daffy99

And I'll add another datapoint - 13 straight years as 1K, now Gold as a consequence of MM (certainly not my 38k PQMs last year).

What drove me away? - upgrade shenanigans and general decline in benefits. Although there were a number of changes last year (meals / phone service / etc) that suggested to me that UA had won the race to the bottom and was actually trying to head up again, for me it was too late. I'll still fly UA when it's the best option based on cost and flight time, but happy to not feel tied to UA after all this time...

boss315

Agree....and agree with all of the above...went to AA and actually feel appreciated most of the time!

coplatua1k

^ AA has been great to me as well.

phaka2

Same deal here. GPUs and RPUs expire but not for lack of trying. Less than 200K short of 3MM but not sure if it's even worth it to get there. Having good luck using Kayak for better connections domestically and nicely priced biz or premium economy trans-Pacific. There was a time I was always upgraded and dreaded I doing without it, but I've learned that life in the back of the plane isn't so bad....

elCheapoDeluxe

I was in the same boat. I only flew 55k PQM in 2014 so dropped to gold after more than a decade as 1K. The upgrade situation didn't bother me that much (just get used to nothing and the 2-3 I got were simply a random gift). But I'm the kinda guy who used to stumble up at the last minute to board because the last guy in group 1 is still before the first person in group 2 and finding a spot for that carry-on was rarely a problem. Group 2 is so HUGE though with all the credit card people that this became a really stressful experience for me. Yes - lots of seats left, but the overhead space in E+ is often gone by then requiring the upstream salmon impersonation to get your bag at the end.

The other big thing was that I used to make generous use of booking award flights if I even thought I'd use them, or using award flights last minute all the time. As a gold, the fees made that prohibitive.

Fortunately, I did at least kick past the 75k threshold in 2015. I'm much happier as a Plat with group 1 again and no close-in booking / reward refund fees. The rest - I'm doing just fine without.

tyroner

I dropped down to Platinum after a few years as 1k. I flew the miles but didn't spend the $$$.

For me being 1k was nice - CPUs were rare but I used every single GPU I ever earned. Reading the posts on the other thread, that seems to be something of an oddity! Plat has most of the other benefits as 1k so I think I am happy. For the next year I decided to buy a whole bunch of tickets (Europe-US-Europe) chained together in C after the nice fare $1.2k sale recently. Buying biz seats for the same price as Y means it doesn't matter if I am 1k or not. Better yet, once I had a guaranteed 75k miles for plat next year, I have started giving my business to American as the prices were better. So overall - I am happy to be free (mostly)!

LIH

Given the way the industry has shifted to a focus on PQD I think the result here is exactly what UA wanted. I no longer really care if I'm going to hit 1K or not and my recently acquired MM status (on my 7th year of being a 1K) really means nothing. So this year, I'm flying a mixture of DL, AA, UA and generally buying the discounted first (P or A) at the time of booking on UA. I'm sure they will love the higher yield per BIS mile on me. Meanwhile, they won't notice that the 3-4 paid business fares I do professionally each year are now not solely booked on them. My overall PQD last year was ~$14K, my guess is this year it will be half that on United.

Kurt

I am a Denver-based MM who was a 1K for 14 years; I switched to AS last year with a status match to MVP 75K and have not looked back. Service is nice and I was 100% on upgrades (21 for 21) in 2015.

I still fly UA sometimes; to LAS the fares are cheap and a gold can get an upgrade most of the time (I was 3 for 4 last year). F is pretty cheap to places like LAX, and I did get a nice upgrade DEN-LAX on the 789 on its way to MEL.

My Chase card gets me into the United Club, and AS gives me 4 Board Room passes a year so lounges are OK, too.

TonyBurr

You are correct that I am now 2.4 MM flier, but since I do not fly UA anymore due to Smisek, I never even thought of changing my profile. Sad that after almost 2.5 MM flier UA did not even ask why? I have been MP for almost 30+ years. If I had a long time customer disappear I would communicate. But, the lack reflects UA's lack of concern. Jeff really destroyed this airline.

Bruin1K

Just an observation after reading all the posts:
Most of you who are ok not being 1Ks anymore are MMers. I think that has to do something with you guys being ok since you don't have to keep flying on UA to keep *A G. It's different for those of us who have to keep flying to keep our status. I don't think gold would be an easy landing spot for muti year 1Ks who HAVE to keep flying UA in order to keep status. Jealous! I'm at 600k lifetime so ways to go.

mecabq

Absolutely true.

At least it will continue to be true until they devalue 1MM -- they say "Premier Gold for life," but there is no guarantee that that will always map to Star Alliance Gold. I wouldn't be shocked if they downgrade it.

elCheapoDeluxe

Don't see your point other than some obsession to keep flying to maintain x status and for no other reason. Flying 60k/yr isn't any more comfortable as a million miler than it is as a non million miler gold.

Bruin1K

You said it yourself. You didn't get my point!
A once 1K who is a MM can now occasionally fly united for whatever they have to do and be ok not getting the CPU or other perks that premier gold doesn't get because they only fly occasionally.
On the other hand if you are not a MM and you fly a lot it'll be tough being just gold on all those flights and you want to give UA most of your biz to get the gold benefits at least.
You mentioned, I fly for no other reason other than status. Out if my 600k bis miles on UA metal, ZERO has been for a mileage run. My next mileage run will be my first. So that is not my case!

elCheapoDeluxe

What I don't get is why a MM who flies 60k annually is "only flying occasionally" and a not MM who flies 60k is "flying a lot"?

Baze

I believe what they are trying to say is they don't even need to fly 50K to get the Gold benefits and if don't have MM have to fly 50K (and spend $6K) to get the Gold benefits. So is much easier for the MM than the non-MM.