Originally Posted by
chavala
Agreed -- this would be a VERY good time to give us some good news.
As a strictly leisure traveller I was horrified when I read this news, but when I added up my total spending for 2013 I was very surprised to see how close to the mark I am. So no, I don't think asking someone to spend 10k in a year for 1k status is unreasonable.
Yeah, seems it's really just a way to disincentivize the same day change gamers who do ZFV-EWR-IAH-SFO-SAN and things like that on a $250 fare.
Wish we knew how much of an impact the sub-$10k group has on upgrades, etc. If it's a meaningful change, great. But not holding out hopes.
With the lack of fare sales in the last couple of years it's hard to be 1K now without over $10k in spend regardless.
The big issue is the international partners, especially with the ATI. If United.com was actually accurate in displaying the most routes / fares for those this would be fair. But it's not. And a lot of people book via corporate travel agencies that will issue on the original carrier's stock.
In cases like the Germany and Japan routes where the ATI creates less United metal frequency than there would otherwise be this is a big issue for people who buy high value coach and biz class fares.