Ive read and joined in on the discussions but what should I do as far as flying between now and Jan 1? Im new to these boards and interested in the opinions of those more expert than I. I am in the NYC area and am a CP on US Air and 1K on United. I fly mostly in the US but also 1-2 to Asia and 2-6 to Europe per year. The ability to upgrade internationally is most important to me. Im short on miles for requalifying on both this year but was planning on doing what it takes to do so. After Jan 1 the answer is clear, but what about till then? I may do enough M and above fares to quality on one, but not both so I dump US Air. But untill then, do I qualify on both, or just United. Drop them both and jump to AA or CO? I would appreciate your thoughts.

Have you signed up for all the codes in the US Bonus Code Thread? If you do, CP should be a gimmie this year for you and you can then concentrate on UA and getting 1K.

The changes at US and how they will affect you are something only you know. For instance, I could care less about the "use it or lose it" changes ... they would never affect me. I've only cancelled a couple of tickets on US, and since they're so cheap if I had lost them, so be it ... I knew the risk going in (one of them was like $130 ... after the $100 change fee, that's $30 in value basically ... the other was 9/11 related, so that's another story anyway).

For me, upgrades are the single most important aspect of the program, which is in affect unchanged. I should earn CP this year, which I'll have through 2/29/2004 ... then hopefully if US follows previous patterns they'll only drop me one level per year, which means I'd be Gold through 2/28/2005 and Silver through 2/28/2006. Usually Silver would be problematic, but if these new changes do stay in affect through then, the ranks of elites will be significantly thinned by then anyway, so that will not be a problem for upgrading anyway and even Silvers should be able to upgrade a significant amount of the time. Of course, in actuality I expect that either all the carriers will follow this move by then or US Airways will have ditched it.

Now, if you have a problem with the "use it or lose it" policy like many others seem to have, that's a whole different story.

As usual Beckles nails it. Exactly.

Thanks Beckles, thats good advice. Now I just need to figure out those codes and the flights that go with them!

Drop me an email at mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A> and I'll explain the situation and particular codes that are of interest.

Beckles, that was my Plan A also. However, upgrades for Golds and Silvers have essentially been eliminated. The NAU 10,000 upgrade counter is linked to Preferred miles. I missed this initially. So after our CP runs out, so will the upgrade opportunities.

Partially ... you can roll-over some upgrades, but I think only 10 per year ... then others have mentioned that you can just call US when you drop from CP to Gold and they'll send you some free ones ... finally, you will just have to buy some of course ... but it still may be better than the other available alternatives ...

The real advantage though is buying time to evaluate what the landscape is going to look like in six months ... deciding what to do now probably isn't the best idea because all the programs are or will be undergoing some changes, in particular the partnerships that have been announced but not finalized. If I switch, my best option will likely be DL/CO/NW ... but even then, I'm not sure which program among them to go with, but it would probably be NW based on what the programs look like *right now* ... but I don't think they'll look the same soon enough.

Is it worth putting any effort into US AIR after this week's announcement? What guarantee is there that US AIR will even permit upgrades from any but refundable fares in the new benefits year? Until all the other programs have announced their rules and other details for 2003, it will be hard to make a meaningful decision in this regard.

I can understand the overlaying logic as presented in the US AIR VP's defence of their actions. SouthWest is wrecking havoc to all full service carriers, and they must find a way to equalize the playing field. Not an easy task. Since those fares which match SouthWest's will no longer come with any benefits beyond those matched by that carrier [which do not include elite benefits, upgrades, etc.].

So in this new world of "you get what you pay for", our decisions of which carrier to be loyal to will be made all that more difficult by detemining what are the benefits we prize most.

We are in agreement. However, this does serve to solidify what had previously been just a lark--going for Chairman's Preferred. The equation has shifted. Previously the "money" jumps were from Dividend to Silver, and Silver to Gold. Now the big value gain (assuming you like upgrades) is from Gold to Chairmans.

