Originally Posted by
bldr1k
Back to the original thread - while I'm not looking to another airline I really don't think the benefits of GS are that great anymore. Upgrades have basically disappeared (at least for me on the routes I fly) and if there are any seats left within 24 hours, GS means absolutely nothing and anyone can snag them with an RPU or miles.
With a few exceptions (e.g. converting T, boarding priority), the benefits of GS and 1K are the same.
It is funny that GS started going down the tubes about the time Scott Kirby joined United. Maybe a coincidence, but AA CK started getting better after he left and now appears to be a much better level than United GS. Everyone seems reluctant to criticize Oscar, but he is going to be the reason we all leave or stop spending to get to GS. Even Smisek understood the value of the GS fliers.
Given how few GS fliers there are, and the amount they spend (it is way harder to get to GS than CK), I think Scott and Oscar have completely lost their minds.
I could not agree more and I am happy I bolted at the right time last year. The most important GS benefits for me always were 1) the Saver Economy tickets from T conversion, upgrading 2 TATL/TPAC trips per year for me and my wife with my usual 8 GPUs; 2) the dedicated GS line with competent and empowered GS agents as well as 3) the domestic CPUs. All three deteriorated materially.
1) Economy saver tickets through T conversion were less and less available on UA metal (and almost impossible to find on non-stop TATL/TPACs) and increasingly only on partner airlines where they are not upgradable with GPUs. So my choices usually were 70k mls for a GPU wait-listed std. economy on UA metal or 70k mls for a business saver on a partner airline. I do not need to be a GS to get those choices.
2) The GS agents became very restrained in what they were allowed to do. When I needed award tickets to be changed because the system generated intl. connections of 8+ hours or less than 1h and I wanted a reasonable connection time in the hub, then this was either not possible for them to do or "the system wanted another 20k mls from me", either for increasing the connection time from 1h to 3h or for reducing it from 8h to 3h. I found myself using my few Delta miles instead for the domestic legs. The last straw was a GS agent who did not want to wave the change fee for upgrading to a higher fare class.
3) CPU success rates dropped markedly. I can live with that and I am happy to pay for domestic upgrades. What I cannot live with and feel insulted bt is that those are available for less to customers with a lower status/loyalty.
I am now *G through 1MM, fly TATL/TPAC J on LH/SQ/CX and pay domestic upgrades on UA but mostly on VX/AS.
These were the only reasons why I paid UA for a TATL/TPAC J, which was more a premium economy plus through the 8-abreast lie flats and could otherwise not hold a candle against J products from CX/SQ/LH.
I am wondering if UA thinks that Polaris will improve the competitiveness of their J product materially enough to make up for the dilution of GS status. Not for me !