Originally Posted by
SEA1K4EVR
The problem is that it's a slippery slope. To date there has never been a published fare that didn't earn PQM's.. once it starts, where does it end? Suddenly you may see N popping up all over the place. I'm not yet convinced the N fare doesn't earn PQM's... it's definitely possible the PQM's just aren't displaying correctly on the website..we've all seen that before. I hope that's the case. There's nothing in the fare rules for that N fare that precludes PQM earnings (not that there definitely would be).
And for those who have always earned miles on paid flights and who don't pay attention when booking... imagine their shock when they earn nothing. It's not like they have a big flashing banner with a warning..which they should if indeed this fare doesn't qualify. This is a major shift from historical practices (if true).
Unfortunately, other carriers have had these fare classes for a long time. The slippery slope appears to be leading to some place in the bottom of the value chain, along with RyanAir and Spirit Airlines. But, even real airlines have these fare classes. It might be something we have to learn to work with, and I agree, it's good for choice - basically seems like unbundling elite benefits from the fare so you can choose to pay for elite benefits or not. From UA's perspective, seems really dumb, in a world where those elite benefits have a value rapidly approaching zero. I agree that the worst part of this will be for corporate travelers required to fly on cheapest fare.