Originally Posted by
bmwe92fan
As I’ve mentioned upthread - if I lose the ability to upgrade my award tickets (via PN) I will be done.
I would summarize Kirby’s strategy running an airline as “we suck the least” - that’s how I saw AA and now see UA - the “yeah we know it’s not what it used to be - or even good - but all the others are worse than us - so suck it up….”
I think they will keep that benefit ... it is one of the few that is actually "published" ... but what will happen is that PN will become increasingly scarce. I haven't been able to find PN at booking for months, and they would rather sell anyone an upgrade for $250 than process PP.
As said upthread by a few, the value per dollar of incremental spend for GS has significantly diminished - as a combination of intentional restrictions / takeaways, and as a result of things such as the GS Lobbies, Meal Choice, and Pre-boarding becoming irrelevant given CLEAR, pre-ordering, etc.
The phone agents are now obsessed with the one sector rule, whereby a call takes 30 minutes as they read and re-read the rules, complete their "investigations" then spend forever entering remarks into the PNR. For leisure travel, as
UAflyer93 points out, there are dramatically cheaper fares available on other Star Alliance carriers. I am also seeing BA First come in cheaper for West Coast-Europe trips across the Summer than UA Polaris by a significant margin.