Originally Posted by
AirbusFan2B
Aside from nominated GS status (corporate accounts, travel deciders, VIPs, 4MMs, companions - those who don’t earn it via $50K+ in-year spend), it will be interesting to see whether UA leaves the qualification requirements relatively intact for those who earn their GS status with their spend. UA will be desperate for this subsegment’s patronage like never before so why send them a signal to take their business elsewhere? Many of these fliers spend closer to $100K than $50K in a normal year. They choose flights based on schedule and are not price sensitive nor driven by luxury, which fits UA’s proposition to a T.
By signal do you mean if they automatically grant status for next year, you won't be incentivized to fly them and will fly other carriers to double up status?
I've seen this sentiment a lot and it really baffles me. I've been GS for a year now and it has absolutely increased my strict loyalty to United not because I am trying to requalify but because I have the top treatment in all cases (efficiency of using miles, treatment in IRROPS, chances of upgrade, number of award miles earned, etc.). Why would I start flying American or Delta where I get no preferential treatment, earn very few miles per dollar, etc. just to get status on two airlines?? I've had this before and found it useless.
The only counter-argument I can see is someone who already has GS and would have normally stayed United to requal but instead will try other carriers where they prefer the product over United (because otherwise why not at least get preferential GS treatment except for a better hard product). But if that's the case, why didn't they just do that all the time before?