I have yet to find anyone who has.

Absolutely. Cutting the AC cord after twenty years of program membership gave me pause, but I haven't looked back. I still find myself on AC planes a fair amount - mainly domestic and a few transborder, and my *G status affords me priority baggage, lounge access and Zone 2 boarding. I'm not first onboard, yet I sit in my seat with plenty of room above to place a carry on and time to settle in before pushback. The staff are unfailingly pleasant, but truth be told, my interaction with them is limited. I don't care much about upgrades on flights 4.5 hours or less (which covers most of the continent from here), yet still receive them frequently enough - generally evening westbound ORD/DEN-->YVR, which is when I appreciate them the most. And the last three years, I've achieved the requirements for a fraction of the price AC demands for E50K. Seems reasonable to me.

If a fare bucket doesn't give me 100% miles it would put at risk my status for the next year (in addition to any value I gain from the miles themselves). That would dramatically reduce my tolerance of an 80% travel job down to not-at-all-tolerable. So its not "logical".

As in all FF programs, upgrade success rate is highly route and travel pattern dependent. I have often been upgraded on my to/from Canada segments (and have seen colleagues as low as Silver routinely clear DEN/SFO-YVR upgrades). At the same time I've been below 100 on the upgrade list for hub-to-hub flights. My record was being 132 on a HNL-SFO 777 flight.

However, AC offers generous upgrades for flight pass customers that are unmatched by anything in the UA universe.

So any question of "which airline is easier to upgrade on" has to take into account a person's specific travel patterns.

OP hasn't been back to tell us which country he is a resident of! That will make a huge difference.

I also abandoned AC SE status in 2013 and have had no regrets. I would never be able to achieve SE status with the new spend requirements today, nor would I be interested in donating $25K to the AC executive bonus fund. I've had very good luck with UA upgrades and they also have incredibly reasonable P fares. I fly to HNL 3-4 times per year in lay flat biz class for about C$1350. It's either that or Rouge for almost twice as much. Nuf said!

Oh yes, way too much Rouge for me!

BTW, I loved AC and my SE status for the 7 years I held it. But it was a different animal back then. I'm glad I got my LT status just before they veered off course.

Indeed - UA understand the needs of their most loyal k(ettle) fare travellers. Occasionally I'll receive ToD upgrade offers for $500 USD on a 10+ hour segment to HNL or from Europe that I'l jump on (which also earns 100% now 50% more milage to boot!). Then there's milage upgrade awards which while the co-pay may be a bit high at $600 USD allows me to try out ultra long hauls I would otherwise not pay for (i.e. SIN->SFO) supposing of course they clear.

What it's like to be a UA K(ettle) elite !

-James

Earning 50% AQM on a $2600 M or U fare is not "logical".

Which fare basis are you talking about?

M high flex earns 100%. AFAIK, that hasn't changed even since Branded Fares were introduced.

Their view is that if you pick the lowest fare, you're not going to earn full miles. It may be "expensive", but it's still a price-sensitive purchase.

What was the difference between M TG and M FL?

its nice to upgrade flight 300+ days in advance, and not wait till 7 days like SE do, however clearly AC program works for flyers who have someone else paying for high fare class flights. Also Polaris lounges are spectacular, and Signature all of a sudden because pretty bla.
United has 60 business class seats on its 777-300. AC has 20-44? depending on the plane? however its going to be at least another year for all 777 and 767 to get the Polaris seats so that's a big plus for AC flyers. However the Polaris seats are a lot nicer than AC pods.

Unfortunately, Polaris has been going through enhancement after enhancement... The Polaris Lounges are great, but you don't have to fly UA to access those. With that being said, I'm quite flexible for leisure travel, so the GPU system works well enough for me. Being able to use GPUs to upgrade to LH F from cheapo P fares is one of the best 1K benefits.

I was told on the UA forum that P/Z fares on LH could no longer be GPU'd - I was looking into that option recently.

I don't think so, unless they changed it again... https://www.aeroplan.com/static/pdf/...rt_en_v11b.pdf

The chart shows M flex at 100% for all destinations. It's been like this since day one of M flex.

Pretty sure OP is referring to the fact that with branded fares, you can now buy a very expensive M Tango fare, which would not get you full mileage or other benefits (thus the comment about 50% mileage on a $2600 M fare). AC's position is that they want you to consciously book Flex and pay the extra $ for the Flex fare above Tango even on higher fare buckets, but most people would expect that if they are buying a very expensive M fare, it would come with some basic benefits like 100% mileage and seat selection.