The Lev

Question for those long-time SE's who migrated over to UA's 1K program after AC "enhancements" of the past few years... How does United's announcement of Dynamic pricing impact your choice of FF program?
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ore-chart.html

I'm assuming that for those who migrated due to the AC AQD requirement this doesn't change the equation, but wondering about others.

eigenvector

Points Poppa

if anyone thinks AC is not going to follow suit next year when they merge Altitude and Aeroplan, then you haven't been paying attention.

Book your mini-RTWs this year folks...

Jumper Jack

Burn it all before its too late.

Adam Smith

If there's no reward inventory, the easiest fix is just to give elites a discount, by having them earn more miles for the same activity (which they already do) and/or offering them a discount (e.g. Aeroplan's discounts on Market Fare for those with Aeroplan status). You don't get any additional seats vs the hoi polloi, but they're a lot easier for you to access, which is a similar result in the end.

My expectation as well.

yyz_atc_qq

What about 1Ks, that didn’t give up their SE100K with the enhancements. Some of us (well one for sure) became a 1K, but didn’t give up on SE....

transportprof

I gave up on SE about 10 years ago. I have found being 1K works for me, as I tend to book most of my reward travel on international partners (including AC without the surcharges) and have rarely faced availability constraints - except with SQ, which seems to always be at odds with UA over one thing or another. I do keep an Aeroplan account, and have (or can transfer) enough points into it to make those SQ bookings when I'm passing through SE Asia.

Now if dynamic pricing comes to UA partner awards, and there is a huge difference with Aeroplan, I may re-evaluate my strategy.

tcook052

So that the discussion in this thread is more on AC/AP than these UA MP changes, let's please focus the discussion on whether former SE's who left may return instead of dissecting the changes which is a discussion best held in the UA forum.

tcook052
AC forum moderator

gcashin

I'm a former AC SE, and now UA 1K for a few years. I generally use most of my UA points on *A partner redemptions and usually within North America, so really isn't any change for my booking pattern. UA still offers free award flight changes to 1K's, which is a benefit that I value a lot, so I'm very happy that they kept that benefit, and no carrier surcharges is a great benefit too. The move to dynamic award pricing is a downgrade for many UA members who may have been booking rewards on UA metal. I still find the UA program offers better overall benefits for me, even being based in Canada. Only thing I miss from AC when it comes to reward travel is IKK, but UA offers way more flexibility in changing awards without fees (and online via a website that works the vast majority of the time), and their upgrade program with GPU/RPU/CPU's works better for me. This change certainly wouldn't push be back towards AC.

mellon

today I see the UA awards from ORD-YYZ are now 6000 miles and $7.50 in fees. So its a bit early to say if I will miss SE awards till the dust settles.

margarita girl

Absolute

I'm one of those "Migrated due to AQD" people - and am glad I did, given how badly it was implemented. I have no plans to return to AC due to that, and also due to the devaluations made on the AC side.

UA's devaluations don't seem to be as extreme to me, although I am more concerned about UA's suspending all YOW-ORD flights next month, eliminating around 20-30 UA flights weekly until "perhaps March 2020". My worry is the competition for upgrades and seats on the remaining UA flights, and what that will probably do to revenue seat costs out of YOW for the next year. I'll be frank - I do my best to avoid even AC code shares out of YOW, if I can help it.

I like how UA treats their 1K's; some examples:

1. CPUs - Less useful unless you're a 1k, but I don't believe I've ever not been upgraded out of YOW for flights with a business cabin. Once you reach IAD/EWR (the only flights out of YOW, with ORD disappearing), competition is tougher from US hubs, but I generally do get upgraded as well. Having recently flown to Aruba with my wife, we also had complimentary upgrades weeks in advance - that I value!
2. Boarding - An actual enhancement, now that 1Ks don't have to line up with Group 1 and can pre-board. Otherwise, I am the type of guy who will hover around the gate, to be one of the first people in line, to put my bag directly over my seat.
3. Trip issues - If there is ever a flight delay, UA automatically either rebooks me on the next available flight, or will protect me on up to 2 possible alternatives. Sure, I always research my best choices (to maximize upgrade chances and mileage earning), but I like how they will proactively reserve seats for me to choose from. If I call up an agent, even if a delay hasn't posted, they are always happy to give me whatever flights I read them.
4. Class protection - If there's a delay, or I volunteer to be bumped, etc., they've always done their best to protect my upgrades. Even if it's a CPU/RPU/GPU upgrade, the agents (in person, I've had less success with phone agents) are usually happy to place me directly in a P fare on the changed flights (with P earning, no less).

