joel67

Perhaps I'm confused because of the years I spent as a dedicated United flyer at the highest level, which required 75k per year to reach and was called Premier Executive.

WineCountryUA

The recalibration numbers are for the 2012 MP program and some/most of the benefits probably will not be available until the start of that program in "late Q2 2012." Some benefits may come sooner (?such as status minimum level?), but companion benefit will need to wait til the new program starts.

Xyzzy

I, t recall those days. It's been 50k/year for some time now, though. I have no idea how long. I'm sure someone will be able to tell us and compare the timing of the change with the MM program prmises.

joel67

Unfortunately the million miler program was fairly secret back then and does not appear in my program guide booklets. In fact the only early evidence of the program I can find are some classy leather Million Miler luggage tags I still have on a couple of bags. Of course CR1s didn't exist back then, but as a PE I had more (free) paper upgrade certs than I was ever able to use.

Baze

And this proves that things change. Yes, the top tier used to be called Premier Executive. Then they created the Premier Executive 1K and required 100K miles to achieve it and dropped Premier Executive requirement to 50K. The MM program gives Premier Executive and for years that has been the 50K level. Premier Executive is going away. There is a new level called Premier Gold that requires 50K. So by my math 50K = 50K. MM give the Premier Executive and at the same level is Gold so now MM gives Gold. You all can spin it any way you want. If you come up and say well, in 1989 Premier Executive was 75K. So what. The 2011 MM gave Premier Executive at 50K. It is a lateral move to Gold. There is nothing in the rules that states UA can't create another level, they have been doing that all along. And it happens to be higher then Gold/PE. As more and more people fly and achieve levels it will only get worse. I can see 1K requiring 125K in the very near future. Look at Delta's top level. And no one has yet been able to show anything that says MM will get second from the top in UA's previous or current program only that is gives PE and soon Gold which are both 50K levels.

oenophilist

I think the issue being raised is that the Infinite Elite were also top tier, and they were protected all the way to 1k, whereas Premier Executive went the opposite down to Premier Gold, with fewer benefits than Premier Executive.

Baze

In the scheme of the program (not MM) Premier Gold's only change is 50% RDM bonus instead of 100%. And because of the new Platinum, the PE's who flew less than 75K are farther down the list for upgrades. This is the program itself. The MM program gives you a status level from the regular program and Gold is the new Premier Executive. I am not debating the differences in benefits, only the level you get when you cross 1MM miles. In that, nothing has changed. Gold is the 50K level which is the exact same thing you got before when you crossed 1MM, PE. The fact that they both require the same number of miles to attain is what makes them the same level. The old could have been called UA Purple Squishee for all I care, If the requirements to achieve Purple Squishee were 50K then when they changed the name to Gold it still required 50K to achieve it. For crossing 1MM, they give you a level at whatever the requirements were to achieve it on an annual basis. And that has not changed. It is just called Gold now, Not PE or Purple Squishee. The name does not matter. And the only other thing I am saying is a position on the totem pole was never promised. If it were they would have said for achieving 1MM we will give you our second highest status whatever that may be called in the future. They did not, they said PE which has defined requirements to achieve. Benefits for said levels are a different issue.

The issue with Infinite Elite is some say it was promised top tier with the word Gold (at the time) and to fulfill the wording top tier they gave them 1K. Does it seem like favoritism? In a way yes. Now if they had given UA 1MM the same wording of you will always be second tier and they dropped it down a level there would be a legitimate beef with regard to the status level and that only. All the other benefits are a different issue.

halls120

"In a way" it seems like favoritism?

No, it IS favoritism, and management's continued blindness to this state of play speaks volumes about their integrity, IMHO.

Xyzzy

Also, there was precedent for IE being given the top level. When CO changed the OnePass program by dropping Bronze and adding Platinum the IE folk were bumped up to Platinum, the then new top level. That was also well over 10 years ago. Comparing that situation to PMUA 1MM flyers being given Premier Gold vs. Premier Platinum is like comparing oranges to truck tires. They have virtually nothing in common. ne set is round. The other two are both are related to Mileage Plus. That's it.

Baze

How? They were promised in writing top tier, they get top tier. UA 1mm were promised PE, they get PE and then the new name for it Gold. No difference.

We can debate the "fairness" of 1K for them all day long but the facts are the facts.

nobleoz

I may have missed this on a thread, but can not find on UA site ref to benefits when you pass 2MM. Think it was 3 SWU......can anyone provide a link?

halls120

And the facts are that a small group of PMCO customers are enjoying better benefits than a larger number of PMUA customers who flew more than the other group. You can dismiss fairness if you want, but this is going to be a festering sore for a long time unless UA does something about it.

Baze

I never said it was fair.

WineCountryUA

depends on when you passed 2MM

if before the recalibration (the inclusion on EQMs on Dec 31) it was
if achieved after reclaibration, then the benefits will
- Life time Premier Plat & benefits (including 2 annual regionals if not earned)
- Companion status match

existing 2MM will keep their Lifetime United Club and be bumped up to Premier Plat

Xyzzy

And the fact is that that was a VERY long time ago in very different times. The airline in question was considerably smaller, was desperate to stay afloat, and made these peple a VERY rewarding proposition. If CO had gone under (and it almost did -- twice) they'd have had nothing to show for it. I think it's time to get over it and move on. Two competitors merged and the resulting entity took on all of the responsibilities of the original two, including this one. There are merger-related issues with real merit that deserve attention. This one does not.