Originally Posted by
rankourabu
oh please ....
and how do you keep track of spend on partner airlines?
this would be suicide for UA unless everyone did it. There are plenty of people who are not corporate drones, that fly enough to be considered valuable customers, this would alienate all of them, without a chance of status - why should the person flying UA twice a year TPAC choose United, if everyone else would offer them status for the same price?
To be fair, I highly doubt UA really cares all that much about 2 TPACs on cheap fares.... In an industry with single digit margins, two far in advanced TPACs in Y for a total of $3000, including all taxes and fees is probably a break even endeavor for them at best.
I've always been surprised that you could get gold with a couple of east coast US trips to SIN or MEL and perhaps a trip to Grandma's at the holidays...
There's another thread about people's spend to hit 1k and the variance (especially to the low end) blew my mind. I don't buy premium tickets for the sport of paying more, but I just can't fathom how some people are swinging 1k on less than $5k spend.
All I ask for is something to shoot for above 1k, as I have a really hard time justifying loyalty for GS when I have no idea if I'll even get it. Status qualification should not be akin to religion in terms of blind faith and devotion, with an abstract concept of potential reward at the other end.