RobotDoctor

Being that status accrual remains the same rules as today but award accrual is now based on spending and status, the people standing to lose the most are international travelers or possibly transcon flyers. As for me being based in Colorado and a 1K these changes work to my benefit. I generally pay fares upwards towards $1K due to last minute travel and do not fly transcon or international (based on reality not desire). Most of my flights will yield between 4,000 to 7,000 miles (status and bonus) per reservation. Multiply this by 30-35 and best case is that I accrue 250,000 reward miles annually. The new formula based on past spending habits will yield an estimated 330,000+ reward miles per my spending patterns. While I am not thrilled about any more changes to M+, this one does reward those who spend the most monies on UA. Is the fallout of those who will leave UA going to be significant? I bet the loss of revenue will be a decent bump in the road and noticeable to management.

Who knows where M+ turns next. The saga continues.

AA_EXP09

not to mention the recent LAXSIN Q fare that I purchased on AA that was <1000 USD RT with MPM of >10k.

emcampbe

For some places, the average fare is well above this already on many routes. I know it's not really applicable to those in competitive markets like NYC, WAS, ORD, etc.

For example, I was in, and will be coming back to, CVG. Aside from flights to the west coast, it's hard to get anything below 18 CPM domestically.

One of my most frequent routes is YYZ. And it's really hard to find anything below 50 CPM most of the time. And I usually buy in advance. DAY and CMH sometimes offer a fare worth driving for, but often enough, the difference isn't worth it. BUF can offer savings on the other end sometimes, too, but I often don't have the time for it, not to mention I need to add a rental car, extra time for traffic, etc. Even NYC can be expensive - ~30 CPM.

For me, this change will actually partially offset some of the disadvantages of the higher fare structure I have to deal with. I've had some international travel the last couple of years which has brought my average CPM down to under the cutoff for me as a gold. But I'm expecting little to no overseas travel next year, which means I will likely have a few more miles in my account to use.

davewang202

Aye. Remember it well lads, this be the good old days of flying. Soon, it will be nothing except memories.

One day, I'll be sitting next to the LED based fake fire, and this wee lad will say "Granpy, tell me again the story of this aeroplane company Unisteed? That used to pay you to fly?"

And I'll wipe away some moisture from my eye and say "Aye, United Air Lines itwas. A good and proud airline. RDM's, GPU's, SDC's and drink chits. Ah, but no more. Now what remains of it is part of the Ryan Spirit Alliance."

"Lad, did you know we used to have seats on aeroplanes? Proper seats! "

"Seats?!?! Wow! Tell me more Granpy"

"Aye, how I wish it was 2014 again...."

.....

pbd456

will it mean that international travelers will book away from UA?
for exmaple. CX gives full miles on discount economy that i used to fly to asia?
is there any reason why i should fly CX over UA?

emcampbe

CX most definitely does not give full miles on their most discounted economy fares. If you book them as AA codeshares, they will, but those are usually priced much higher.

LaserSailor

The winners here are the ones bringing margin to UA, not just revenue. This will be refined further. Distance flown was a lousy business metric and airlines figured this out.

NiceLanding

And how long will it take them to figure out that revenue by itself, without accounting for cost of service, is a lousy business metric as well?

mecabq

This is why a dollar-based redemption system (i.e., X RDMs per dollar of flight price to redeem an award) is inevitable sooner or later.

An irony of this change is that RDMs will now be an appreciating currency. It will be cheaper to earn 25,000 RDM in 2017 than in 2016, in real terms, ergo each RDM will be more valuable in the future, assuming that RDM redemption rates stay the same, which is why they can't.

If they don't move to a dollar-based redemption system, I can imagine an amusing scenario whereby they index award-flight prices each year. It's 25,000 this year, 25,500 next year, etc. That seems impractical.

Johnson21710

All,

Hopefully I didn't miss the answer to this during my search of this thread but has United announced any waivers or allowances for Presidential Plus card holder as they relate to the 2015 changes?

dnwaldmann

Considering that it's a card they no longer offer, I doubt it.

LaserSailor

It is so easy they are already doing it, by simply controlling saver availability on the supply side.The mean number of RDMs redeemed for travel can be controlled by UA as precisely as they care to.

hookthem

Wow! This would have made a substantial difference to my RDM earnings last year. $500-$900 UX MAF flights certainly add up...

Bonehead

Yeah, last time I checked they want $661 DEN--MAF (563 miles OW) at the times I would need to fly (on a CRJ-200 no less). That yields a 1K 2252 RDMs today per RT and will be 7271 RDMs after 3-1-2015. Quelle différence!

Might keep me from buying FC-all-the-way tickets on AA for $750-$800, but don't count on it until they get rid of the devil's chariot on that route.

JVPhoto

Just want to hear it from the horse's mouth....

LX F segment bought on UA and ticket on 016 = $ x 11, right?