United Airlines Award/Premiere Accelerator Rates [2012]
May 6, 2012, 4:55 pm
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA 1K / IC RA/ Hilton Plat / Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 378
I was seeing 2.8cpm/RDM, but others reported above that they were seeing as low as 2cpm/RDM on international partner itins.
May 6, 2012, 5:08 pm
#17
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,503
I've had 1.9 cpm on international UA/partner award itineraries.
May 6, 2012, 5:15 pm
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA 1K / IC RA/ Hilton Plat / Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 378
May 6, 2012, 5:19 pm
#19
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Dubai / NYC
Programs: EK-IO, UA-1K2MM, ETIHAD-GOLD, SPG-PLAT LIFETIME, JUMEIRAH SERIUS GOLD
Posts: 5,220
The flawed assumption is that the more miles one flies, the more profitable they are for the airline. This is not true, when we have the existence of mileage runners and when I have analyzed my own travel. UA makes much more profit off me when I fly SFO-LAX or SFO-SAN or even SFO-DEN or SFO-SEA instead of SFO-PHL or SFO-IAD (nonstop or connections make no difference on the transcons). The cpm I pay for RDMs and PQMs is much higher on those short routes. I pay a lot relative to how far I am transported and get very little in terms of RDM/PQMs on short routes. I suppose that miles may be easier to track than to calculate profit realized per passenger, so all airlines based their loyalty programs on miles flown, but i have never believed that more miles flown on ultracheap tickets = better customer.
The elite maximizer is still around because it is pure profit for UA. That customer didn't take up a seat to earn those PQMs; UA didn't have to burn jet fuel, pay baggage handlers, GAs, FAs etc. to deal with him. If you're the type of customer who buys PQMs, then you don't fly as much as someone who earns them by sitting in a seat. The Elite Maximizer person is not flying as much so by definition, he's not competing with you as much for upgrades.
The elite maximizer is still around because it is pure profit for UA. That customer didn't take up a seat to earn those PQMs; UA didn't have to burn jet fuel, pay baggage handlers, GAs, FAs etc. to deal with him. If you're the type of customer who buys PQMs, then you don't fly as much as someone who earns them by sitting in a seat. The Elite Maximizer person is not flying as much so by definition, he's not competing with you as much for upgrades.
How would you do it with a dummy booking? The booking must be ticketed, correct? Are you saying you can do this with a refundable fare and then after buying the miles, just return the ticket? Is that kosher? I guess if that works you could also buy them before 24hours is up and still refund any tkt? Does that really work.
Last edited by iluv2fly; May 6, 2012 at 5:36 pm Reason: merge
May 6, 2012, 7:55 pm
#21
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: UA 1K, Star Gold,Marriott Gold, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 414
How would you do it with a dummy booking? The booking must be ticketed, correct? Are you saying you can do this with a refundable fare and then after buying the miles, just return the ticket? Is that kosher? I guess if that works you could also buy them before 24hours is up and still refund any tkt? Does that really work.
People have posted in FT that they have done just that, and I don't think that UA cares; in fact, they probably love it. Again, those people just paid the airline not to fly; no fuel, no food, no staff time spent, nothing but pure profit. I haven't done it myself, but i think that your intin actually has to ticket in order for that window offering you miles to pop up.
May 6, 2012, 8:05 pm
#22
Formerly known as CollegeFlyer
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: JRA
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA PLT, Hyatt Diamond, Marriott Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 6,716
How would you do it with a dummy booking? The booking must be ticketed, correct? Are you saying you can do this with a refundable fare and then after buying the miles, just return the ticket? Is that kosher? I guess if that works you could also buy them before 24hours is up and still refund any tkt? Does that really work.
May 7, 2012, 7:33 pm
#23
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: UA GS>1K>Nothing; DL DM 2MM; AS 75K>Nothing>MVP
Posts: 9,341
For the same reservation, I now have two offers at different prices at the same time. One at 2.5cpm for the reservation record and one at 2.9cpm when I try to do OLCI.
May 7, 2012, 7:48 pm
#24
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: DL plat
Posts: 316
Sorry for being new but are these generally worth buying? I'm particularly looking at rdms. Is the standard cutoff 3 cpm and anything below that is worth purchasing? A saver RT from NYC-europe hub is about $1100 in Y which is about 1.9 cpm for 60k miles so I guess that it would definitely be worth it if I wanted to plan a stopover or go to a non-hub city.
May 7, 2012, 8:11 pm
#25
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,337
Strange happenings... The award accelerator rates have varied from 13 cents to 12 cents for the combined RDM and PQM on my reservations. Tonight one reservation jumped to 25 cents. The others are holding constant at 12 cents for the combined regular, plus qualifying mile.
May 7, 2012, 8:23 pm
#26
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,503
Strange happenings... The award accelerator rates have varied from 13 cents to 12 cents for the combined RDM and PQM on my reservations. Tonight one reservation jumped to 25 cents. The others are holding constant at 12 cents for the combined regular, plus qualifying mile.
May 7, 2012, 8:31 pm
#27
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Programs: DL-Platinum / AS-PlatPro / Hyatt - Glob / Hilton-Diamond
Posts: 1,572
So now it's EsquireFlyer. I was thinking of you the other day and wondering why I haven't seen any posts from you. I guess this answers my question
May 7, 2012, 8:31 pm
#28
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Syd
Programs: UA 1k 1MM, VA G
Posts: 886
I have one Iten that is interesting though
total return miles is 28K (SYD->OSL via SFO)
However its only offering me to buy either 50K miles for $1k or 75k miles for $1.5k (2cpm)
May 7, 2012, 9:24 pm
#29
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,503
That's a good deal for RDM purchase. Essentially, for $1.5 K you have enough miles for one way in First on any *A carrier from N. America to SE Asia.
May 7, 2012, 9:27 pm
#30
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA 1K / IC RA/ Hilton Plat / Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 378
Is that confirmed ? I don't think I've ever seen it published one way or the other. Personally, since they're purchased, it would surprise me if they didn't count towards 1K. I think a lot of folks assumed they wouldn't count once it was announced that Flex PQMs (from the CO PPlus credit card) didn't ... but those aren't truly "purchased" PQMs.
So now it's EsquireFlyer. I was thinking of you the other day and wondering why I haven't seen any posts from you. I guess this answers my question
So now it's EsquireFlyer. I was thinking of you the other day and wondering why I haven't seen any posts from you. I guess this answers my question
