Originally Posted by
kevflyer
Everything you said was also true exactly 1 year ago
Yup, although since then, vaccinations and boosters have become wildly available. Hopefully, UA thinks that it needs to focus on the "new normal" and that people need to start flying again for status, and not depend on endless promotions or extensions. Some changes in business travel mean some travelers will NEVER get back to pre-pandemic levels and UA should let them land where they land, not where they were. I know GS and 1K travelers in Houston who will never get back to where they were travel-wise pre-pandemic. UA shouldn't keep extending or PQP-promoting them to levels they're not going to get to again.
Originally Posted by
Winkdaddy
...Makes it much harder to get to that $13500 1K threshold grinding it out on $250-$400 domestic tickets...
UA has plenty of domestic 1Ks who don't grind it out on $250-400 domestic tickets - they pay, or their company pays, for a seat up front. That's the whole point of PQP-based Premier levels - in general, to separate the low-yield per seat-mile customers from high-yielding ones. UA wants to reward customers who buy 10 business class tickets (say $12k+) between EWR and SFO, not someone w/ 25 economy tickets (say $7.5k). Of course, UA is happy to take both wads of money, but the reward is to those generating a far higher yield/seat-mile. There are still a number of grinders like me who travel personally on a variety of coach and P fare tickets and do get to the (pre-pandemic) $18K+segments hurdle.