Originally Posted by
stimpy
In case it hasn't been mentioned in the previous hundreds of posts, I'll bring it up now. I recall many years ago speaking to a senior UA executive who told me over drinks that most MM'ers simply stop flying United once they reach 1MM. So they had very mixed feelings about the program...
Graham told me the same thing, in a similar setting. Which has bolstered my several comments here that UA "backed into this", after DL introduced the concept. Perhaps we were more drinks along, but the inflection didn't give me the impression that the feelings were mixed.
BTW, in my view, it hasn't been until now that the million miles levels have been seriously aspirational. Mostly, recognition just arrived when it arrived, a wonderful gift.* It really would have been difficult to shoot for MM per se. A lot of life occurs in such a span of time, and wear and tear.
To be more explicit, this last comment really is to point up that it has been a
gift. A thank you. We are seeing the effects of Word of Mouth Marketing quite active here in evolving the concept.
* Further to this, I do mean MM recognition
per se here, and that's what I got, but it's important to remember that it actually rationalized and replaced a much less formal recognition process for extremely high and long-time usage. I can't find the threads from back then, but do generally remember that when it was introduced, there was a lot of FT discussion by who would be VERY old-timers now about what had preceded the formal program. (And I think they were some VERY sweet LIFETIME benefits.)