Originally Posted by
lsquare
So that's the only difference?
You’d also get Premier phone support, bypassing the primary queue when you have to call UA.
Originally Posted by
lsquare
Damn, I don't think it's that big. I had a little exchange with another person about UA seats. Don't get me wrong, I'll take E+ if I can get it for free, but being a smaller guy than some of our fellow FT members, I don't value the difference as much.
You can also select a Preferred seat at booking as a Silver, so if you care about window / aisle, but you don’t care about E+, that could be valuable. Personally, the difference between E- and E+ is big enough that I always include it in my calculations, because I’d buy it on any other carrier where it’s offered, except for the very shortest flights (< 1:15 or so). Obviously, YMMV.
Originally Posted by
lsquare
For me, where the upgrade becomes a night and day difference is going from Y to a lie-flat.
Silver offers little meaningful benefit in achieving upgrades to a lie-flat seat.
Originally Posted by
lsquare
If the Chase UA VI gives most of the benefits such as premier check-in, I would argue Silver isn't even worth it considering what's required to get it. The card even provides UC access. I guess the final thing is how UCs handle CC holders when the club is full. I think I read some UCs decline the one time passes from time to time. I wonder if they'll decline access with the Chase UA VI during peak hours when the UCs are likely to be busy and full?
The Club credit card comes with an actual Club membership. You don’t show the credit card for entry; you show the Club card. They will not turn away members due to using the Club card for access. However, they do require a same-day Star Alliance boarding pass for entry.
I tend to agree that Silver isn’t worth targeting
specifically. If your flying patterns are such that you’ll make Silver, so be it. If not, I wouldn’t spend a lot of extra money to reach it. Then again, if you’re not flying enough to reach Silver, I don’t see a ton of value in Club membership either. You can buy Premier Access on most flights as an a la carte item, and if you’re going to fly with two bags often enough for it to be worthwhile, you can buy a baggage subscription — but, again, you’d have to fly enough to justify the subscription but not enough to where you get a substantial savings from reaching status.
I consider GS, 1K, and Gold the three most meaningful status levels. You may not care about E+ at booking, which is the primary Gold benefit, but it also includes the two bags, plus Star Alliance Gold, meaning lounge entry on international itineraries. Platinum isn’t a huge upgrade from Gold (although it’s better than it used to be). 1K is the next sweet spot because of the number of PlusPoints you get —
if you can use them. And GS has a massive set of perks but requires 4MM lifetime miles or a very large annual spend.
Originally Posted by
Merolis
Most PE/J tickets will earn 100-150% of distance flown in UA miles. As a silver you get an extra 1.25x on top.
The additional 25% bonus is not universal. Only a few carriers — mostly (entirely?) JV partners — offer it.