FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - 2015 MileagePlus Change - Co-Pay Required for All Mileage-Supported Upgrades on p.s.
Old Nov 19, 2014 | 8:49 am
  #8  
CO_Nonrev_elite
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: May 2005
Programs: Million Miler, 1K - Basically spend a lot of time on planes
Posts: 2,202
Originally Posted by dkc715
The copay on PS flights will dramatically reduce the use of MP miles for upgrades and lead to some empty seats upfront.

It becomes more cost effective for elites just to just buy $1K one way BF seats. A one way K fare of $200, plus a $250 copay, plus $400 (the approx value of 20k miles) and you are at $850 for an unconfirmed seat. Plus, by buying the BF seat at $1k versus an economy seat for $200, you get another 8,800 miles under the new earning scheme (11x).

Will also reduce all the 1K's who use their miles for family members to upgrade.

All those critics who say UA can't come up with an original idea, looks like they proved you wrong. Can't believe they couldn't come up with an exception for GS and 1Ks.
While the extra RDM helps some folks, I believe most of us are waiting for a big increase on redemption costs which will nullify any possible gain
CO_Nonrev_elite is offline