cplush

Without costco they might have a fairly large amount sitting around. would also help new CEO make a huge splash.

notquiteaff

Is it really a problem for anyone other than those denied yet another credit card signup bonus?

Credit-worthiness is IMHO not an indictator of future profitability for Chase and/or United if that applicant has already gone through 5 cards in 24 months.

mia

From United's perspective, churning may not be a problem if Chase pays them a bounty for each new Mileage Plus card account opened, and buys the new account bonus miles.

notquiteaff

I thought the argument was that United was interested in engaged customers. And I am not sure how receptive Chase would be to UA arguing that they need Chase to accept more churners so they can get paid for it

They get paid by Chase when UR customers transfer to MileagePlus, too. No bounty, of course, and no revenue share (if any).

RNE

Winner of the coveted RNE's Pick for Post of the Week! (Couldn't have said it better myself.)

I submit that Chase's putting the screws to otherwise-qualified potential cardholders is (finally) coming back to bite'em.

RNE, wondering when Marriott is going to follow suit.

freeflyin

Marriott would seem to be a bit less clear cut than UA,because of the SPG Amex and merger issue

drminn

If engaged customers is the issue all they would need to do is give 3 points/$ on UA flights and maybe 3points/$ on dining. The question of course is who is "they". Is it Chase who controls the benefits on the card or is it UA? I suspect it is negotiated as part of the original deal. So for Chase to up the benefits United would have to give them a discount on the points to compensate for the loss of UR spending.

manstein58

So am i better off ditching the card- which gives me UC entry- and buying that benefit directly and getting another card?

RNE

Not good enough for me. I value 3 URs > 3 MPs.

sdsearch

But 3 URs that you're going to transfer to United MP, or 3 URs that you're going to use for something else?

The comparison here is only for URs transferred to United. (If you're not going to transfer them to United, you can't compare them against MP miles, can you?)

I don't understand (given that UR:MP is 1:1) why 3 URs transferred to United are more valuable than 3 MPs. In fact, aren't they a bit less valuable if you have to pay a transfer fee, which you don't have to pay if you earn the miles directly? (I haven't transferred URs myself, but based on the fees in transferring from Amex MR and Diners Club CR to domestic airlines, I would presume it's most likely that Chase UR also charges as fee for transferring to domestic airlines.)

RNE

Not only. United wants us to use our UA cards rather than our UR cards. Many cardholders have both. I'm not using UA's cards; a lot aren't, methinks. That sticks in UA's craw. That said, yes, transfers are an issue, but not the only one.

Diplomatico

Chase does not charge a fee for transferring UR to domestic airlines.

notquiteaff

I actually get 3 UA miles per dollar spent on UA tickets with United, because I still have the old Chase United MileagePlus Select card. Up until last year when I got the CSR, I used it for my United ticket purchases.

Right, so with the 3X CSR my United spend stopped going to the 3X Select Visa. (and actually, most of it is going to the Amex Plat for 5X MR now). I do use it for gasoline, groceries and home improvement stores (the 2X categories).

They are the same, except that UR is a more flexible currency. I expect to transfer a lot of URs to MP over the next year when travel plans solidify, but if I suddenly need WN miles or a few ten thousand Hyatt points or BA miles... I can have those. With UA miles I lose that flexibility. I don't know how to put a monetary value on this, i.e., I can't say a UR point is worth 10% more than a UA mile, especially since I already have a lot of UR points (so the marginal value of additional flexible points may not be that great).

mia

In 2014 Delta announced that they were imposing an annual limit on transfers from American Express Membership Rewards to Skymiles. In the end they did not do this, but it might be something United and Chase would look at:

[Rescinded] MR transfer to DL annual limit: 250,000 points per account.

notquiteaff

That would IMO be reasonable if it was in that ballpark range. I don't manufacture URs and don't have natural spend anywhere near that.