reinballe

The information I got out of COInsider's post is that the following statement was incorrect.

The fact that they are still debating E+ need not imply that a complete elimination of E+ is on the table. It could be somethings as simple as what to do with CO metal, or whether new planes should all have E+, or be a mix of with and without E+ like the current fleet.

Don't get me wrong. I hope they adopt UA's configuration of 757, 767, and 777 with great Y/F ratios and E+. But I am not sure I want to see E+ on COs 737s if it mean one less row of F seats.

nova08

Also COInsider gives us a lot of the inside scope but he admitted this is one hot topic of the merger. This is going to be something that he won't be able to leak anything until the final decision. So don't take his silence as anything good, yet the optimist in me doesn't want to take any of it as bad either.

AAExPlat

COInsider. Thanks for the reply. I know you are the CO/UA equivalent of the marines...the tip of the spear so to speak.

That said, please allow me to say that I find the progress made to date to be disappointing, especially as there are many of us that are making plans for next year and beyond. Committing to CO/UA now not knowing what the merged program will really look like until sometime in 2011 is a big leap of faith CO/UA are asking us to make.

For me specifically, the most pressing items to get clarification on are whether E+ will be kept and introduced fleet-wide, what upgrade priority is going to be like (like current MP or current OP) and whether or not the new UA will continue to practice Starnet blocking.

Not having answers to those three items makes it impossible for me to commit to the new UA past 50k miles next year that I can and will blow through with two personal trips to Asia and Europe and a couple of business trips.

Sincerely. AAExPlat.

sbm12

While not official, the answer to #2 seems pretty clear. In 2011 it will be just like today, with the priorities skewed based on operating carrier and where your status is based. In 2012 the status levels will be GS/1K/1.5K/2K. If you're asking about Y/B/M-Ups and other stuff then we'll probably have to wait a bit longer for an answer on that front.
Bad assumption. R is not tied to ZE from anything I've ever seen or associated.

I would assume that CR1s will be treated like SWUs on the CO side, which is to say just like mileage upgrades in the priority.

TWA Fan 1

I hope you're right, I just fail to see why they haven't already made up their mind, after all there is no new data. It's probably more of a power struggle now than anything else.

theblakefish

Hey, I'll take the CR1's any day of the week....makes me want to get those extra 20 segs so that I can get the SWU's now!

giggy

yup this one sucks. cr-1s were one of the great bennies, because C meant CONFIRMED This RU stuff might as well be called FU since they wont happen out of the R bucket since they keep it closed til the last minute to make an extra tens of dollars. This CO management doesnt get it. in their race to the bottom. Every bet is hedged and I expect the slow drip of vanishing perks to be sop.

golfingboy

I am still a little confused with ZE and R, so apologies here. I know ZE is for Y/B/M-Ups and R is for pretty much everything else. So, before releasing R, CO will run EUA for ZE first to upgrade those on instant uprade fares?

With that logic, naturally I would assume that we will never see R inventory when ZE is zeroed out [but there can be as many ZEs and Rs, i.e. F5 ZE4 R4 and any upgrades will eat into both ZE and R, but never F5 ZE0 R4].

AS upgrades everything into U, hence my ignorance, so be patient with me
After a few roundtrips I should have a good understanding of how everything works

SkiAdcock

Good summary, and why a lot of the UA folk are pissed (and not in the UK way of being pissed ).

* Again, well said & why the UA folk aren't happy re: CR1s and SWUs. Also I go to Europe a lot & usually the delta between a non-SWU fare & a SWU-fare is minimal, sometimes as little as $50 & sometimes $200. But at least Europe bound rarely above that. So SWUs aren't 'worthless'.

I'm not that familiar w/ CO, but IIRC you folk didn't even have SWUs until the UA/CO merger was a thought in either Jeff or Glenn's eye and you still got less of them than UA 1Ks did, so while I get your pain on now there being a W requirement still sounds like it beats what you had??

* Because some of those other airlines have better upgrade policies in place. Top tier on AA gets you more eVIPs for int'l as well as good domestic upgrades for top tier. So if one has to be in E-, better to be w/ an airline that offers more. Or so the thinking goes. Most of the folk on the UA forum, if they jump, will probably jump to AA. That's my guess anyway.

* Agree w/ the above. Not everyone is a mileage runner, & for those who do short hops on bizness domestically & no int'l travel, they're definitely screwed. And agree w/ the 2nd point as well.

There are other things UA folk aren't thrilled about.

Obviously the UA MMers want to know where they stand. As one who did her MM the hard way - 1,000,000 BIS domestically - no int'l, no cc spend - I'm very interested in whether the new United still gives me 1P status for life, as the old UA did - and which I reward by continuing to fly them vs jumping ship, or whether I'll get demoted to Silver because CO counts everything (flying, CC spend, etc) & thus MM doesn't mean as much to CO. CO's 2MM is more equivalent to UA's 1MM. Let me say that if I get dropped to Silver, it will have me thinking about jumping ship.

Us MMers also received 2 CR-1s every Jan; no idea if that will continue, although I seriously doubt it. And w/ the new 'benefits', for those who not only don't make 1K but might not make 75K (hey, some years travel is off), they now have a 'new' category when it comes to upgrades: "1P-".

Another hot button for UA folk is w/ the new program SWUs automatically being given when you reach 100,000 & expiring 12 mths from that moment. A definate big step back from UA's current policy.

And of course the big thing that everyone wants to know (and I agree, it's a separate topic than FF program bennies) is the E+ issue. That would probably be the final straw for me personally.

OVMV on all the points above, but just a perspective from a UA person.

Cheers.

Live4Upgrade

Why treat half of UA/CO customer base one way and the other half (CO) worse?

1K should be unified across UA/CO from Mar 2011.

If UA/CO wants us to think of them as one airline that is coming together, give us some good reasons to think that.

cova

I have just been able to get on - and I must say this is UA taking over the FF program. This also represents a downgrade to the 2010 OnePass program.

Loss of SWU on any fare is a major downgrade.

Adding the 100K level to higher EUA priority - now puts a Plat three levels down.

Question - what about the Infinite Elite program?

Sounds like the 100K is not an official tier in 2011 - so Infinites go from being top tier in 2009, to second tier in 2010, and now third tier in 2011. The Infinite tier should be the most exclusive level (per the wording of the original letter). That would imply the top mileage earning tier since GS is not earned but by an invitaion.

notquiteaff

You should head over the the UA forum and post that in the equivalent thread over there. Don't forget your flak jacket

Syzygies

I'm making CO 100k this year, apparently more or less for practice. As has been noted, an SWU eligible fare is often a $200 or less bump. Again as has been noted, this could be a scam that never pays off, but if there's actually a better chance of securing the upgrade in advance, I'd gladly pay the $200 each time.

I more or less view the "any fare" SWUs as mythical. I don't want to talk my better half into a once a year vacation only to be playing Lotto.

So we'll see.

Hartmann

I would like to know when United will actually have their IT department figure out how to differentiate between CO Plats and Golds for the UDU rather than just lumping us all together and going by last name.

rolov

Thanks Scott for all your replies, I will pass this info along to the person that asked me about changes.