I think you can say that about most frequenty business travelers, not just UA elites. If you're spending a lot of your time flying around for work, all RDM gets you is another way to pay for sitting in airplanes. I realize there are people like you who really just like to fly around, but I think you're relatively quite a minority (at least insofar as also having the resources to do it) and there are a lot of biz travelers who want the status just to make flying less unpleasant. And UA unless you're 1K you're getting an experience about like the Mileage Plan general member.


For half of my flight patterns this almost makes UA tolerable again. I've had years where I had PQD for plat but was 10K miles short of gold! If most of your tickets are booked inside of 2 weeks, and many inside of 1, you can get a lot of PQDs and not a lot of miles, but also spend a lot of time in middle seats (sometimes in E-) for those PQDs. Earning status faster on AS, and having better benefits (even just the PC upgrade at T-48 is a huge advantage over E+ at check-in) makes AS way more appealing, independent of the RDM. Credit card programs like CSR are going to take people away from the airline based green stamp programs because of the improved flexibility.

I don't disagree, but this makes MVP Gold+ that much more valuable, and partially a reason people sometimes stretch to fly AS, it makes redemptions more flexible for elites on AS and partners.

Most people aren't going to "screw UA" by "screwing themselves" into an extra en-route stop to LHR, or wherever, that UA may fly nonstop. Many FTers aren't "most people," but most UA customers are "most people."

UA has 3X the amount of capacity out of SFO than does AS. Moreover, UA makes its bank from all of the longhaul service it flies into/out of there. AS is going to need a better plan than to hope for elite FFer "leakage".

And based in BC, UA probably doesn't give a flying (or in your case, "not flying,") eff. ;) This thread is about SFO and the AS benefit, if any, which IM(nsh)O, will be little to nil. Probably little to nothing that hasn't already been said here. SFO flyers with money are going to get there as conveniently and comfortably as possible on a per trip basis. Bay Area business travelers flying regionally are going to get there as conveniently and with the most flexibility possible. That is how WN has so much of the west coast business market. More legroom in F and perhaps a more pleasant crew isn't going to get a frequent SFO/ORD flyer, or an SFO/WAS flyer to limit his/her options. It isn't going to get an SFO/DEN flyer to take the very limited SFO/DEN remaining service on AS (yes, that flight via SEA).

Hey, I don't disagree, never did with respect to SFO flyers. For those that can't get there as easily and conveniently, on a per trip basis, as possible, Premier Platinum is still better than flying AS for most flyers. One poster suggested that anything under 1K is equivaent to MVP on AS. I disagree with that too. For business travelers on OPM, I agree that AS won't fulfill their needs but neither did pmVX. No airline can get everyone to everywhere but an alliance is stronger than a partnership. For business travelers on their own money and leisure travelers maybe that is less true. Some posters, including the one that liked your post, are just vehemently anti AS because they took away your little niche player. While VX hade spiffy white recliners and free flowing booze (not to mention the model wasn't profitable) it didn't contribute to a meaningful Status for Business travelers and the product was long in the tooth anyway with B6 Mint entering the Market.

Replace SFO with LAX, EWR, IAH, DEN.... it is all the same. The world doesn't revolve around SFO business flyers.

As far as UA not giving an eff about BC consider that many UA itineraries are cheaper ex YVR than they are ex SEA or ex SFO for that matter. If they really didn't give an eff, they wouldn't try to compensate for the inflated USD. As far as YLW, it was the traveling public that didn't give an eff about UA. They soon found out that there was less O&D traffic between YLW-LAX and later YLW-SFO than were flying on 4× daily AS flights to SEA to connect elsewhere.

James

Ah, but it kinda sorta does. And UA knows this. I'm a UA MM. As long as they don't screw around any more with *G, somewhere on the UG list, more legroom, and the free bags, I'm ok. (That said, post-CO takeover, I've got less than 100K added to my account.) I've been an AS MP member since 1986. I've had status for probably 75% of that time. I'm about to hit 500K AS miles. If I fall off the AS wagon for a year, I'm not even squat.

