Originally Posted by
spin88
As someone who "chased" GS and made a point to take certain trips on pmUA so as to keep GS, the benefits were worth it. Flying 200+K miles, mostly domestically, GS (a) addressing IRROPS proactively, inducing finding me a J/F seat where the issue was UA's (b) upgrading me (at the time I often traveled on last minute Y tickets, high c/mi, but in Y per company policy); and (c) gave me very usable miles, that allowed me to take a family trip (or two) overseas in J each year. Putting up with the particular issues UA presented was worth it, because the benefits made it worthwhile to concentrate my travel on UA.
This was the whole reason I stayed with pmUA for a number of years before I just couldn't take it anymore. There were far better choices out there - especially for international flights - but I felt like UA took care of me and at least valued my difference. For me, it was like they know they suck, they're doing the best with what they have and they make up for it on other ways, so it works for me.
For me the option was not did I stay GS on UA vs CK/360, the question was whether I flew UA or simply flew whomever offered the best deal/schedule/product at any time.
I deal with this question late in every year. Is loyalty worth it (and if so, do I stay put or switch?), or just go by what schedule works best? If I could fly in paid F all of the time, this would be a good mindset. But having experienced being a Kettle on other airlines due to IRROPS, needing a cheap flight for family, etc, it becomes apparently really quickly that no matter how bad elite status has gotten, it's still infinitely better than being a Kettle.
I think they're all bad these days, it's just they're all "less bad" in certain areas than others.