JCBR

Forget to mention you also get double flown miles as a 1K

nmenaker

That is already a benefit of 1P though.

anishub

One of the trick we (I) learn(ed) coming to FT was never to fly out of major airport like LAX, instead if you try ONT or SNA you will not only earn 500 (x2) more miles but also pay around $90 less per RT. You will actually need 6.5 round trips at $310 (6.5x$310=$2015) for the 40k short falls. The convenient thing is for you to fly the red-eye out of West and get back on the early AM flight out of East.

glasnost7

I have a similar dilemma this year. My partner was 1K (on domestic segments) for the last few years so I got used to using the SWUs on my international trips. This year we're both 1P and I don't like the idea of using more miles/cash for upgrades from this June hence.

Right now I'm telling myself that I can justify it if I spend a day or two visiting friends in far-off places, not just solely booking for EQMs. And I'd rather go back to General Member than spend two days accruing segments all over the country.

True to form, I'll probably end up leaving this decision until the last quarter of this year and end up having to book a RTW!

TIMOS

OK, I've decided to go for 1K this year. If I don't at least try once I will always wonder what it is like to be a 1K. If I find it enhances my travel so much more I may continue to do it every year. If I think there is no great pay off and it's not worth 45,000 miles worth or MRs, I'll know never to do it again.

Besides - I will earn 90,000 extra RDMs and see more of the world! It should cost me $4k or so.

I will need to fly an additional 45,000 miles.

I think I will do a trip to Asia (Tokyo, Hong Kong, China etc) a trip to Europe and prob 5 trips to NYC or MIA from LAX.

Here goes....!

coyote

Watch out - you may end up like me where I couldn't stand being a 1P. Nothing particularly wrong with it - just got used to the addt'l perks (and better treatment) as a 1K.

My name is coyote and I'm a 1K addict...

The P

My current work schedule will get me 88K EQM and 112 EQS. So close. I'm gonna do something, I'm just not sure if it would be easier/cheaper to do a few RTs domestic to qualify on segments or something international to qualify on miles. Whatever I decide I think it's worth it.

mkleiderman

For you, a weekend trip to Europe along with a few Chase EQMs will put you over the top - those fares go down after the summer peak season - you should be able to do it for $1K or so....

SFflyer123

It's definitely not worth it anymore. That is, it's not worth "shooting" for with MR's or prolonged trips or extra expensive tickets on UA instead of a cheaper carrier.

The greatest perk of 1K was the SWU. That is basically gone because there is no NC availability. You have to buy a W fare, which SFO-FRA in the fall is $2600, and you've no guarantee that you will be into C. That's about the biggest rip off ever. NC availability is what made 1K great. But now, it's just a gate lottery; you could be sitting in Y for 11 hours and just paid $2600 for an economy class ticket to Europe. No thanks.

The perks that a 1P get are essentially the same--exit row seating, *G status for international lounge access, early board to get your carry-ons into the overhead bins, and separate phone service.

The extra 50,000 miles neede for 1k don't get you that much more--except for SWU's and some stupid red carpet (but you can still get your luggage into the bins as 1p no problem). For all intents and purposes SWU's are barely redeemable anymore, so there is no point for 1k. I threw away 6 SWU's last year, and this year, I have 6 and can find no NC avaiilability at all to europe or Asia. I'll probably go all year and just throw the 6 SWU's away (please don't PM me asking me to upgrade you).

NOT worth it!

5khours

I'm still having pretty good luck with the SWUs, but they rarely clear until departure. I can usually buy TPAC W at around $1500.

So for me, 1k is a pretty good deal. It allows me to fly business class most of the time for a pretty reasonable cost. If it weren't for 1k, and the choice was between paying ripoff pricing for C or sitting in E+, I'd cut my travel by well over half.

SFflyer123

This is good for you, but it depends on where you fly out of. If I were flying IAD-FRA, and I did not get upgraded, no big deal. That's a 7-8 hour flight, just a little longer than JFK-SFO. No big deal.

But I fly SFO-FRA, which is 10 hours, and 11 hours back. The length of time in Y becomes exponentially more painful.

Plus, you look at fares now, then $1600 or so range is there. But look at fall 2011 without a saturday night stay. They jump extremely high.

Also, the UDU advange for 1k is not really there. I flew KOA-SFO, and the premiers were getting into first on the B757. No real advantage of 1k over the 2p's there. I also Flew SFO-SEA on the A320. No UDU for this 1k. I was #1 on the wait list. So I flew in the back of the bus with 1p and 2p's. I flew SFO-YVG on the CRJ. No UDU at all. Flew in the back of the bus.

So if the plane is big--757 or 767--you get the upgrade, but so do the 1p's and probaly 2ps. IF it's small, A320-A329-CRJ, you're hosed anyway to the back of the bus.

So you've no real advantage of UDU, no easy use of SWU's. I would say that the difference between 1p and 1k is extremely small, and 1k is no longer worth it to me.

TIMOS

Wow!

I didn't know you had to buy higher fares to be able to use the SWUs!

I normally just buy the cheapest coach ticket, but from what you guys are saying you can't get the $800 ticket from LAX-LHR and upgrade it with a SWU?

OK, so to buy these W fares o united.com I go to "advanced search" then under upgrade I'd choose "Systemwide Region 2"

Is that right?

Well I just searched LAX-LHR-LAX over Thanksgiving

Cheapest coach fare was $810

The W fare for the same flights was $940

But even then you are not guarenteed to get upgraded to business class?

r_pad

It also depends where you're flying to. My transpac success with SWUs has been 100% over the last six years out of SFO and LAX. From what I've read here, getting upgraded to Asia is a bit easier than Europe.

nmenaker

This has been the case for several years now, since at least 2007, so the cheapest fare wouldn't have been upgradeable (unless all the cheap buckets were actually sold out and it wasn't really the cheapest FARE BUCKET)

It did devalue the SWU value a bit, but it is still much cheaper than 20K miles and 500$ copay PER DIRECTION.

Micara

In brief, I feel that the status is still worth doing few MR's every year. It is certainly a LOT LESS worth it now than it was a few years ago. I am still very happy being able to travel to SIN and back for about $2K and use my SWU's to travel in business. I also like that when I call, I rarely have to wait on hold, and a mostly knowledgable and often empowered call center agent answers my call.

Having said that, allow me to state what has now become the obvious for many FT'ers here. The main issue is that the cornerstone benefit of this status, which was the ability to buy economy class tickets and upgrade to business on long haul routes, has been watered down in two major ways during the last decade.

First, one is no longer able to upgrade all economy fares, only W fares and above. On most routes the difference between these fares and the lowest economy fares could be quite significant.

Second, since upgrading depends on availability of NC inventory and that in the past 3 years this inventory is not being released until much closer to the flight time, then one is only occasionally confirmed in the upgraded cabin well ahead of time. This means that while it is still crucial to plan ahead, planing ahead does not make anywhere as much difference in the eventual outcome as it used to.

This unfortunately results in having to buy a considerably more expensive ticket with no certainty that the upgrade will happen. Do that a few times and still travel in coach, and you get my idea. Add to this the "unofficial and unpublished" practice of not processing SWU and mileage upgrade requests until the very last minute and only AFTER these upgrades have been offerred for cash to anyone regardless of status (in a number of overseas stations), and you'll feel a bit less certain about how much the status is worth.

Still, I like the program very much and feel the status has worked for me and my wife 80%+ of the time, and I anticipate working to keep it in the coming years.

Sorry for the rant, my friends.