bseller

A management team which had spend literally YEARS running an airline out of hubs with little or no competition, so that whatever they did was for their benefit.
And without 'concern' for what was in their customer's best interests.

Simply because their customers could either: 1) Fly them anyway, or 2) Simply not fly.

This kind of thinking is what led to the SWU decisions.

Dave

Lori_Q

Actually, this isn't too much different from the way things used to be: I qualified for 1K in May of 1996, but didn't get any SWUs until January of 1997. That was seven months without SWUs -- and it was during the days when UA didn't give extra SWUs for reaching mileage thresholds after 100k. I reached 155k that year, then stopped flying, and ended up giving away 4 of the 6 SWUs.

Depending on your flying patterns, getting the SWUs immediately may be a very good thing -- especially if you'll reach additional mileage thresholds later in 2012, and get a few more SWUs to tide you over.

Fredd

As you say, it could well be. Judging from the complaints, however, it's not an enhancement for a lot of customers, including me. Since Mrs. Fredd and I became 1Ks some years ago, the option to apply early for a couple has tided us over.

A few days ago she just squeaked over 100K. I am within 2000 of qualifying. We are now making a determined effort to avoid flying UA until late Fall and feeling lucky that we can at least spread them out to that extent.

why fly

you will have to trade people for them.

UA-NYC

The COdbaUA "geniuses" who said it was based on customer feedback.

You should have delayed crossing til December! I'm supplementing w/AA due to this inane policy.

Fredd

^

Just what they claimed when removing, reducing, and "replacing" the Million Mile Flyer benefits.

Yeah, right... they're doing it to please us. What a tired shtick that is.

honmani2

The downside of waiting until December is obvious. By not inputting your MP number, you cannot get UDUs, free baggage, E+, etc.

For those who say it's not that much of a difference, keep in mind that back in the day you could request early SWUs. Today, you have no choice.

As far as "trading," that is not permitted under the t&c's of UA.

gnaget

It's a pain but you can change to another *A carrier after check-in. I suppose if you are WL for an upgrade then it's the most difficult scenario.

I collect points on SAS for upgrade purposes, for example. But only about 50% of my UA EQMs are on UA metal.

It's not impossible to remove miles after the flight, but that's a greater pain.

majsmom

I had no idea that i could ask for an extension for the SWU. I tried in vain to try to have others use the SWU but they ending up expiring on 7/31/12. Anyways when I found out others were able to extend their SWU's I decided to give it a try. I called the on 8/01/12 the United 1K desk to see if they would still be able to extend. I spoke to the supervisor and she said that since it already expired she couldn't go back into the system and extend them. So i asked if i had called earlier would she be able to extend and she said yes.

I then wrote an email explaining that it was my first time with SWU and did not know the procedures and would they reconsider and extend the SWU. This was sent to the [email protected]. I got an email back that since i did not have any flight activities this year they would not be able to extend.

I normally don't pay for flights on United. I have enough spend through their credit cards to get award flights. I currently have over 141,000 flexible premier miles - more than enough to be a 1K Premier for next year and i wanted to write another email for them to reconsider my flexible premier miles. Any advice of who to call or email or write next would be appreciated!

Antipode

That seems harsh that they won't extend them since when they extend them they just take out your old SWU and redeposit new ones with the 12/31/2012 expiry. I'd try again.

P.S. Flex EQM cannot be used to get to 1K, only up to Plat.

majsmom

They must have change the rules on those Flex EQM. Currently I am a 1K and i used those the Flex EQM to get to that status. I went to my united acct and checked about transfer for the flex eqm and now I see i can only transfer up to platinum level.

Thanks I will try again - just trying to figure out how to go about it.

Irene

1KHI

Yes. The benefit changed this year [a post by UA Insider talks about it]. You will only be able to get to Platinum, unless you decide to fly 25K this year.

WineCountryUA

if so, then why do you care about SWUs? SWUs can not be used for Award flights.
Flying 25K and 75K FEQMs will only get you Plat. To get 1K, you will need to earning the 100K EQM without any FEQMs.

gnaget

I don't think you'll get much sympathy because it is clear that UA views getting 1K while not flying to be a major loophole that they closed.

If you only use miles to get tickets then why bother with SWUs?

I suppose it's useful to be platinum if you have only buy mileage tickets because you can freely book and cancel tickets without fees.

majsmom

I wanted to use the SWU's for other people who paid for their ticket. If I couldn't use the benefit at least others could use it.

I didn't know that i would have earn that 100K EQM - so thank you for that info. I am a newbie 1K and and I didn't bother about learning all about being a 1K and how to keep being a 1k. Looks like I'll be flying on paid tickets instead of using award miles. Wanted to keep the 1K status for the other benefits.

Irene