Originally Posted by
Brendan
I just read some partially good news on unitedhub.com : Eff. 3 March, the front cabin on 2-class UA aircraft USA to/from Canada, Caribbean, etc. will be called Business (no more First) so should be bookable as a J award with BMI miles. However, within the US mainland, it will still be called First. Of course, the big deal is whether the I or O bucket will be used.
Its already been in place on some routes since Jan, I had problems on a LAS-ORD-SJU-IAD-LAS run Mid Jan 2012
Booked and paid in "A" First Class - (Paid Flight Not a Redemption). After it was booked and ticketed UA Changed the ORD-SJU and SJU-IAD Sectors to "D" Business
As this was a run to get A3 Gold on a single trip (21k miles for the trip at 300% in "A") the 2 sectors dropped to "D" 200% screwed it up. (Total miles dropped to 17.5k with the 2 200% sectors)
Although between A3 and United it was resolved satisfactorily in the End (A3 added enough miles to get to 20k for gold, and UA issued a $200 Certificate for the downgrade).
So its been ongoing for a while, and although may be good for redemptions it hurts on the earnings for these cheap routes which were good miles for low $$$
EG: the LAS-ORD-SJU-IAD-LAS Run was $1030 US all in, and with the 21k miles was enough to qualify for an A3 Gold card from a standing start of 0 in one trip. With the A3 Gold cards being valid for over 3 years $1k is a bargain
Personally I regret leaving DC as my *A Card of choice but with the A3 deal it was a nobrainer.