Originally Posted by
nmenaker
Well, UA GOLD for life isn’t that bad and frankly overall one of the best things to have…3, 2 free bags, E+ and Exit row selection at time of purchase.. Lane 1 boarding, at this point in the world’s history that’s about all we can expect and frankly it DOES make flying a bit more manageable and predictable. Based on your historical travel and uncertainties, NOT having the do MR or run the gauntlet when purchasing tickets has a LOT of hard and soft value.
Totally agreed in that UA Gold for life is a great value. E+, exit row, lane 1, and *A lounges - don't forget the lounges, which makes layovers bearable for me. However, I think Gold for life is the
minimum that UA can offer for those of us who've flow this far on UA metal. MM also doesn't count the (probably) million miles I've flown on *A partners because the flight started on UA metal.
UA is losing what could be a huge low-cost, high-value marketing opportunity. Just image a plane full of customers seeing a big to-do over a MM - upgrades, free champagne, announcement over the PA - and just 10% of 200 pax deciding they too want to reach that milestone. That would be a direct boost to loyalty, sales, and stock price. But to your point, the days of airlines caring about us frequent flyers died when UA killed off the
mileage part of Mileage Plus. I'll never do a mileage run again - that's for sure.