demkr

TRASH!!! Your H fare is meaningless. Time to sell your UPG for $49..

channa

Well put. SFO isn't exactly one of these mega hubs with tons of frequencies where UA's schedule is so great you can't think of using anyone else. Even on some the hub flights where they have great frequency (e.g., ORD, LAX, EWR/JFK), there are competitors that have reasonable frequency as well (AA for ORD, AA/DL for LAX, AA/DL for JFK).

In addition to some of the flights where UA has minimal frequency out of SFO (e.g., MCO, MSY, AUS/SAT, PHL, MSP), there are also major markets where UA has absolutely no service (e.g., ATL, MIA, DTW). And for those that do, they're often a more convenient alternative anyway (e.g., DL has a half dozen or so to MSP, whereas UA has 1; AA has 10x to DFW, UA has 4, 2 of which are on Express).

TWA Fan 1

I did not mean to imply that I spent $1,799 on all 8 round trips. I did not.

In fact, I only did it once.

On the other 7 round trips, if I recall correctly, I paid about $585.

So the total expense on the year was about $5,800.

That's much less than $14k, but still a lot of money to spend to get nowhere near elite status.

I remember, once on the CO forum, there were a number of CO Plats who revealed they had achieved that status spending less than $2,500 (using double EQM in effect that year).

Still, even at a yearly spend of only about $5,800 I'm still UaCo's ideal customer. I spend a lot of money and get very little in return for it.

LarkSFO

I am not a High Value Flyer...

tw747

PMCO valued its flyers. The new United or better called Untied is neither PMCO or PMUA. Everyone is unhappy with what Mr Tilton and Mr Smisek have created. Only us the customer through public forums and yelp, flyer talk and trip adviser can we
Influence change. This cannot happen if we keep arguing over PMCO or PMUA. It is time to be aligned.

cova

All I can say is WOW!

Frequent Flyer programs are Equal Opportunity.

Anyone can buy published fares, fly, and earn the published benefits.

If a 2 times a year business traveler wants to fly F then he should buy it. A Premier Silver (give away status for business travelers) can get instant F by buying a full Y fare, if company requires Y travel. He didn't want it when he bought the ticket - they why give him a TOD - that's my beef.

Yes, elites are entitled - anyone can be an Elite, buy the published fares. UA sets the fares, the customer does not.

I will still fly UA when it makes sense, but for now I am a very happy AA EXP - with more options out of DCA. If US and AA combine then it is slam dunk - AA/US would be over 60% of DCA.

Typing away on gogo and just had a nice dinner in F in a more comfortable F seat then legacy CO F seat. Already at $4K domestic spend on AA for month of May. This would otherwise have been UA.

On AA I am over 95% upgrades. AA even has empty seats in F. On my dinner flight (now) - even AA off duty crew is sitting in F.

UA needs to make a profit - all businesses do - but they should not tick off their frequent flyers. UA could cancel Mileageplus, and then would likely go out of business.

Surftel

It is nice that he admits they reduced the level of service, something that is obvious to most.

LarkSFO

To be fair, I think he said they reduced the number of bookings / overbookings leading up to the system transition.

cranky1K

Wow! This says it all!

pharmalady

The loudest, most effective voice is money.

I took my business away from United and gave it to American. Each have their own problems, but as a lifetime elite on UA who will fly once every 18 months just to preserve my miles, I could care less about them. Between the horrendous way they treated customers during the system integration and the constant problems, I found that American was more than happy to take my UA status and convert it to their program. I will qualify as a PLT to EXP with them this year. Their upgrades are different, but since UA has screwed up the automatic upgrades, same diff.

When I want to fly domestically, I can afford a first class ticket and will buy one of my own volition.

I honestly don't care what UA does to congratulate itself. It has not earned my travel money (whether personal or corporate) since the merger. Rainey's idiotic statement just proves out what they really think of their most loyal customers. Funny how American has treated me wonderfully, where UA could not be bothered to even answer their own damned phones. Speaks volumes.

LarkSFO

You don't even have to fly. A magazine subscription for a couple thousand miles is sufficient to reset your 'activity' clock and extend the expiration date.

WineCountryUA

Listened to this again and not clear if this refers to all elites, or perhaps just to the Slivers (hence their loss of E+ @ booking and luggage allowance) or higher elites. While snarky comments can be made about a poorly phrased comment and the general decline of elite benefits but we may be jumping to conclusion what Rainey was trying to say.

I find the dynamic pricing comment as the scariest statement / idea in this talk.

dgcpaphd

This latest comment by UA's chief financial officer will accelerate the exodus of former loyal UA customers. AA has already poached thousands of customers with their matching of status.

Mr. Rainey has reconfirmed what many of us already knew, namely, the new UA management does not value customer loyalty and they don't seem concerned that former loyal customers are leaving UA. That is a recipe for financial disaster.

I cannot help but wonder what the minority stockholders of UA feel about what the new UA management is doing to a former great airline.

When the cash accounts at UA run dry, the next stop is bankruptcy.

This all could have been avoided had the new management not been so obtuse.
-

kkjay77

What UA wants to emulate is SQ.
Not gonna happen.

I've now migrated to AA and DL through AS program which has a whole lot more presence in NYC market for domestic, and my occasional int'l C ticket to China and SE Asia now goes to SQ, CX, NH and OZ.

c502cid

Not sure what to do. I split my hotel nights in four programs, works as well as it needs to. As far as UA goes, since about 6 weeks ago, my upgrades have been clearing regularly, most at 96 hours. I value that and my treatment during irrops the most (but haven't had to use that since the merger). However so much of my time anymore is spent in a *!@#&! sardine can, I mean RJ.

I'm not sure what to make of Rainey's statements either. Could be he was talking about lower tiers of the program. I'm wondering if everyone jumping to AA will have an effect on clearing upgrades on UA, or even upgrades on AA. Will it really make a dent in either? Not sure.

I do believe in karma though, and this Rainey saying this on the same day I receive my AA status match surely is karma.....

So to Mr Rainey and Mr Smisek, while I certainly respect your decision to make decisions that are best for your company, what is best for me is to look at you in the eye, with a smile and a far off gaze that says I've done this more than I care to do, and say....

"Buh Bye"