mkr

I guess UA is just throwing these offers out there to many persons, hoping someone will take the bait. A Gold membership...what can that cost UA?

worldtrav

A whole lot less than $2299

2P or not 2P

Well I'm not even tempted. I am still undecided over whether I'm sticking with UA/Star for my (ostensibly leisure) travels or going on cost/convenience.

mkr

Of course, a Gold member gets 2 bags checked free & E+ seating at time of reservation, plus companions get E+ seating. But according to the vast majority of input in these threads it is very rare for a Gold member to get a CPU. I guess Gold would pay off for someone who made a lot of short haul trips for saving on E+ & bag fees.

worldwidedreamer

...but even then the $99 explorer card would pay bag fees.

My devaluing mid-tier elite benefits, increasing credit card incentives and reduced value of miles, United has reduced loyalty for those of us who do not aspire to be GS.

I actually think that this quite customer friendly---with no expectation of an upgrade I can get the DL+AA+UA credit cards for $300/year and have priority boarding plus free bags on all the oligopoly airlines. Also, I can always choose the best combination of flight time and price.

IMHO A big part of what drives the economics of the American domestic air market is the rivalry between Chase, Citibank and American Express. It turns out that they can leverage Mileage Plus, AAdvantage and SkyMiles respectively as loss leaders for much higher margin financial services products. This fundamentally drives the pivot in focus from selling tickets to credit cards.

thebob6

Guess they didn't want to offer me a buy up to gold. I was short PQM and way over PQD.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

1) I wish UA hadn't have caved in on giving GPUs and RPUs w/ the buy ups.
2) I wish UA would just stick with the mileage and $ requirements needed for each level. Status matches and status challenges (to a lesser degree) I feel are valid shortcuts to status.

The buy-uos just cheapen the process and bloats the levels with people the real qualifiers should bot have to compete with for benefits.

Anyone who buys a status level has absolutely no basis to complain about how cheap or what a money-grabber UA is any other respect, because this is basically the same thing. ToD takes away your seat? You have NOTHING to complain about - it's just UA cheapening the process/benefit for more money.

Boogie711

By way of background, I was a 1P. I didn't fly very much with United last year, and am moving all my business to OneWorld... at least until Smisek leaves and United smartens up.

Anyway, I got an email this morning saying "Retain your Silver Status!" Which was odd, because I wasn't a Silver... but anyway...

I can buy back into Silver status - "With Complimentary Economy Plus at Check In" and "Upgrades that Clear 24 Hours Prior to Departure."

All for the low, low price of $2,199.



Good luck, United. Good luck.

flyingnosh

What's a 1P?

Silver Fox

Premier Gold, PG, or just Gold: 50,000 PQMs or 60 segments in a calendar year (and unless waived USD $5,000 $6,000 {2015} PQDs). Was called 1P, Premier Executive in premerger UA program.

WineCountryUA

pmUA shorthand for Premier Exec (50k to 99.9K mile level) -- typically Gold in the present system.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-glossary.html

Silver was 2P

after the merger some initially used 0P for Plat (to extend the pmUA terms) -- but did not stick

mkr

That's an email I'd like to see...would you mind posting a copy?

aacharya

The e-mail (wife dropped from Silver to General) doesn't have it - once one clicks on the link and logs in, then the offer is in there.

FrequentFryer

I get your point. But...

My company paid the $3200 for my buy-up to 1K this year i.e. AT 89k EQM - I was short 11K miles. so the buy-up saved me the hassle of flying to Singapore for a long weekend on a mileage run for $1800 fare. Given that I saved on hotel bills and shabu-shabu bills (plus charity cases) that I would have incurred during such a mileage run - I would say - a win/win for all involved.

Me humble apologies to the so-called "real qualifiers".

BTW - I flew to JAPAN and back in UA *G GLOBAL FIRST.

On the flight to JAPAN - I flew ANA - Star Alliance. Great flight; great service. The purser was able to provide caviar from the "english" menu as an appy - and then I enjoyed the full Japanese menu. When I landed in Tokyo - the purser came and kneeled/bowed at my feet - and thanked me profusely for flying ANA. The remaining staff also thanked me by name on my walk out the door. A bit much - but - I was amazed.

On the flight back FROM Tokyo - on United Global First - I was amazed too. For different reasons. Few examples: When the cheese cart came round - I was asked which cheeses would I prefer?

"I'll have just a taste of the Brie and some water crackers, please."

"Oh. Which one is the brie? We don't get much training on cheese around here. Which cracker? "

And then even though I had agreed to be awakened for breakfast - I found myself waking up by myself - and from the time I awoke - to the time I stepped off the plane in USA - not one single FA spoke to me. Not one to offer coffee. Not to offer breakfast. Not to say good morning. Not to say thank you. Not to say goodbye. Nothing. And this was 747 upper deck GLOBAL FIRST.

The contrast was stark. And I realize these are "first world" complaints.

But seriously - why did I just now pay $3200 for buy-up to 1K?

If the level of service is not aligned - then well - nuff said...

Color me "a fool and his money"...

Silver Fox

You didn't, your company did so, cough, don't worry about it, cough.

But I do get your point totally. Last year we took an award flight LHR-CHC-LHR and it was my first experience of Thai Airways, well, the staff were so nice, so friendly, so willing to do anything to help and so darn efficient in every single aspect on-board I would certainly fly them again without any hesitation. I just bought 3 tickets on Singapore Air so I am looking forward to that going LHR-CHC-LHR over Christmas, everyone seems to rave about it. Was trying to hang on for award travel but would rather pay than go through the stress of waiting to see what opens up - well that's what my wife told me to do, so be it !