mathgeek1978

Where did you get this $200 - 250 amount from? Whoever gave you this number is terribly wrong.

A GPU (which also comes from R-space) can be used in lieu of a cash + miles international upgrade, which is $600 + 30,000 miles to Asia and $550 + 20,000 miles to Europe.

juniorsu

Just going off average on CC

planeluvr

Not the best way to value items.

WineCountryUA

To pile on with the others -- RPUs are maybe in the $200-$250 (20K miles) but GPU are at least 2xRPUs.
Plus the improved status Priority
Plus (maybe) the bag allowance
plus the award fee waiver
plus the better CS phone line
plus the Global entry reimbursement (if not already GE)
plus ...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...2-posts-4.html

But agree with the caution on the auction.

which is 2xRPUs or well north of 30K miles -- since cash exchanges are not allowed on CC not sure how you got those numbers
Near expiration GPUs ( with a few weeks) do have less trade value.

sammyindc

It is worth it. But as others have said make sure it's a legit auction and will give you full 1K status.

juniorsu

I went off e-cert trade values, but anyway this is getting OT, since not everyone has the privilege of CC anyway.

I'll withdraw my commentary and let the populace weigh in.

Thanks

mathgeek1978

Exactly! Is the auction legit -- ie, UA sanctioned? Otherwise, trading of status and miles is illegal. You cannot use what you've purchased, and the seller could get his/her account closed and all miles/status forfeited.

Baze

Not illegal but a violation of the T&C's of the program. Don't think they could go to jail for doing it.

Parikh1234

Its amazing that in the past month, ive written to united once and will probably write to them again expressing my concerns. In the 10+ years I have been a onepass / mileage plus member, I have NEVER complained about anything. Heres a recap of my past 3 days flying united:

Flew LAX - SFO on Wed night. CPU processed and I was assigned 3A. On my way down the Jetway, a united rep chased me down and handed me a boarding pass for 8A. No equipment change, etc. I asked why I was downgraded (not really caring because its an hour flight, but more curious) and she said that she gave it to a guy who was complaining at the counter. I told her I was a 1k and was next in line for the upgrade. She said she wouldnt, not couldnt, do anything about it and told me to sit in 8A. I didnt want to cause a fuss so I tucked my tail between my legs and sat in 8A.

Flew the next day SFO - ewr red eye to make a 9 am meeting. Everything was great, got in 15 mins early. My bag didnt. I went to baggage services at EWR and the lady said they put my bag on the next flight. I arrived to SFO with more than ample time (about 1.5 hours before). I told her I was flying out today again to LHR and I had items I needed in that bag. She said I would get the bag back in 24 hours. I told her that didnt work and showed her my boarding pass, after she asked for both SFO - EWR, EWR - LHR. She said, "Im not touching your phone, stop showing it to me". I told her the only reason I am showing her my BP is because she asked for it. She said she would only state policy to me, over and over like a freaken robot, would not even reason with me. I told her I would wait by baggage claim and sat around for 2 hours to wait for my bag after a 5 hour red eye. I called 1k baggage, the lady was very nice. Said it was odd what I had to go through, I have her the rep's name. She said to call back after I got my bag and they would compensate me.

I called back later, the new 1k baggage rep said they dont compensate. I asked why my bag was taken off the plane, they said because of weight and balance. I had a <20 roller, the kind you can carry on. He said they usually dont take the priority bags off, but "it doesnt matter anymore". What the hell?!?

Now I get to the baggage checkin counter today for my EWR - LHR flight and I ask if there were any seats open in BF I could buy up to. The rep says, "I am not going to look for you, but you can surely look on the machine yourself." What kind of customer service is this? I thanked her for her time and left.

What kind of mutants does UA have working for them. Ive never experienced 3 days of travel like this in my whole time with CO / UA

uastarflyer

That ended on 10/1/2010, with the final unplug on 3/3/12.

That coincided with my final year as a 1K, and it was awesome.

Parikh1234

so what airline do you fly now?

BTW, im writing this as I am waiting to fly in a middle economy seat to LHR. This is going to be painful....

halls120

They probably know your don't spend at least $10K annually, and just preparing you in advance for a reduction in status.

PainCorp

No.

demkr

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B350 Safari/8536.25)

No.

PV_Premier

you said it yourself "tail between your legs"...UA is now the survival of the fittest. if you show up asking to be trampled over by the beast, it will do just that.

not saying that is how it should be, but that is how it is unfortunately.