Originally Posted by
Bonehead
How many upgrade instruments did you guys typically acquire? Maybe the old system WAS better if you really knew how to play the game. I'm always willing to adjust my views in the face of new evidence
I've commented on this a few times when it comes up and I've got anecdotal comments all over the place on this subject...
I HATE the UDU program. I hated it from the day it was announced and have fared much worse on upgrades since this program was announced.
Before UDU,
I went 2 1/2 years without sitting in coach on a 2- or 3-class plane. And I upgraded EVERYTHING, even flights like ORD-IND on a CR7.
I never ran out of upgrade instruments. Between the former UA's very generous CR1s, SWUs and 500-milers, I had more than enough to upgrade myself AND my companions. I even had upgrade certs expire--Wow, a bonus 500 miles for each one that did!
Before UDUs, I could upgrade companions that weren't on my PNR. (Now maybe CO will bring a way for this to happen, but I hope not at the expense of CO's terrible 'Lowest Status on the PNR' program).
Now, I have to compete with EVERY 1K, and I surely don't compete at all with a GS flyer. I consider myself a knowledgeable flyer and I worked the system to maximize my upgrades...Therefore I was rewarded for my diligence and travel IQ. UDU took away ANY competitive advantage any smart flyer had...It dumbed things down to the only thing that an upgrade took was having the status. How many 1Ks still don't know what SWUs are? I bet quite a few...More than you'd think. How many 1Ks previously 'forgot' to request an upgrade, or didn't even know about it...Or simply didn't care either way if they got upgraded? I cared, so I made an effort to get upgraded.
I will concede that I have the perfect balance of travel where cert optimization is easy (about 50/50 domestic/international). My SWUs went for my 3 overseas trips annually, CR-1s took care of my Airbus flights (even flights like ORD-DFW), I left ALL 757 flights to chance and until 6 months ago, I'd never sat in coach on a 757.
Even when I was a 1P about 6 years ago, upgrading was still important to me, and I rarely missed one then--I did have to buy a book of upgrades here and there and used miles for some transcons, but the bigger seat was important to me, I rarely wasn't there.
Now, it's a free-for-all. And as I always connect into ORD on UX (read: delays, cancellations, irrops)--Pre-UDU, it used to be easy to get upgraded on a new flight when I missed my original one...Now, HA! They fill those F cabins up so fast at T-24, I'm sitting in coach and those of lower status are upgraded.
There is NOTHING that I like about UDU.