United PassPlus Becomes Jetstream, Promising Better Customer Experience

United Airlines’ prepaid program will soon receive a new name and new features for business and leisure travelers. The carrier announced PassPlus will become Jetstream, allowing passengers to use amenity dollars for status, United Club memberships and add travel funds towards flights on joint venture partners.

United Airlines is hoping to make their corporate pre-paid airfare program better for flyers, by offering more flexibility on how memberships may be used. The Chicago-based airline announced the transition of the United PassPlus program to Jetstream, a new name for the legacy product.

According to the airline, the new sales portal will allow customers to better manage their travels and use amenity dollars for what matters to them. The last changes to the program were made in 2017, when the program expanded to companies with a United corporate contract and allowed bookings from worldwide points of origin for United flights and partners Lufthansa Group and All Nippon Airways.

When the transition happens later in 2019, Jetstream will allow business travelers the opportunity to “actively manage and review how they use their benefits and how they leverage the product in a one-stop shop.” More importantly, flyers will have even more flexibility in booking airfare and using amenity dollars.

Once fully activated, corporate flyers with Jetstream accounts can apply their amenity dollars for many different experiences, including membership to the United Club lounge, or purchasing United MileagePlus Premier elite status. More importantly, travelers will be able to add funds at any time and use them towards flights on United or the airlines of joint venture partners Lufthansa Group or ANA.

The new benefits are targeted towards small- and medium-size businesses who want the flexibility of a corporate travel plan, but without the high activation costs. Individual packages start at an investment of $25,000, while corporate plans begin at $50,000. FlyerTalkers who bought into the plan early say it was a good investment, but the airline’s current customer experience have downgraded the overall product.