An open letter to:

Jeff Smisek, President and Chief Executive Officer
Thomas O'Toole, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Loyalty, and President, MileagePlus
James Compton, Vice Chairman and Chief Revenue Officer
Jimmy Samartzis, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience

Re "No Fly, No Buy United", Thursday, December 4 and first Thursday of every month

Gentlemen,

A substantial number of long-term MileagePlus members adamantly oppose your recent decision to limit the ability of the majority of passengers to earn frequent-flier rewards.

After years of an established formula in which passengers earn credit based on actual miles flown, the change to a ticket-price-based rewards system is tantamount to a bait-and-switch of the MileagePlus loyalty program. As you are surely aware, while this encourages business travellers to purchase more expensive tickets, the change makes it harder to earn rewards, not just for budget-conscious passengers, but even for Premier members. Did you think we wouldn't notice?

Following other clawbacks of benefits from your frequent fliers, such as reduced baggage allowance, this is yet another example of your greed taking precedence over building passenger loyalty and improving sadly needed customer service across the board.

We understand the importance of short-term profit and stock value, but coming on the heels of your $1.1B third-quarter profit, is this the way you thank those whose loyalty made your profitability possible? Rather than shamelessly copy-paste the Delta model, you might consider following the example of another of your major competitors, American Airlines, which recently announced that it will continue with its miles-based loyalty program when it merges with US Airways. We expect, and demand, the same from United.

Since you apparently see us as dollar signs rather than customers, we have decided on a protest action. Starting December 4, we're designating the first Thursday of every month a "no-fly, no-buy United" day. We're calling on MileagePlus members to participate by not flying with United or purchasing any United services on this day.

We're doing this in the hopes that you will listen, either by reversing your planned changes, or giving passengers the choice between the existing MileagePlus program and the new revenue-based one. Let us know when you're ready to treat your passengers with a little more respect and we'll be happy to return.

Signed,
Your dissatisfied customers