PDXPremier

Over the past 5 or 6 years, I've been Silver on UA (one year as Prem Ex) but I can't remember a year where I've spent $2500 which means 2014 will be my last year as a UA elite (and my wife who is also my MR co-pilot ).

As Silvers, we've been relatively happy with UA and had no intention of leaving UA until the PQD announcement came along. After considering two mileage programs (American and Alaska) without a revenue requirement, we decided to move all of our travel to AS (and it's partners) since it appears that AS is the least likely of the two to switch to the revenue model anytime soon (they do seem to be the "Switzerland" of airlines....lol). Being based in PDX and being able to earn AS EQMs on both DL and AA should allow us to easily earn MVP status on AS.

So, I was wondering...for those of you who are leaving UA because of PQD, where are you going??

gobluetwo

They have Pretty Darn Quick requirements? I'd think people would LOVE that!!!

Oh, you mean PQD (premier qualifying dollars)...

I'm sticking with UA, as my clients generally pay for my travel and UA is the #1 preferred airline for my company. I wouldn't be flying anywhere near as much as I do now if my job didn't require it, so it'd be a moot point otherwise.

PV_Premier

whoever is most convenient to get me where i need to go to, when i need to go there, for a reasonable price.

i am hoping this is most often either UA, AS, or WN -- but basically i will be kayaking.

most of my work travel at least for 2014 will continue to be on UA because i will most likely make 1K this year, and thus will have 2014 GPUs and RPUs to burn.

crnk

I'm 99% personal travel at 60k/3k PQD at the end of the year.
I've got a mix planned out:
1. Will stay on UA (upgrades) and star partners (lounge access) next year with reduced flying.
2. Reducing flying in general (1 bigger/longer intl trip plus 3-5 domestics a year totaling under 25k vs current 2+ intl and 10+ domestics a year)
3. Becoming a Kayaker it for the most part. Probably picking up an AA or DL card to get free bag if it makes sense.
4. Burning my 400k banked UA miles over a couple of years. Maintaining status has been a good motivation to minimize burning. Plus without status, perks like bags and lounge when I redeem for intl J/F sweeten the deal.
5. Buying premium cabins when I feel like it. With less travel volume and no loyalty, I can reallocate my dollars to discount C fares a portion of the time, plus I get to see what other carriers are doing.

Edit: Things may change the game too. I'm currently chained to my company's main office due to my work, but if I were to start visiting client offices and racking up high dollar spend, that would shake up the plan.
If those spending habits change next year, I'd probably stay with UA. But if that change happens without status and other carriers make sense (direct flights, schedle, etc) I wouldn't mind staying away out of spite. (the key they're missing in these decisions is that running people off today for 'not being loyal enough' isn't likely to resonate well when those people move up the corporate ladder and start directing spending choices)

gnetwerker

Many of us won't leave United for any particular airline, but will go back to being non-loyal price-and-schedule shoppers, at which point the question will be when and on what routes can UA win on price, schedule, comfort, and service?

I make between 5 and 10 r/t per year, totaling between 30k and 70k miles, in a combination of domestic and international travel. I have considerable flexibility in my travel scheduling, and about half of my travel is purely discretionary, meaning I can simply not go if I don't want to or can't find a decent flight.

My own rule of thumb is generally that I will not fly in coach for longer than about 2.5 hours, though in extremis I'll stretch that to 4 hours. If I cannot upgrade I will bite the bullet and pay or simply not travel. Because of this, I slip up and down between MP Silver, Gold, and Platinum most years simply because UA serves my airport (also PDX), but I also fly AS, DL, and (when I can't avoid it) AA and WN.

So if the PQD requirements lowers my ability to upgrade on UA, I will likely choose AS and DL (and their partners) for my flights, both domestic and international. For example, I recently flew to NYC with my wife. Both UA and DL fly non-stop (into EWR and JFK, respectively). DL's C is $600 or more cheaper than UA. If I'm not in Y-UP'd on UA (2-class), then I'm going to buy a DL ticket, and put the miles on AS. No temper-tantrums, just the way it is.

I'm the canonical simple MP member -- upgrades buy my loyalty (and to some extent award travel availability), that's it. Take those away, I'm a price/schedule shopper.

Similarly, I'm traveling to both Europe and Asia this year (accounting for almost 30k of travel). Right now I am slavishly following UA C-class (and partner) R and RN availability on various flights to and from HKG, SIN, ICN, NRT, and also LHR, FRA, CDG, and elsewhere. But if that doesn't work I'll defect to SQ or someone else and just pay the price.

It seems to me that domestic frequent business travelers have it worst, and I thank God I'm not one of them anymore.

amartin1979

I'm looking at moving to AS or AA

waxearwings

Leaving depends on some of the technicalities of how PQDs are distributed within in multi leg flights in the *A network, and potential price changes in the marketing premium of 016 tickets for code share *A flights.

Where I go depends on how the new AA/US shakes out, esp in the DC market.

craz

If you want status theres no place to go hide. DL started it and most likely AA will jump on once their merge is completed. You will be down to WN,B6 or AS

PDXPremier

Correct, which is exactly my rationale for choosing AS....especially since my 25% bonus RDMs as a Silver on UA will go to 50% bonus RDMs as an MVP on AS and I can fly AS/DL/AA (soon US) to get those bonus RDMs.

STS-134

You can hide in A3 or TK's program (assuming you don't care about UA-specific benefits and only care about generic *A benefits). And honestly, I'd rather get to use the lounges EVERY time I fly instead of get a CPU once every 10-20 flights.

I just want to make sure that, no matter what happens, if I fly UA, I never, EVER pay them a single dollar for baggage or anything ancillary like that. On 1/1/2014, I've got 13 months to rack up enough A3 miles to make that happen.

BearX220

Most of my travel starting right now will be on AS/DL/AA, feeding my AS account to make MVPG by December 31. I'll be UA Silver for 2014 but probably won't use the many lavish privileges, or book UA itself, unless I'm forced to. I also have a bigger UA MP balance than I'm comfortable with, so I'll be winding down my Chase credit card use and burning my stash down to zero through 2015-16 after securing AS status.

FlyWorld

Kayaking. Nothing else makes sense for me out of SFO anymore.

craz

I wouldnt be a bit surprised to find out UA and other *A Carriers got *A to change the rules that in order to be a *G from any program the person will need to fly 50K and *S 25k

But as I said on another thread, each person will have to decide which benefits they need or want and how best to get them be a UAG (or higher) or a *G via AE

STS-134

UA's really in no position to dictate to *A what the *G rules should be though, given that they deny their own *G members access to the lounges. And given that UA just probably pissed off their partners with this move, I doubt they're in any position to get *A to accept any of their proposals at the moment.

But I agree, *S/*G should be managed by the *A, and should have the same requirements across airlines (which additionally means no PQD requirements for *G, although it would be okay for UA Premier Gold). For any benefits that are airline specific, the airline would be free to make up its own rules.

fly747first

Guys, please vote here so that we can quantify opinions a little better. Thanks!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ring-pqds.html