LarkSFO

Some people may be. I am not.

My bad... I misread the route map. You can see it all here for yourself:

http://www.virginamerica.com/travel/flight-routes.html

Thank you for your opinion. (You quote me incorrectly, but, whatever...)

No idea what you are actually saying here, but again, whatever.

If VA works for you, I am glad.

I fly a lot. From SFO. UA, especially as a 1K, is clearly a far superior alternative to any other option. For me.

Exleftseat

1173 posts, nearly 90 thousand views, one measly and mostly unrelated response from UAI. They are just waiting it out until in their mind this has disappeared and then the next bomb will go off. Do they owe us a response? Of course not. But by saying nothing at all COdbaUA is admitting that we are right on target, 1K is being attacked and it's value greatly diminished. You might not have a dedicated 1K line left in the U.S., here in Japan we don't even have a toll free number to call anymore.

uastarflyer

And you are increasingly being deserted on your island.

There is still value to 1K. It is just a materially less beneficial status than it was a year ago. But still has some value.

LarkSFO

Please provide me a comparison with how it stands up to Virgin America's elite status program...

If something works for you, great.

UA works for me.

pixmotion

Use Skype and call the 800 in the USA.

pixmotion

How about make some t-shirts with something on the front about being "a over entitled customer with a CFO attribution" Best way to make change is put these folks on spot publicly...

Anyone know how to sent up a fund, and get some t-shirts made, I would be happy to contribute! Organize a way to do it for a week, and you might even have the media track it.

Beerman92

I can fly in first on Virgin America (VX) for cheaper than I can fly in first on United on domestic routes

am1108

Which now AS has downgraded their "Silvers" as well. Im surprised AA has not reduced baggage benefits... yet....
They really do deserve the FT awards for best US program as it seems everyone else is taking cornerstone benefits away from 25K level (and higher)flyers

stephenbgarvan

Sounds great where Skype works....
On topic-Last year I received an email while in London in middle of night, called LHR UA # no one home.. Had to Call US # .When I got back to US, called United,was well reimbursed for the $26 call- I really appreciated that-would it still happen? Lets hope so!

FlyWorld

I'm guessing they went into this takeover with a playbook and they anticipated the blowback and part of their plan is to ignore us until we get tired of complaining and either adapt to the new reality or leave for other airlines. Rainey said as much (about adapting).

All this discussion and venting has been helpful, but face it, the articles are done. WSJ isn't going to publish a new article each week re-iterating how horrible UA has become and there's bound to be a point where we all get tired of these conversations.

I think they're just waiting it out. They could care less what we think. The only thing that's going to produce a change in behavior is a change in the key metrics they're watching - remember, according to prior FT posts, $mi$ek's $14 million is partly based on hitting specific performance metrics - so in my view, this is about his $14 million - as long as the metrics point towards him getting it, it'll be business as usual - and if not, then I expect he'll make whatever changes he thinks will bring him closer to the $14 million.

TravellingMan

Remember, we can also move our business elsewhere. I used to give 100% of my TATL and majority of my domestic flights; these days not so much. I am p***ed seeing the W/L of #1 of 30 on UDU and RDU not even clearing.

FlyWorld

Same here. I am evaluating *A for all my TATL and TPAC flights. First time in my lifetime with UA that I've even considered that as an option. Until recent events, I was 100% loyal to UA/UA metal.

ibuyyoufly

United
C alling
F requentflyers
O ver-entitled

oenophilist

Three words:

They don't care.

With consolidation, there is limited choice. Will they lose a few customers to AA and DL? Yes. But that is a calculated risk. But between AA being in bankrupcy and DL offering Skypesos, UA will attract replacements. They believe people like FlyerTalkers are not high-margin unless they are high-revenue GS.

If elite customers deliver the same margins as kettles, then they can extract additional revenue from kettles than they can from elites because elites are entitled to additional services that they can sell to kettles. Thus kettles become higher-margin, and they'd rather fill the planes with kettles than with over-entitled elites.

COdbaUA clearly has no interest in loyalty from anyone other than highest revenue customers (GS). It is a fundamental shift in strategy, and unless elite flyers really leave, they will be rewarded by continued loyalty from people who complain but don't really do anything about it.

Total spent on UA in 2012: $0.

c502cid

I'm going to do better than leaving, I'm going to stay on UA, flying every week, and continue to book <$350 tickets each week since I only fly domestic and I book 3-4 weeks in advance. As long as I get an exit row I'm happy.