Because they've specifically said that the fares will still be upgradeable (see FAQ). Of course they can still change that, but if they were going to change that I think they would have announced it at the same time as the other big changes ...

I am an outsider, in that I have status on DL and not on US. So please take this advice for what you paid for it. But from the outside here, it would appear that the best option would be to keep flying paid tickets on US until you requalify for your status on them this year. Then burn your miles for the rest of the year, and get a comp at another airline, based on your US status for next year. My guess is that the other major airlines will be falling all over themselves, even more than normal, to hand out free status to US elite flyers, in light of current events.

The problem with that SRQ is that most other airlines will not typically comp top tier (except US ... and I hear CO is doing it now too though ...) which I will earn on US and be able to keep using next year on even the nonrefundable fares (at least according to the FAQ US put out), so I probably won't start looking for something else until my top tier US status runs out in 2004 ... or at least until early 2003 when I know what's what, vis-a-vis, other programs changing and new alliances. I might just be able to keep flying US and get miles credited to UA ... we'll see ...

This is the 2002 Prince of Pain and 2003 CP, finally checking in on the current situation. I begin with a confession: I actually bought a ticket on US this week.

I made CP on Monday after a trip frought with customer service snafu's (rude flight attendant, misinformation give by CP laison). Before I found out about the Baldaza news, I was going over my mixed feelings about US and ran into the same dilemmas. Today I made a matrix of sorts and cannot seem to find a clear solution to my travel needs that doesan't involve US.

To begin with I fly almost weekly from BDL to either IAD,DCA, or ORF with a couple of trans-cons and a hop or two across the pond each year.

I have flown almost exclusively on US despite connections, higher prices, and delays in PHL. I was hoping that the US agreement would allow preferred reciprocity for upgrades on United but given the present climate I doubt that's going to happen.

So here is my matrix:
* NW,DL,AA out of the question due to travel time and distance to hubs in the midwest.
* CO is not an option because EWR is the only airport on the east coast worse than PHL. I have never had a plane land or take off on time from EWR. Connecting in CLE is expensive and not a real option.
* WN is a crap shoot. I often get to BDL less than hour before flight time and hate getting trapped in the back of steerage class. I need legroom. Rental car rates are through the roof at BWI, where WN flies to.
* U's customer service is abysmal. Mid Atlantic flights out of IAD are like flying from hell. If I could be assured of some upgrades on U, I might work my schedule around the jet flights into IAD, but I know U won't comp me to 1k and I'm not sure that the upgrades will come fast enough to compensate for the bad service. The fares on U to IAD are cheaper than US. Tough descision.
* US Up until now, most of the time, I love this airline. They have valued my loyalty, gone where I want to go, at a price my clients can afford, and treated me most of the time with upgrades,courtesy, and respect. The decisions made so far by Siegel and company seem to be a slap in the face to the concept of valuing your customers. I have CP until March 04 and probably US will have disappeared by then. Unless the other airlines adopt the change by Monday, which it looks like they won't, I'll keep being the Prince of Pain and flying US exclusively on discount fares, unless someone can point out an option or give me some sense of hope that things are better on another airline. Thanks in advance for your input. PoP

I would find an airline that matches your travel patterns. While I am only Gold on US x 2 years, I e-mailed CO, DL & NW last night. I had responses from all 3, long before I received the "form" e-mail from US. All 3 said send in my statements, and they would look at matching status levels.

I got a lot of good suggestions with this post last time, especially from Beckles. Now that Dec 31 has passed, I would be interested in what people think. I fly mostly to St. Louis and Southeast Ohio domestically. With a few transcons and a lot of other stuff (Maine, Texas, all over) mixed in. I have probably 2 NRT, a Shanghai and an Australia trip scheduled in the first 6 months of 2003. I will probably do 4 or 5 transatlantics for the year as well. Given the Expressing of St. Louis and all the other changes, I was thinking of dropping US to silver, keeping 1K on UA and going for Plat or higher on AA. Any views from people would again be really appreciated, Ive learned a lot here since August. Thanks.