Originally Posted by
fumje
If I'm reading correctly, this is an argument that benefits haven't been diluted, i.e. because +P can still clear into open PZ, they still hold their worth. And if I am reading that correctly — hope I'm not coming in too hot here — meh. You are the immaculate informed consumer when it comes to specifics, but on the general point, I can't help but think this is like boiling a frog (guess who's the frog), and the larger moral is being missed.
That’s certainly not what I’m saying; I’m saying they
have been devalued, and I consistently recommend against spending extra on UA in order to reach 1K unless you can have the same level of flexibility that I do. But I’m also saying that I still haven’t had to waitlist, and if I were in the position where I had to waitlist, 1K would lose a substantial amount of value. As a 1MM flyer, I have a nice fallback if I need it (again, not everyone is so lucky).
I recently reevaluated my airline choice — something I recommend people do regularly — and UA remains the best for me for now. AA has more nonstop options from Austin, and I could likely make EXP with their new system pretty easily, but the SWU benefit appears to be at least as tough to use as PlusPoints are and their international route network isn’t as useful to me personally. DL is similar, except that the last I heard, you couldn’t even do your own research to see which flights had upgrade space.