Originally Posted by
joe_miami
I'm thinking about going free agent next year and just buying upfront on flights longer than ~3 hours. United's qualifications are simply out of whack for people like me who mostly travel short- and medium-haul international, even with a lot of P fares mixed in.
I went free agent the past two years. I liked it. I was able to buy tickets on any airline I wanted at the best price/time/cabin. I'm still confused why that's good for UA, but it worked for me. Don't get me wrong, I still flew UA and star partners, but for a 75k a year traveler buying mixed fares and living in LA, loyalty doesn't make sense right now. I say that as a UA MM, so I have a backup.