<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ozstamps:
Joh and I got mailed TWENTY SWU's this year, plus various other SWU's for other reasons and we have no hope of using them all IF they always take them, whih they do not of course. Plus 4 HK49s for each Q we travel 10K plus 2 x special 1K Companion certs useable even on T and S fares domestically. Plus a 1K email line that clears all waitlists we have ever been on.
AA does not offer anything near as good as this. Not does CO, nor does DL, not does NW. No-one does!
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Folks, I don't mind a bit of cheerleading for your favorite airline but this goes beyond "false advertising" so as to make FT useless for people asking for advise.
Giving the impression that 1K e-mail addresses clears waitlists is pure chicanery. They may do it once in a while just as you get an op-up once in a while. Your anecdotal evidence is similar to someone claiming they get op-ups all the time. But this is neither the function of the 1k e-mail line nor to be expected of it and you can be certain that in most cases, they will do nothing more than what calling up an elite line will do. If there is any line that still goes the extra mile amongst any airlines it is the EXP line at AA.
Your twenty SWUs were an exception last year. With the same hyperbole if you had reached EXP on AA this year, you would receive 32 SWUs between the both of you and guess what the offer holds for next year too (with probably better guarantee than UA will provide SWUs next year) and they are always valid on ANY fare. (yeah, I know down under, 2 vs. 3 segments, etc., etc., but this is hyperbole after all)
There is no guarantee whatsoever that UA will provide 1K special companion certs anymore. That seems like a one-time thing last year to differentiate true 1ks from 1k lites. At best you can expect the V+. But you don't need to be a 1K to get this.
I am not prone to cheerleading for any airline. As a consumer, I choose the most beneficial. I think it is good for UA or any other airline customers if consumers individually acknowledged the best choice for them and behaved accordingly so that the airlines are under competitive pressures to improve their benefits and services. If one patronizes UA blindly with uncompetitive offerings, what motivation is there for UA to compete?
I believe UA at the moment is at a serious disadvantage to AA for international travel if the routing is not an issue. The faster people recognize this and let UA know of this, more likely you can continue to enjoy competitive benefits on the airline of your choice.
This type of misleading cheerleading does not help anyone. The sweet spots did not come because of cheerleading but because people like me quit flying UA and showed them with real statements how much we did. I would hate for UA to think that this type of one-of promotion is all that is needed to keep their customers.