Silver/Brass Kettles to use Award miles so there are more seats available for Plat/1k/GS.
3. Next they announce a whole bunch of new benefits and enhancements for 1k and GS.
Probably kidding my self, but IIRC, JSMI has made numerous comments about how surprised they were by the loss of HVF.s
So here's a theory. UA wants to improve the experience of the their HVFs. So
1. They thin the ranks with the PQD requirement to free up more upgrade space.
2. They make it harder no Gold/Silver/Brass Kettles to use Award miles so there are more seats available for Plat/1k/GS.
3. Next they announce a whole bunch of new benefits and enhancements for 1k and GS.
Probably kidding my self, but IIRC, JSMI has made numerous comments about how surprised they were by the loss of HVF.s
what does this change do? make it very difficult for GM's to refund their miles (which they already have difficulty redeeming). For a domestic leisure ticket (the kind most used by GM's), you're talking a $200-250 ticket value on 25k miles in the first place. I get that they're probably 'aligning' it with their revenue ticket $200 change fee ripoff. But like that, this change will probably result in a lot of uncancelled tickets. Look for that no-show rate to skyrocket, United.
Jun 19, 2013, 2:52 pm
#65
Join Date: Mar 2012
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I would venture to say that most non-elites don't even realize that they can change their award travel dates for free if they keep the cities the same. Again, just a guess, but this is more likely to affect people who were holding inventory as placeholders because they didn't know for sure when they would be able to travel and thus were taking advantage of this benefit.
Frankly I'm not sure why this wasn't done sooner.
Frankly I'm not sure why this wasn't done sooner.
Jun 19, 2013, 2:52 pm
#66
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So here's a theory. UA wants to improve the experience of the their HVFs. So
1. They thin the ranks with the PQD requirement to free up more upgrade space.
2. They make it harder no Gold/Silver/Brass Kettles to use Award miles so there are more seats available for Plat/1k/GS.
3. Next they announce a whole bunch of new benefits and enhancements for 1k and GS.
Probably kidding my self, but IIRC, JSMI has made numerous comments about how surprised they were by the loss of HVF.s
1. They thin the ranks with the PQD requirement to free up more upgrade space.
2. They make it harder no Gold/Silver/Brass Kettles to use Award miles so there are more seats available for Plat/1k/GS.
3. Next they announce a whole bunch of new benefits and enhancements for 1k and GS.
Probably kidding my self, but IIRC, JSMI has made numerous comments about how surprised they were by the loss of HVF.s
I don't like it, but it's basically making award tickets roughly comparable to non-refundable tickets.
Jun 19, 2013, 2:54 pm
#67
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BINGO! Instead of grabbing awards you might use, you're gonna grab awards you're more likely to use. For people looking to book awards, the net should be positive since people will be hesitant to provisionally remove inventory.
Jun 19, 2013, 2:58 pm
#68
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Both of the recent changes are positive IF you are Platinum or higher AND you have no problem meeting the new spend thresholds.
Jun 19, 2013, 3:07 pm
#69
Join Date: Mar 2012
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I alluded to this earlier, as the net impact to award inventory may be positive. However, I would be curious to see a breakdown of what percentage of awards are booked by elites vs. non-elites. Theoretically, non-elites have far fewer miles and thus book far fewer awards. The impact to award availability may be that it becomes essentially reserved for elites, since non-elites will hesitate to speculatively book until it is to late, while elites proactively snatch up all of those seats, even if they don't need them.
Jun 19, 2013, 3:22 pm
#70
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UA would promise not to pee in your shoes, and call that a benefit.
Jun 19, 2013, 4:07 pm
#72
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Jun 19, 2013, 4:22 pm
#73
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You know that message that the flight attendant broadcasts after the plane takes off?
"We welcome our MileagePlus members who will be earning valuable miles on today's flight."
I've always found myself scoffing in my head when they said this. Next time, I might scoff out loud.
"We welcome our MileagePlus members who will be earning valuable miles on today's flight."
I've always found myself scoffing in my head when they said this. Next time, I might scoff out loud.
Jun 19, 2013, 4:47 pm
#74
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Jun 19, 2013, 4:52 pm
#75
Join Date: Dec 2009
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