krugken

What galls me is that the competition has gone out of its way to protect the benefit of it's million milers. I have 2 million plus miles on AA and I'm delighted that they've chosen to continue the 100% bonus for each flight and the 500 miles upgrade certs. I'm lifetime Gold now as a UA 1 million miler but my choice is stark: fly AA and get 100% plus certs or fly UA and only get 50%. You are making it really hard to stay loyal guys.

CHIC SILBER

I have some reservations (pardon the pun) about yet another

air carrier in the throes of bankruptcy & the future of AAdvantage

I've been squaggled before

UrbaneGent

What is disgusting is that United had used this to lure us into flying them all these years - and I did. It's disgusting.

Xyzzy

I'm curious hw many MMers are not earning a higher status from flying annually than the minimum level they have obtained by virtue of their lifetime mileage. I'm between 1MM and 2MM but I've flown over 100k miles a year the last few years. While the 50% haircut on RDM for 1MM galls me, I won't actually notice this change until such time as I fly a whole lot less than I do now. I'm not saying this to excuse UA for the haircut. I just want to understand how this affects the average 1MM customer. Please, reply to this post and let us know!

ryanrec

I have been a MM since about 2004 but I have not been a 1K since 2006.

joel67

I'm in the same position. Of more immediate consequence, though, is our loss of the regional upgrades as well as the ability to earn anything of current value at the 2MM level.

UrbaneGent

I have been a 1K since 1994, every year, even in 2001. When they started with Global Services, I was one of the first. In 2005, I became a 1K MM GS. In 4Q 2008, the company I was doing consulting for went into bankruptcy protection and 2009 was the very first time I did not make 1K, I also lost my GS status; I traveled less than 25,000 miles in 2009.

When I started flying again in 2010, I was at the bottom - it was the very first time I realized how important my Premiere Exec status was in every aspect. Especially going from a 1K GS to 0...I was pleasantly surprised I was always on the top five/ten when on standby for earlier flights and even moreso for domestic upgrades clearing (international I am on C, D or Z fares). Having been spoiled for the past fifteen or so years, it made me very aware of the investment I made in getting to MM. I say investment because that's what it was...

There is going to come a day when we will not travel as much, will not have projects all over the world, will retire, etc., and realize how fortunate you are to have MM status. ESPECIALLY when those with no status get a goose egg (ZERO) for flying and pay for every little thing.

In early 2011, I made GS, September, 2011, 1K. Thinking about what United has done is very slimey. Because I know, if I didn't have the status on those waitlists, instead of top ten clearing, I would end up top twenty (now having to compete with GS, 1K, 75K and other PE).

UG

goingbananas

Right here for now...Lifetime 1K (soon to be GS lifetime), was GS since program started until the Letter BS and told them to pound sand last year!! A few others on my team fit the same criteria as well.

Will fly UA only domestically when it works (I don't go out of my way to be loyal to UA anymore as the rest of my team). We fly OW on all premium fares. CX has been great and the SQ and OZ, NH, gets credited to Aeroplan now. No incentive to credit or fly UA anymore and we are not going to chase the GS thing as we did in the past.... Good luck to all in your future flying needs!!

dgcpaphd

Uh-oh! Don't forget, when you reach 2MM, you get "rewarded" with an extra 25% "bonus" miles on your flights and you will not be charged a change fee in case you have to change your non refundable ticket.

The extra 25% "bonus" miles, added to the 50% "bonus" you earn at 1MM, will equal 75% which is still less than you would have earned under the former program at 1MM.

Does the new UA management realize how much time and money it takes to go from 1MM to 2MM? Assuming they know, all the new UA management offers, for flying an additional 1 MM, is a lousy 25% bonus and no change fees!

Where is the logic or incentive for a demoted million-miler to stay with UA and keep flying the extra million miles from 1MM to 2MM?

What an insult the new UA management has inflicted on loyal passengers who stuck by UA through UA's difficult financial days as well as the good days.

The new UA should be required to answer publicly for what was done to those of us who spent our time and money to earn the million-mile status.

We were promised the same benefits again on united.com (following the merger) for nearly one year but the promises were removed last October after some of us inquired of the new UA management about the inconsistency of the posts announced on united.com.

Many of us made screen shots confirming the promises made and posted to united.com concerning the million-mile program.

The new UA management has never publicly acknowledged the blunder of announcing on united.com (for almost one year) that our benefits would remain as they "always" have and that the two CR-1s would also remain.

In view of the united.com blunder, the original million-milers should be grandfathered. It would prevent a lot of future issues for UA to answer or attempt to answer.

Those screen shots keep coming back to haunt and strip away the credibility of the new UA management, and so they should. I suspect those screen shots to come up many times in the future especially if this matter is brought to third parties to resolve.
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joel67

I didn't forget, but my point was that for an active flyer like me, likely to continue to earn Platinum or 1K each year for the foreseeable future, there is absolutely no CURRENT benefit to reaching 2MM, which boggles my mind.

Who knows what Platinum will mean in another 10 or 20 year when this benefit might matter? Seems to have a lot less incentive value than, say, United Club membership now or annual upgrade instruments. What were they thinking?

bloodyeyeballs

Million miler since last year, and a platinum with more than 100K miles for several years.

Also, my 2 cents from not reading the whole thread. I have more CR-1's than I can use for flying but Mrs. Eyeballs really enjoys the 1K status, so we are both happy with the MM plan as it is. That said, I am coming from Continental, so I was only promised Silver for life and never promised upgrade certificates.

SADDE6

Well said. Most MM flyers have been 1K/GS at one time or another but that hardly matters because nobody is 1K/GS forever. Sooner or later, every MM flyer will drop below 75,000 EQM a year and be forced to fall back on their MM benefits. So while the MM devaluation may not affect every MM flyer now, it will affect every MM flyer eventually.

But I think there's an even more troubling issue here than the devaluation of MM benefits and that is the precedence that it sets for the future. If United refuses to act on the issues raised in this thread they will be setting a precedence that MM benefits are "subject to change" and that United cannot be trusted to make any effort to protect these benefits in the future. This makes the pursuit of any future MM status with United a fool's errand.

I can't imagine why any sane person who spent 10-15 years or more in pursuit of MM status would spend the next 10-15 years pursuing a higher MM tier. Whatever incentive United offers for the next MM tier is meaningless if United can't be trusted to keep its promises.

dgcpaphd

As I have written many times, credibility, trust and loyalty go hand-in-hand.

The new UA management cannot be trusted or believed. Remember those screen shots. They will be revisited.
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I know that you did not forget.

I was trying to poke mockery at the new UA management for their failure to realize the absurdity of the benefits between 1MM and 2MM miles.

We might as well face the fact that the new UA management put the shaft to the million-milers from the UA side of the equation.
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halls120

Here's how it affects me, someone who was striving to reach 1MM. If it happens, fine, but my goal for the next 5 years (I hope to retire in 2017 if not earlier) is to amass as many miles as possible from which to draw from after I retire. That means prioritizing AA over UA as long as they offer 100% bonus miles. Since I expect to fly at least 50-75K per year for the next five years, making sure I reach plat on AA seems to be a no-brainer.

But Saade6 puts it best. Why strive for 1MM when we can no longer trust United?

CHIC SILBER

As all of our "miles" continue to be devalued

I no longer believe that there will be much

value to them as they "age" Use em or lose em

I too would have liked to look forward to many

years of leisure up front distant travel