rowsign

^^^
Totally agree. I just buy first for all of my domestic flights. With a bit of flexibility, the price is down to a reasonable price for most flights.

milypan

ffman999

I don't like the idea of minimum spend, but I do like raising the threshold of qualification. The number of flights I've been on with 60+ people on the upgrade list is insane.

ijkh

I think AS is experimenting with their status upgrade process. Recently on a short flight on a "big" plane SEA-PDX AS did a nice action. The entire first class cabin was exclusively paid first or MVPG or MVP75. The FA seemed very proud announcing this fact. After the flight I received a questionnaire about the upgrade process. Maybe just maybe AS is trying to make status more worthwhile. How much can it cost very to put higher status AS fliers up front IF they haven't sold the seat. It doesn't always happen. It should in my opinion SOP. Not just on 30 minute flights.

CDKing

Reduces AS earnings on the lowest fares is the best idea over a dollar spend. See what its life for us who need to use partners to maintain status due to the limited routes. Yes i know its not as much direct AS loyalty but if we fly partners we aren't taking up your precious upgrades.

I don't follow? it just means there were no MVPs on almost full fare Y and that seats were full before they got to MVP on the upgrade list.

There will still be 60 plus people on the waitlist, try flight through a united hub even adding PQDs doesn't make difference in size of upgrade lists. it just drops the number of people in the higher tier and moves them to a lower tier.

jiburi

I disagree.
Despite the fact that AS/VX network has created slightly more mileage earning opportunities, AS/VX combination still lacks much of east coast and mid USA presence. Flights only benefit west coast based passengers. People who live in other parts of USA, will have no or limited opportunity in flight credit as route network simply do not exist in/out of their cities.

To make it fair access for all travelers, i think the current 20K, 40K, 75K should remain for those residing in non-west coast states. AS need to aggressively entice non-west coast based passengers and increase market share in the East. For west coast residing passengers (WA, AZ, NV, ID, MT, CA, UT, OR, WA, AK, HI) where earning opportunities are plentiful, it would make a good case for an increase.

A case for wanting an "upgrade" is understandable but AS need to study further what type of passengers it wants for those coveted upgrades.
Jiburi

chrisl137

I get tons of upgrades as an MVP flying out of LAX/BUR, including up to PDX. I've been about 70% for the year, and only a few times have seen more than 10 people on the upgrade list, let alone been 10th. It will be interesting to see how many people who were basically banking miles on AS but flying OAL drop off now that AS no longer really has a domestic mileage earning partner. I'd rather they don't increase the thresholds - I'm about to make MVPG (all on AS/QX/OO) and want to stay there for the change fee waiver.

Tracer_SEA

Not true at all. Mileage Plan and the Visa card have historically been huge drivers of loyalty for Alaska in the PNW. They were banking on replicating this up and down the state of California to make the VX routes work for them. VX wasn't long-term profitable with a nicer onboard product, but AS thought they could make it work with a lesser, denser product and a better loyalty ecosystem...

eponymous_coward

chrisl137

That summarizes about half the first page of the UA forum...

WillTravel4Food

I'm 75K and at around 85K for the year. All my flights are mid-con or trans-con. I'm probably under 10% for the year getting the UG. Granted, I'm on popular routes, but even with a Y ticket I'm frequently around #5-7 on the list. On one flight the GA said there were 13 75Ks and 20-something MVPGs. Moving the threshold to a higher level won't solve the problem of full flights and pax on Y tickets. There's always going to be a high likelihood of a top tier pax on a Y fare taking the UG over the rest of us. All in all, AS is still a better program. Now if they make it more difficult for me to get my exit row aisle seat, then I'll be upset.

be_rettSEA

I agree that they need to expand their market share in the East and am sure they want to entice non-west coast pax, but different qualification levels by region isn't the way to do it, in my opinion. This will just further frustrate passengers in their largest markets that they are still fighting to retain (former VX fliers, and long time AS loyalists alike) where there are plenty of other options besides Alaska. If they want to be attracting non-west coast passengers, they should be doing it with route frequency, competitive fares, service and on-board amenities.

If they go this route, I can foresee some west coast passengers updating their addresses to east coast locations to avoid the higher threshold, much like my US-based friend who uses a friend's address in India to avoid UA's minimum spend requirement for his status, as it is waived for those based outside the US.

milypan

VegasGambler

You can get under 10c cpm with Condor in business class after the CoS bonus. Plus you travel in relative comfort (relative to economy) and only need 1/2 the butt-in-seat miles.

I'm definitely going to visit Frankfurt next year...

jinglish

Even DE's economy rates look pretty decent--I think a lot of fares come in at 75%? That's one option to Europe with decent rates. Last time I went to Japan, I got a whopping 30% of flown distance on JL.