Originally Posted by
bldr1k
Three years ago my upgrade percentage as GS was 90%. This year it is less than 20%. I rarely get upgraded as GS domestically. The rest of the benefits are similar.
As a UA Gold who is not hub captured (any more). I would attest to the TOD and low F fares as being a large part of this. I often buy-up a few weeks or days ahead of a flight for both myself and MrsAce. I have to assume that there are many others doing the exact same. UA is doing it's best to monetize those seats and I'm one of the people that the tactics are working on.
Originally Posted by
fosbibr
Flying to ATL from DEN earlier this week and the gate agent calls my name prior to the commencement of boarding. Goto the counter and she asks me if I'm going to check in. With a confused look, I tell her I'm already checked in and show my boarding pass. She then hands me a paper boarding pass showing an economy seat - despite my 1st class purchase and checked in reservation. At nearly the same time, my phone refreshes and the seat assignment changes. Although I requested a GS agent to come to the gate to understand why I'm being bumped out of of my reserved seat, she places a call. The agent on the phone indicates that due to my change in my reservation earlier that day (for the return only) the whole reservation has been changed. Further, the change in the return, which was also a 1st class purchase, more than doubled the overall fare. Despite asking various questions - can we just change back to the original reservation, is another GS taking my seat, are there other GS' in the 1st class cabin, etc.; they would not honor my reservation and place me in coach.
Maybe my expectations are out of line, but the overall feel of GS has changed. Other than getting to board 1st and the special phone line (I get the same service from our travel agent) - there's nothing premium about the service. The only time I have seen a GS agent was in Philly and I was taken aback - I told her I thought they had stopped the pre-plane greeting a long time ago.
I have not been status on UA for that many years but I would compare my current mid tier with the customer service I used to expect as a non-status pax 10 or 20 years ago. It seems to be the trend. That said I think UA is worse on consistency then DL but better than AA. The feel I generally get is that a minority segment of UA staff hold on to a certain culture of 'I only do my job not someone else's' and they continue to define their role more narrowly every year. There are IME a majority of UA staff who will go far out of their way to help a situation/customer. It is an enormous organization so there will always be some recalcitrant elements but DL seems to be on the ball with the way staff treat guests across the board, not sure what the fix is but that's my perspective.