channa

WAS is a multi-terminal city that includes DCA and IAD. WAS and BWI are co-terminals. Fares are filed to WAS or BWI. Standby to a co-terminal is not allowed. Standby to another airport in the same multi-terminal city should be allowed, unless there's language in the fare rules prohibiting it (e.g., "FARE VALID ONLY TO/FROM IAD" or flight number restrictions).

Co-terminals are typically only used for fare construction purposes and are not related to standby.

7Continents

Thanks to all of you for this "Grass is not necessarily greener" thread. I was PMUA gold who was getting ready to go 1K by consolidating. Then the merger happened and I decided to consolidate somewhere else. Nice to see that for me, it was the right decision.

nauce

This is great stuff. It looks like the GS phone line still solid. It also looks like some occasional gate-related-connection-help can happen. UDUs sound reasonably solid, but not a huge concern for most of us. The rest of the service seems ho-hum, with the opportunity for improvement.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that the in-person service and the technology tools improve. Right now, I'm kind of beholden to UA routing out of SFO. Nothing else comes very close for my routing :/

Thanks again!

Plane-is-home

For me GS is no longer worth it to fly UA if there are better alternatives.
I used to always fly UA regardless of their crappy F class, having to change plane, higher price. GS IRROPS handling was worth it.
Now that is hit or miss. (20% hit, 80% miss since 3/3).
Boarding is another issue. If it would at least be consistent.
Meal order is not making me happy either
Denver still has a dedicated GS checkin.
Can't say anything about upgrades as I don't need them.

I predict that I'll spend 40-50K on UA instead of 200K in 2012. maybe it gives me GS, maybe not.

OMAguy

i can attest that as a 1K changing airports (co-terminals or not) is NOT allowed under the current UA same-day stand by rules. i many times have been flying IAD-EWR and am not allowed to change to IAD-LGA or even DCA-EWR without paying the fare difference because the rules clearly state it must be the same origination and destination airport.

so yes, as a GS, you are getting a benefit - they bent that rule for you.

are B fares changable without penalty?

JC1120

Usually not.

WhyPayRent

I have been trying to crack the code of when they are and when they are not. DCA-ORD-DFW in B is not. IAD-SFO in B is. (For me at least.)

Any insight?

JRose

Unfortunately, I was 0 for 3 on IRROPS since 3/3 and left UA in April unless UA has the only nonstop. On one of those instances, on a plane change (from a A320 to A319) where my purchased first class seat (A Class) disappeared, I could not get a seat in coach for some reason even though more than 10 others who were standby coach did get one. On the other two, I was late arriving with tight connections and wasn't able to get on the two following flights. This had never happened to me in the past.

FlyMan

When I call the GS line, I usually ask where they are based. Unfortunatelly SLC based ones (exCO) do not know our 'remaining' benefits well and they tell me they would have to check with their supervisors for one-time exception, etc.

So, when my call happens to be answered by SLC agents, I politely hang up (unless a simple task) and usually the next call is connected to the lovely HNL or solid DTW agents. I know it's not convenient, but I got to do whatever I need to do.

Some airports still have GS check-in/security line (sort of). Also, some (again, some) agents page GS along with military personnel before boarding group 1, but not consistent. A few days ago, while the gate agent called GS to board, the whole Premier Access area was already blocked by group 1 folks, so I could not get up front.

Inflight service on exCO routes are still hit or miss when it comes to meal taking orders. Oh, and the "United flight operated by Continental pilots" inflight announcements still continue.

Just got a voicemail from AA asking how I liked their service, etc with his name and his number to call back in case I have any questions. Have I ever received such a call from UA? Nada...

Fortunately I haven't had any IRROP after 3/3 (knock on wood), so I haven't had experienced real 'transition' yet...

Red_Rob

Pretty good and getting better.

GS agents are usually available with little or no wait time, and ~80% are good. My guess is they added agents everywhere, and the percentage of new/bad agents likely increases as status decreases. Consistency and quality are moving in the right direction.

Changes & IRROPS handing has been good, not great. Often on weekends my wife & I are traveling from different places to meet somewhere, and the GS desk has been pretty flexible in waiving fees on either of our tickets to get us together (sometimes in hub cities we didn't have plans for, but told them would be an acceptable option). >50% of agents waive change fee when going to a more expensive ticket.

Upgrade % is good, but requires too much babysitting. Often a single seat in F will open up, and PN with it within the upgrade window. If I monitor and call I have good results getting it. With baby sitting I can be >95% upgrades on fairly difficult routes (includes free SDC to flights with F inventory sometimes), without babysitting, I think I would be ~85%. (My expectations are probably GS~95%; 1K~85%; Plat~60%; Gold~25%; Silver~10%, though those may be off)

Security Lines - Depends greatly on the airport. Great GS lines in ORD, SFO. Ok in EWR. Terrible at IAH (Especially at E, I could do a rant on this...)

Overall: B

blueman2

GS is nice for upgrade priority. That is about it. And even for upgrades, valuable things like the 5day/5seat upgrade override are no longer done so GS is getting less and less valuable by the day.

But I do 100% C/F international, and almost no domestic. So things like irrops are rare for me. My understanding is that GS really helps there. But the one time I did have an issue in FRA with a flight delayed for 24 hours, GS did nothing for me that my Premier Gold friend did not also get.

But YMMV...

JC1120

Oh, one more complaint - not knowing how close you are to re-qualifying at the end of the year because there's no set qualifying criteria (lots of rumors but nothing else). I would be more willing to modify or change my travel to get there if I knew I was just slightly off. Supposedly PMUA used to send out re-qual challenges, but they apparently didn't last year.

placebo_68

Despite being GS I have now stopped flying United. My experiences post merger mean that I now fly LH if I want *Aliance. Even when the staff were being helpful trying to deal with cancelled flights etc UA didn't seem to understand that treating me well means nothing if I am flying 24hr later than I need because they have cancelled yet another flight.
I have taken AA up on their status match offer so I will try seeing how that works

ULMFlyer

That's a good point. And if they were smart, they should be willing to cut some slack in the re-qualification requirements this year, given the charlie foxtrot after 3/3.

Thunderroad

I know it's OT, but thanks for this excellent advice even for this lowly 1K. I may well have reached a different SLC line than you did (though with UA these days, you never know) when I called recently, but I was shocked by the ignorance of the CSR there. When I simply sought to confirm that my booking was on a 747, she had no clue and then finally, after searching around for a bit said, "Uh, is that the one with an upstairs?"