I was reading the United threads this morning, and someone referred to UA's policy of conferring Premier Executive status on frequent flyers whose companies choose United as their airline of choice.

Can anyone comment on how widespread the practice is, both on UA and on other airlines as well?

The reason I ask is that I have had a very difficult time getting upgraded out of SFO on many of the routes I fly and it made me wonder whether part of the reason is that perhaps I am competing against not only frequent flyers but also large numbers of "giveaway" PE's.

(For those of you who may have already responded to the original post, which was worded differently than the edited version above, please see my correction and an apology below.)

[This message has been edited by dgolds (edited 02-17-2000).]