Given the bonus of being a foreigner (no PQD requirements, Canada counts as international lounge access), I don't have any plans to switch. Those who have limited status (or no status) who simply get UA miles for rewards may be more likely to move, or those that gained Gold status from the Marriott status match, but the way UA treats me as a 1K has gained my loyalty - and indeed, my advocacy when I talk about them to my peers.

yyzgigi

I'm both SE and 1K. I'm quite disappointed with the change as I never buy anything other than saver awards and have had good luck booking flights that are good enough and then doing SDC to get the flights I want. I also see this putting more strain on Air Canada (and other partner) availability as for many bookings out I'm seeing IAH-YYZ for more than twice the number of miles than an AC flight.

FlyerTalker70

While I'm not a 1K specifically, I have qualified for Gold with UA over the past 2 years and have a decent stack of miles saved up with both AC and United.

This may sound strange but I rarely (if ever) touch the miles. The reason being is it's already a struggle as it is for this student to rack up the travel necessary to hit the 50K miles in revenue requirement UA imposes on its loyal flyers like myself. When I do use those miles, it is generally for last minute short-haul travel for myself or relatives. Hence, the dropping of the close-in fees really means something for me. It is true that this new system brings a great deal of uncertainty on the value of the miles, particularly for Premium international travel, something I plan on using my miles for in the future. However, I also see opportunity for this being a potential windfall if UA prices the awards correctly during the off-season. Take BA for instance, IIRC the reward miles required for journeys during off-season is something like half the number of miles required during peak season. If UA takes this approach, then I can guarantee you that I can find great opportunities to make full use of those points. At the same time, I have my points diversified across multiple airlines and alliances so that depending on what the requirements and routings are, I can book an award flight I need at will for typically the fewest number of points. Having a stack of Amex points also doesn't hurt either.

Getting back to the bigger picture and question, no I am not disappointed with being a Premier Gold with UA. The fact that I can get Gold with 2 TPACs and TATL on the lowest K fares is something I doubt any *A program (particularly Aeroplan) cannot match. The benefits that they offer also make a lot of sense for me as a student who travels enough: free E+ seating on even the cheapest Basic Economy flights, zone 1 boarding, 3 free checked bags of 70 lbs each and lounge access is precisely the type of benefits I use regularly on international flights and it makes the whole experience better. My primary goal with United is status with redeemable miles is much further down the totem pole. That being said, you can bet your bottom dollar that if the other shoe drops (i.e. K fares no longer earning 100% PQM or PQD requirement for non-US residents) I'll be looking for another FF program. To summarize: I will remain loyal to UA so long as they remain loyal to me the cheapskate student!

Safe Travels,

James

FlyerTalker70

TLDR : Unless and until AC communicates what their new Altitude program looks like from 2020 onwards it's foolish to jump ship to them!

Also, bringing this thread back specifically to the question of AC, at this point it would be unwise for me to abandon UA now given a quarter has passed before they announced these improvements and I've already logged a non-trivial amount of PQMs in my UA account for status.

AC has done nothing to communicate what AC's new Altitude programme will look like in 2020 to earn status meaning they are completely off my radar since technically no one knows how to earn status with AC from 2020 onwards! Keep in mind, a couple of months ago we were debating on this very forum whether Aeroplan would rejoin AC in the first place or be a playground for other airlines like PD. Equally unclear is whether AC's new FFP will be built entirely from the ground up or whether it will be a small iteration over Aeroplan. Ideally AC has already spoken to frequent travellers and elites to design the new program to meet our requirements. In any event this is all speculation until AC communicates these changes. As far as I can tell AC hasn't made any significant change to their FFP for about 3 years now and a strong argument could be made that now that they own the program and are relaunching it change is in the air!

It's also an equal mystery what redemptions will look like on that new program. Will it be fixed awards with market fares as of now or will it move to a dynamic pricing model that many airlines are now using? Getting rid of Aeroplan and introducing a new FFP which AC seems intent on doing for the 2020 calendar year gives them the latitude to rejigger all sorts of things (some of which may be to their favour). Sure 1 mile in the current Aeroplan programme may be equal to 1 mile in the new Altitude program but it's unclear whether the redemption value will be impacted by AC imposing additional surcharges, switching to dynamic pricing, etc.

While UA has and continues to make changes to their FFP they tend to be minor, frequent and for the most part acceptable. Should UA choose to make changes that significantly create an adverse impact on myself (i.e. reducing PQM earnings on K fare or require PQD for foreign members) is the moment I'll look for another airline and loyalty program to join!

Safe Travels,

James

Please see this thread for discussion of Aeroplan 2.0 dynamic pricing - Adam Smith, AC Forum Co-Moderator