Originally Posted by
UnitedHostage
Everyone has a different opinion on this. For me EWR is really that bad for many reasons. It is the airport New Jersey deserves but not the airport New Jersey needs. I have flown out of LGA and transited to other hubs just to avoid EWR before but I am also someone that has a flexible schedule and likes to explore different lounges. My wife would not do this with me for example. If I were not focused on moving up United lifetime status, I could fly more conveniently on other airlines out of LGA/JFK. For money cost I find UA to be very competitive with the routes I spend the most on. But flying out of EWR instead of LGA/JFK has time/convenience/happiness costs that aren't factored in there. I hope one day United can get slots back in JFK...
This is is exactly my point. UA knows that people will find reasons to continue to fly them and that once committed, a UA flier is pretty sticky.
All the wailing and complaining won't change the fact that 90% of the UA fliers will simply accept the status cramdown and convince themselves that it really doesn't matter. On the bright side, it doesn't. Every single thing one can get with status is available for sale.