Well, it could be said United is responding "to the market" by raising mileage upgrade redemptions by 5000 miles and requiring H fares or higher on international SWUs, while leaving award ticket redemption levels unchanged.

They are making it more difficult to upgrade "cheap" fares, whilst not making it more difficult for those who have flown a great deal (regardless of fare) from exchanging those earned miles for a free ticket.

With the new 30K domestic R/T mileage redemption to upgrade a cheap Coach ticket to First, you might as well cash in an extra 10K miles and get a First Class Saver Award ticket (if your travel is flexible enough).

Even on international, 60K miles are needed to upgrade an H fare from Coach to Business, while 90K will get you an award ticket in Business - including Star Alliance partners whom many FTers feel offers a better product than United.

[This message has been edited by SEA_Tigger (edited 02-04-2003).]