Brian

I received their solicitation for a new contract a couple of weeks ago. Here's my response:

Joel,

Thank you for your note.

While I may consider renewing PassPlus at or after my expiration date, I have to tell you that in my continuous 19 years of flying at the 1K level, I have never been more disappointed in United than I have in recent months. If I were making the decision today, which I do not need to do, the answer would be a resounding no.

In fact, I have moved 100% of my flying away from United, for two reasons. One is the airline's inability to meet the most minimal standards of basic customer service since the system integration. The other is the elimination of most major benefits of status, to the point that it is clear United has a new model for valuing loyalty. The result is that my spending in the last four weeks alone on American, Delta, and Virgin America approaches $10k. I have not set foot on a United flight. Needless to say, your new $25k annual renewal level is not the source of my issues.

On a purely PassPlus level, United has gutted the program by very significantly increasing fares and removing last seat availability in Y. In C and F, you have simply misaligned pricing. In the old model, leaving a large deposit with you made good business sense, because I could always get a seat, fares were manageable, and because I preferred to fly United in any case. Now none of those are the case.

At this moment in time, the totality of changes United has made clearly signals that the airline has revalued loyalty, and thus so have I. If the airline amends it's approach, I will reconsider.

I apologize for the nature of this note, but it's important to clearly communicate how completely United's decisions have recast the nature of our business relationship.

Best Regards,

Brian