Thanks for the information and personal accounts, Blue. Interesting stuff! And though we do sometimes take more latitutde on this board in talking about other airlines than some boards might, I think all this UA detail is meaningful in a discussion of Frontier's FF program. It shows what big competitors do and raises these questions: what can Frontier do to compete, and what should Frontier do to compete.

For the sake of discussion, Blue, let's put someone like you in Denver instead of Chicago (or Spain). When that person travels internationally, it's United all the way, of course, and they rack up status easily. When they travel domestically, it seems very highly likely that they are just as loyal to United because of the benefits 1k gets them...everything from white glove treatment to bonus miles. So that suggests that Frontier probably doesn't have much of a chance to win the business of this flyer no matter what they do...including trying to match the highest benefits of 1k FF loyalty. And for Frontier to match the status of a high-tier flyer...with no chance of winning their loyalty... essentially means that when a 1K UA flyer does end up on Frontier for whatever reason, they are treated like the best Frontier customer as a reward for flying United so much.


So maybe that gives reasoning why Frontier's FF elite benefit policies in some areas just don't match those of airlines like United. (I say policies because some benefits of being loyal to someone like UA are not based on policy but on the structure of the airline.) Then the next question becomes...do the benefits of Frontier's FF program align with the their best potential, strongest revenue producing traffic segments, and biggest competitors for the passengers Frontier can reasonably compete for. Hmmm...