I can see how United might favor a flyer like PremEx over someone who is a non-elite member who accumulated the same number of miles from other sources. In reality though, there are very few pudding guy situations where people have accumulated hundreds of thousands or millions of miles without ever taking a flight. Most of us fly, stay at hotels, rent cars, use credit cards, telephone partners, etc.

I don’t doubt that PremEx and others may have received preferential treatment by reminding agents that their account contains “pure” or direct miles. On first blush, this seems powerful. What I am saying and PremEx seems to agree with me, is that this isn’t really logical. It is mostly perception on the part of the agent.

Think of it this way. When PremEx tells a United agent that he is a loyal United customer and that all of his Mileage Plus miles have come from flying, what he is really saying is that he has flown a lot on United but at the same time has sent thousands of dollars in partner revenues to Delta instead of United. How is this more loyal to United than someone who has flown just as much but has also put his partner dollars in United’s pocket?