Originally Posted by
sfosin
Unfortunately this is the reality on most routes (especially if you’re in a captive hub such as DEN as mentioned upthread). I’m in SFO and there’s really nothing else I can fly domestically. Internationally I can fly JL, AF, etc. but domestically there are very few options for most cities.
What we’re talking about here is exactly proving United’s point; even if they take away GS, many of us don’t have a choice and will still fork over $50k+ annually to be a 1K. Smart on them: why give benefits when there’s no competition? (Seriously.)
I live in DEN, and will just use them to get me to SFO. After that, it’s ANA/SIA all the way. I’m absolutely not locked in to using them for long haul business.
United was so sub-par in 2021 (they actually had gas station burritos as the only food option in the SFO lounge for Polaris) that this is exactly what I did. I took UAL domestically, and flew Asian carriers for the long haul stuff as everything about international United was embarrassingly bad at that time.
So I have no problem going back to that way of going back and forth from Asia.