I'm currently on a trip that will be getting me very close to DL PM for 2020. In the not-so-distant past, I'd be nearing AS 75K for 2020. Instead, I'm scratching for MVPG. This wasn't my Gran Plan. I've probably got 2.5M BIS Paid miles, but since I credited so many to AS partners, I've got squat. UA Gold and nothing else, not even close. I could have had something with DL or AA .. instead, because of the AS MP, I've not got even squat. I guess when you sleep with those that sleep with almost everyone you get what you might expect.

As for the poster that liked my post ... I take no responsibility, nor admiration, but for that particular post, I'm not a hater ;)

And good night, from Buenos Aires, where a massive thunderstorm should be arriving any time now. @:-)

Buenas noches, from Santiago.

I'll spend $20k on UA this year and they're basically firing me as a nine year 1K. They're making a very clear value statement about dollars right now over long term customer relationships that I find frankly offensive.

AS will definitely be getting more business from me ex-SFO and OAK.

I am a former self-funded SFO-based 1K — probably five years, ending when they introduced PQD and I reached MM status. I am shocked that $20k spend is no longer enough for UA to award 1K status. I didn’t go out of my way to hunt for bargain fares and “enjoyed” maybe three MRs in all those years, but I didn’t spend anywhere near that amount. Looking forward to the next recession. :/

Yeah, initially I thought AS might see a slight benefit at SFO from these changes. But now I’m not even sure about that.

The key thing is that these changes are actually a net positive for many short haul UA flyers. But AS ex-SFO has a competitive West Coast network, an uncompetitive transcontinental network, and a nonexistent mid continental network. So for the set of UA frequent flyers that AS can realistically compete for, Mileage Plus has if anything gotten better. I don’t see AS getting any meaningful boost at SFO from this.

You will find a peace of mind just having your UA MM status, and not worrying about requalification every year. The sun will still rise, the sun will still set, the earth will still (if it is not flat) revolve around the sun, and you won't have to worry so much about your miles being subjected to a "we'll find out how much an award costs when we search for an award" lack of chart with the miles you won't be earning.

That said, you must have travel patterns that AS can continue to well-serve ex-SFO and OAK.

I think this will actually be mildly good for AS. The flyers who win with UA from this are high revenue, last minute travelers, with unpredictable destinations and tight schedules. Those people were never going to be loyal to AS anyway at SFO.

If you are a somewhat frequent flyer who has some schedule control and books in advance, AS becomes much more valuable, because chasing status on UA will be too difficult to even bother.

Personally, I was on the bubble between a stretch to UA Gold next year or keeping UA Silver + AS MVP. This makes the decision much easier because there is no way I can hit the new spending requirement without seriously manipulating my corporate travel policies in ways that could jeopardize my job.

Actually, Marriott could be a winner in this. I'll probably plan to earn Titanium again next year for the comped UA Silver. At that point, I don't have to worry about status on UA at all and I can just take AS every time it could possibly work.

I made that choice this year (LAX/BUR based), and chose to go for MVPG, since AS flies to all my biz destinations. If you fly international, UA Gold is worth it, and it may be worth it for the E+ at booking if you generally book far out. I tend to be stuck booking close in so there's only E+ middles at booking time anyway, and I have to check in at T-24 and watch the seating chart for aisles.

I've had to take a few transcons on OAL, but have flown UA zero times this year so far. If I have to fly them, I'll just pay for the E+ (or TOD if available). We have a corporate discount with UA, but OAL, including AS, price out for less often enough that it's not hard to book away from them. People I know who are MM or more, or are maintaining 1K still fly UA, but people flying less than that avoid UA. Out of LA it helps that UA shrank their hub and there's no dominant airline, so pricing is very competitive.

This can't hurt AS out of SFO - that is for sure. My worry is that one of the Big 3 is going to eventually get AS (likely to 'get' SEA/PDX) and that 'who' will be UA to dominate N/S on the West Coast along with WN. I know this has been debated on this forum already, and others will disagree with my assessment....but that is my fear.