TalkBoard Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: 7 minutes from DCA
Programs: UA 1K/MM refugee to cheapest business class fare, SPG Lifetime Plat, CBP Global Entry, TSA Pre!
Posts: 27,142
Quote:
Originally Posted by exerda
And they routinely do not clear when they should. I've had it happen, and many others have reported just the same.
Yes, yes, we know all the stupid "sweep" blather from UA apologists, but the fact remains that when R > 0 and the waitlist hasn't cleared, anyone requesting an instrument-supported upgrade will clear ahead of those on the waitlist. That's why we needed the ability to see R inventory outside of time-of-booking, and why we had to call.
Now we are expected to "take on faith" that things are working--all the better for UA to sweep under the rug an issue they need to fix by "fixing" something they did not.
Ladies and gents, this sums it up.
Back in the good old PMCO days, few called them on their not delivering on promises made to elites. Those who did were ridiculed.
UNITED was sick and tired of us calling them on their treating their over-entitled elites like crap.
So they tried to make it harder for us to call them on it.
Except they forgot about unintended consequences.
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Just an awful, myopic change. Even the biggest merger apologists (I have probably been among them) are starting to get fed up with this garbage.
+1
I wouldn't characterize myself as an apologist, but I have given UA the benefit of the doubt and have been hoping to see improvements in IT, customer service, and operations. I'm becoming less hopeful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SEA1K4EVR
I don't understand why you couldn't have just waited until you had this solution in place before taking away the functionality for everyone. This is an extremely disappointing development.
+1
As I said before, it's disrespectful of the customers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DCEsquire
UAL is seriously doing whatever it can to pop its short term stock value. Long term this will be a disaster.
My 10-year-old son just wrote an essay on his short and long term goals. I wonder what UA's senior management would write.
Yes, but now I will have to call the 1K desk(or whatever it is now) and have an agent search...and search...and search. It was so much faster on line.
Just learnt of this new Benefit that CO has bestowed on us, and I came to the same conclusion. Going forward my only choice will be to call the 1K desk give them a few dates Im looking at and having them waste their time finding me R>0 to confirm at time of booking.
Wouldnt be at all surprised to see the wait times to speak to an agent going back to the wait times of 3/4
There are pros and cons for everything and imo this is simply another DUMB move on COs behalf. Its as if they simply want all the top Elites to move to another Carrier.
Got 33k booked already for 1/13 that will leave me 40k short for 1M. Once I cross that mark I dont think I will be bothering COs agents much longer for help in finding R>0 as I dont think I will be purchasing that many tkts on a Carrier that is doing everything it can to push its customers away
Sadly, what I at first assumed was a weekend "glitch" to do a systems update turns out to be a purposeful change so bizarre and frustrating it's hard to believe it has been implemented. Echoing the sentiments of the majority, I strongly feel that MORE information in the hands of the customer makes the system MORE efficient. Now there will be an overload of callers who have to wade and weave their way through an already opaque system in the dark = high frustration and less satisfaction. Let's hope the incredible outpouring of negative feedback on FT leads to a reversal. UA - you still haven't learned (and maybe never will learn) one of the cardinal rules of the service industry: don't take something away from a customer once you have given it. That is far worse than never haven given it at all.
1) I question my loyalty to an airline that seems just so clueless. Did no one at the conference table say "maybe we shouldn't use 'FU' on our best customers?" I actually am not joking here, that's the sort of Customer Relations 101 that I expect from a vaguely clued-in company. In marketing message is everything and these dopes don't get it (of course their marketing includes a clip-art logo and a font that came free with a netbook).
2) This change only pisses off the customers they need to stay in business. Another rule: if you are taking something away, replace it with something else. Yet Shannon can't even pull that off because there is only a vague promise of some sort of new method of transparency.
3) One more boneheaded move before I stop the tally: the old excuse that we're taking away this perceived benefit because it was hard for others. Thanks for treating us like your most casual, least-loyal and least-profitable customers. We're happy to start acting like them as well. If United wants to make upgrades ever-harcder despite my loyalty the reason for my loyalty - like me - is gone.
Bonus: That they removed the relatively easy way of finding R inventory but still made the info somewhat available if you jump through extra hoops via the advanced search method (FU indeed) again shows how poorly thought out this move has been. But what about this merger has been well thought out? I laugh every time I see a CO-inspired wingwalker getting paid to do something useless every time we pushback because while current management admits that it was not done under United and is not needed, CO paid a guy to walk with the plane out and so shall the new UA. Boneheads. [This was in a merger article a few months ago.]
I think the miscalculation that UA makes is that they don't realize how long it takes for someone who was a steady 1K (like me) to shift carriers. They see only the short term and assume the long term will be the same.
In my case, the final tilting point was AA comping me to Exec. But even then, I still had three int'l round trips already booked on UA, two of them in C and one in economy w/upgrades. So it must look like I am remaining a "loyal" customer. Somewhat to my surprise, these trips mean I will end up at 85K EQMs for this year. So until this announcement I was actually considering one more int'l RT in C to get the SWU's (that plan has now been killed).
Additionally, shortly after my decision, I booked a family int'l RT on American, 7 people doing TPAC. An upcoming trip to the midwest will be on AA. And starting in 2013, I will take less convenient routes to book my int'l trips, all in C since I will not make ExecPlat this year, on AA/OneWorld. UA will not see the effect of my personal decision until nearly a year has passed after I made it.
Thus, short term what looks like a trickle will change into a waterfall, at least for me. I do not think that I am the only one in this situation.
Programs: UA 1K MM, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silver, Hilton Silver
Posts: 19,475
Quote:
Originally Posted by craz
.... Going forward my only choice will be to call the 1K desk give them a few dates Im looking at and having them waste their time finding me R>0 to confirm at time of booking. ....
Haven't been keeping up for a few hours so may have missed this, but what is the plan once the geniuses at UA remove the MP award upgrade checkbox from the advanced search page because of continued 'abuse'?
?
