Originally Posted by
penner42
I fail to see how someone flying 25K a year was "over entitled" to get more than one free checked bag when someone with a credit card with a $395 annual fee gets a Club membership valued at $475 AND two free checked bags.
Honestly, as a silver never expecting to get upgrades, the bags and E+ were the two things I cared about most.
Why? Because they look at it in the "macro" sense.
Sure, 25,000 is a lot of miles.
Then again, if you're flying 25,000 on $300 transcons, it's only about $1,500 of total annual revenue. And when that customer achieves elite status he/she excepts perks in return (not just one free bag)
The point is the seats that represent those 25,000 miles will always get sold, and they might as well sell them to kettles who receive no freebies.
As far as the credit card, the give-aways are pretty small, and UA shares in the annual fee with bank so it's guaranteed cash in the bank.