Presidential Plus Card Changes
May 20, 2012, 8:38 pm
#1531
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: IAH
Programs: UA/CO-GS/PPlat,AA-Gold,SPG-Plat,Hilton-Diamond,Marriott-Plat,Hertz-Pres_Circe
Posts: 824
Yes -- Once you hit plat, those 3k's will be "ignored" for your 1K qualification. You would have to earn an additional 3k miles to reach 1K.
While I understand why they put it in place, it doesn't make much sense for 1K fliers (or even Plats) to have.
I would rather see a limit based on the amount of BIS miles you flew that year. If you flew 20k BIS and they allowed 25% of the BIS to be transferred, then you can transfer 5k FEQM to reach silver. If you flew 65k, then you could transfer 15k to make plat.... etc.
That way, they can weed out the people who earn status by never flying (or fly a little).
While I understand why they put it in place, it doesn't make much sense for 1K fliers (or even Plats) to have.
I would rather see a limit based on the amount of BIS miles you flew that year. If you flew 20k BIS and they allowed 25% of the BIS to be transferred, then you can transfer 5k FEQM to reach silver. If you flew 65k, then you could transfer 15k to make plat.... etc.
That way, they can weed out the people who earn status by never flying (or fly a little).
May 20, 2012, 8:55 pm
#1532
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: IAD
Programs: UA Gold, Marriott Rewards - LTPP
Posts: 4,241
but they didn't stop people from buying to 1K via elite maximizer. That's what infuriates me about the change and was my primary reason for canceling.
May 20, 2012, 8:57 pm
#1533
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: UA Platinum, AA Lifetime Platinum, DL Platinum, Honors Diamond, Bonvoy Ambassador, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 8,007
I was going to add "and what of it?" since people that don't fly that much don't dilute benefits for those that do just by having a 1K card. But I didn't take into account what could happen: the almost-all-FEQM 1K buys 3 round-trips in long-haul int'l coach to use their GPUs, and flies the rest on award tickets (they'd have 500,000 miles per year to spend, plus would be near the top of any standby list/waitlist they might be on).
May 20, 2012, 9:50 pm
#1534
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 235
just tried to convert my PP. i used a fee waiver for PP oct '11. the chase rep wouldn't let me convert and get even the first five months free (not charge the fee until october '12) - any good way around this?
May 21, 2012, 6:19 am
#1535
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: JZRO
Posts: 9,172
Let my highlight the salient part of my point. UA doesn't care about anyone who never flies or flies very little.
May 21, 2012, 8:46 am
#1536
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Programs: AA Exec Plat / DL-Silver / Hyatt - Glob / Hilton-Gold
Posts: 1,577
Back to the FEQM, I agree it seems trivial to restict them to Plat or below. It kinda restricts the card from the people who would use it the most. It would take a lot of purchases to have enough EQM to make 1K. But I don't see why a BIS Plat who is border-line 1K should be restricted from using FEQM for the bump up. Isn't that person's spending on the card likely to be higher than say a Silver, and isn't that spending earning the airline some revenue ? The guess the answer is that FEQM revenue is small incremental revenue, while Elite Maximizer is more "direct".
May 21, 2012, 11:11 am
#1537
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus
Posts: 35,703
ne? That's simple, and the new card will be free for a year.
May 23, 2012, 3:14 pm
#1538
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: JFK
Posts: 255
Number of companions eligible for free checked bags. Free checked bags will apply to you and one additional person traveling on the same reservation effective January 1, 2012. This change does not apply to OnePass Elite members.
From the first post by UA insider.
Does this mean that with the card a silver elite flying to TLV gets 2 bags for each person?
From the first post by UA insider.
Does this mean that with the card a silver elite flying to TLV gets 2 bags for each person?
May 23, 2012, 3:24 pm
#1539
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA LT Plat 2MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 67,769
Number of companions eligible for free checked bags. Free checked bags will apply to you and one additional person traveling on the same reservation effective January 1, 2012. This change does not apply to OnePass Elite members.
From the first post by UA insider.
Does this mean that with the card a silver elite flying to TLV gets 2 bags for each person?
From the first post by UA insider.
Does this mean that with the card a silver elite flying to TLV gets 2 bags for each person?
May 23, 2012, 4:05 pm
#1540
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: JFK
Posts: 255
I'm confused. It used to be all companions would get free bags, they changed that so only one companion gets free bags, but the change doesnt apply to elites, so don't elites have all companions getting free bags, no matter how many companions?
May 23, 2012, 4:08 pm
#1541
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA LT Plat 2MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 67,769
I reread the first posting and not sure what the reference to Elite Members means. I thought the two bag limit was always limited to the primary cardholder and just one companion.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 23, 2012 at 4:18 pm Reason: reread post #1
May 23, 2012, 8:11 pm
#1542
Join Date: Jun 2011
Programs: *G, M+ Platinum
Posts: 619
Last person I talked to at the M+SC was pretty damn confident that you could transfer FEQM before you hit Plat and they would count towards 1k.
May 23, 2012, 11:47 pm
#1543
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA LT Plat 2MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 67,769
May 24, 2012, 12:11 pm
#1544
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: JFK
Posts: 255
it used to be all on the same reservation were exempt so if that hasn't changed for elites you'd think they'd still be exempt. anyone know for sure?
May 24, 2012, 12:20 pm
#1545
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: The Jersey Shore
Programs: UA 1MM, UA 1K, SPG Plat, Yfirst gold, Hyatt Plat, Avis Plat.
Posts: 309
I have about 10K of FEQM sitting in my account, I am hoping (naively I am sure) that at some point they might reconsider the wisdom of making them worthless for plats and above. One thought I had.. Can I gift them to someone else?