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?
And people spending more are not necessarily more valuable anyway. As I have pointed out before, if you book the last ticket in V class the next guy is being forced to buy Q class BECAUSE you bought the last V class ticket. Filling the seats is more important than the total spending by an individual.
The only people who are REALLY worth more are those that are buying higher fare class tickets
even though lower fare classes are still available.
Originally Posted by
schley
Because elites become loyal to an airline that gives them those upgrades. Simple, not a new concept. The key is finding the right balance of free vs. offered for cash. If I wasn't upgraded with swu/rpu/cpu like I enjoy now I would look elsewhere. This is the primary benefit I see for being an elite free upgrades. I get them, they get my business.
You must have been getting surprised for years as this has always been the case. I don't trivialize "a couple east coast to Sin or Mel" those are LONG haul flights and at least 1500-2500 I would guess in economy. That isn't a small amount of money and a significant year of travel for almost all US based fliers. I would guess less than 5% of UA fliers take 2 of these 20k + RT's a year. Because you fly all over creation don't discount 2 LONG haul flights and some other domestic flying. This is earned and deserved by all who take them.
^
I take 4-5 TPA-BKK per year @ 21,000 miles. Thanks for your support
