Originally Posted by spin88

As others have pointed out, United makes revenue from its elites flying on JV flights, so penalizing them makes little sense.

What it sets up is a choice, do I fly *A (giving revenue to United) and then find I don't get status due to this rule, or do I join AS, or DL or AA's program and get the flights I need AND status. United is really noncompetitive here for these who need/want a larger network and to fly Partners.

And for those who are flying partners without a JV? First its likely few and far between, far less than those flying JV flights. Second, these folks are not - because they are not flying UA beyond the 4 flights - using up lots of resources. Lounge access is paid for by partners, and the partners are buying miles from United.

The whole thing really is a reflection of the small ball mindset of the CO management. They saw a few people that were getting 1K status and not flying UA much, and focused lasor like on ending what they saw as someone getting benefits they thought were not deserved. Yet, it really impacted the much larger group of people they were competing for using JV flights to match AS/DL/AA, driving away their business, which is quite profitable to United.