Thanks for the clarification on the MM program.
I didn't interpret Scott's comment that way.

"Hi reinballe, our plan is to keep a Million Miler program, however, the qualification and benefits are yet to be determined."

So any benefit not specifically changed now will continue through 2011.

Good news indeed.

Corrected, didn't update year to 2012.

-Will the 2012 SWU's still continue to be usable on LH (like current UA SWU's, since this seems to be what the new ones are based from)?
-Suppose I get 50K in MP and 50K in OP. When the programs merge at end of the year, will I still get 4 Confirmed Regional instruments?
-Any plans on when we might be able to transfer miles between accounts?

Hi Scott,
If it's been determined yet and you can share, are there plans in this alignment to change the lowest economy fare classes to be 50% earning across the new UA?

CO SWUs are not today. :-:

UA SWUs are a different beast entirely, even in the 2011 program year (though I'm sure they're trying to make them work on both airlines).

For those interested in the fate of us UA 1Ks -- it looks like UA listened to the complaints about the CR1 earnings reduction and the new rules now only apply from 2012 onwards:

"1K members: During 2011, if you are a 1K member based on 2010 activity, you will still be eligible to earn two Regional Upgrades per quarter as you did before. In addition, under the new program changes announced on Nov. 17, you will also receive two more Regional Upgrades when you reach 75,000 EQM/90 EQS and two at every 25,000 EQM/30EQS after that. The quarterly earning process will end on December 31, 2011, and then the new rules will be in effect for 2012."

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,53656,00.html

This change makes the whole set of changes more fair as customers who acquired 2011 1K status under the assumption of the current rules get what they expected and paid for. But more importantly, it also shows that UA (new and/or old) is listening to complaints/concerns.

Hey! It's not nice to gloat. Or to provoke flamefests. :p

Listening to customers is indeed the nice highlight of this. There's still a benefit reduction in 2012 for MP (and improvement for OP [at least in terms of CR1, I'd say SWU differences are a wash]). But there is at least a year of CR1s as originally specified by the program :).

Hi Everyone, here's some more answers to your questions…

Hi ctownflyer, I don’t have details to share on either front, other than in 2011 the two programs will continue to operate independently. In the coming year, we’ll be reconciling a number of hot topics, including differences in upgrade-eligible regions for both complimentary Elite upgrades and the new Regional Upgrades. For 2011, it’s a safe bet that Regional Upgrades earned in the OnePass program will have the same flight application as complimentary Elite upgrades. For Hawaii, this means excluding BusinessFirst flights to/from Houston and New York/Newark.

Quite a bit, TWA Fan 1. Right now we simply don’t have any news to share about Economy Plus, or our product configuration in general. Until Oct. 1, United and Continental were not allowed to share information, and the process of understanding the benefits of each other’s aircraft configuration takes time. We’re not going to rush through it, that’s all.


Hi golfingboy, this is more complicated thank you might think. In the advance period, ZE class (the inventory we use for B and M instant Elite upgrades), is a more widely available inventory class. This is the case up until 24 hours before departure. At 24 hours before departure, we will prioritize expired waitlists for Regional Upgrades, Systemwide Upgrades and Mileage Upgrade Rewards ahead of all complimentary Elite upgrades, including those that would otherwise book into ZE class. This is a change we implemented only in the last couple months to ensure our Elite Upgrade Automation properly accounted for these customers with expired upgrade reward waitlists within 24 hours.

Nothing to announce just yet, cova. Stay tuned!

Hi MJLouise, there are no changes to Continental’s Amtrak partnership at this time.

Yep, dmurphynj, this was our bad. Our email for Presidential Platinum members was accidentally sent to a bunch of you who are not Presidential Platinum members. Sorry for that – didn’t mean to get you excited!

Hi travelguy70, there were no changes to our Mileage Upgrade Rewards in this announcement.

I’m here, Vulcan, and we hear you. Answers to this question and more are coming next year when we’re ready to roll out the details of our combined Million Miler program.

Hi brahms77, the ability to link your OnePass and Mileage Plus accounts, including the ability to transfer redeemable mileage (RDMs) is coming. It’s a priority for us, and we’re aiming to roll it out in the coming year.

That’s correct, downhillcrasher, the fare class restrictions on SWUs only apply when they're redeemed for BusinessFirst itineraries. Your SWUs can be used on non-BusinessFirst itineraries without any fare class restrictions (just as if it were a Regional Upgrade).

Thanks for your suggestion, marklyon. Continental and United have different ways of handling companion upgrades, and this is something we intend to reconcile in the coming year.



One last note: I’ve updated my original post regarding the credit card benefit for Presidential Platinum members. Specifically, we will continue to honor this benefit for Presidential Platinum members who take advantage (or have already taken advantage) of this benefit prior to Dec. 31, 2010.

Thanks as always for the great questions.

Continued Gratitude Scott
 

Your responses to the MANY MANY issues although not always

what many of would like to hear are greatly appreciated

You are a certified high wire walker (as I should know)

Thanks for your patience & all your help

Transcon mileage upgrades at time of purchase
 

Try shopping EWR SFO in February 2011, Advanced Search, and check OnePass Reward Upgrade.

My habit had been to request the upgrade to SFO shortly after booking, just to get on the list. I was surprised to clear immediately, recently. Searches revealed scattered availability, more than I've seen before, with no regular pattern. One could improve ones odds by shopping with this checkbox on, a step that never seemed worth the bother before.

"Gold Reward Q" versus "Plat Reward W"
 

sbm12 and I have been debating this exact mechanism in various threads. I sensed a change based on my subjective statistical observations, and started asking about it. No one else has reported confirmation of what I have been told by CO agents. I've held off on asking COInsider, as his time is valuable. I now wonder if sbm12's information predates this change, explaining how we could both be so sure, yet disagree.

Within 24 hours before departure, consider two flyers:

Gold Reward Q has Gold status, has purchased a Q – Discounted Coach fare, and has waitlisted 15,000 miles for an upgrade that has not yet cleared.

Plat Reward W has Platinum status, has purchased a W – Deep Discounted Coach fare, and has waitlisted 15,000 miles for an upgrade that has not yet cleared.

From what I've been told repeatedly, I'd bet double-or-nothing on my upgrades for the rest of the year that Gold Reward Q lists ahead of Plat Reward W on the upgrade standby list.

@CO Insider:

Will the TATL qualification route remain intact for EU-based customers? This is a very valuable qualification route for us. If so, will we be looking at 5/10/15/20 TATL points for the tier qualification? Also, how will this work with the incremental SWUs?

And here we have it. So in 2011, upgrade chances are going to be worse than they are even now because on top of mileage upgrades, we'll have a greater number of SWUs and additional CR1s that will clear before any EUA.

This cements my stance that I will fly UA next year for E+ for the few flights I need to requalify for *Gold. No need to take any chances to fly CO at this point.

Question for Scott. Is this policy only for CO for 2011, or will this be the policy of the combined carrier from 2012 on?

Thank you for your time and answering our questions! I really appreciate it.

P.S. Did you get my email? :p