Originally Posted by Boiler84

Why would a person fly any airline to achieve a certain status if the person was not going to fly the airline after that status is achieved? Isn't the status, and essentially the money / time spent flying the airline, wasted in that case?

If there is a different airline that better meets the needs of that person (whether it is due to routes/schedules, fares, status benefits, or something else), just fly the other airline.

Originally Posted by MBS MillionMiler

I'm curious what the nay-sayers think about what UA did to me last week...

I had an RPU applied on a 1-stop flight. It was two separate 2.5 hour flights. Segment A cleared right away--like 2 days after booking. Segment B was actually a little longer of a flight (by ~20 minutes or so).

As of the day of departure, there were 4 of 20 seats left open on Segment B. I was #1 on the waitlist from check-in to departure. I never moved from that #1 spot.

I did, however, receive an "upgrade this flight for $129" message, which I did not take. I stupidly thought I had a good chance (using an already-redeemed RPU).

So I blew an RPU on a single 2.5 hour flight, and UA undoubtedly sold out upgrades from under me on the other flight--heck, they even offered it to me with an RPU waitlisted and applied to my flights for that day.

I'm just checking--there are people here that think this type of behavior is okay? Just curious. Personally, I see a lot wrong with it--maybe it's just me.

I'll also add I'm a shareholder in UAL, with around 5% of my retirement portfolio in this stock--and I think this is wrong--not just to me, but to others that undoubtedly go through this on a daily basis as well.