I've lurked here for a while, replied once, and I don't follow the fare code lingo very well.

I'm a long-time 1K, MM (post-merger, I was at 850K prior to 3/3) flyer. I'm starting to get frustrated with my inability to use my RPUs, and then being offered the seat I should have had for a fraction of the business fare (IAD to SFO was offered at $289 at check-in). I recognize that this is a common complaint, but here's my idea.

I still plan to stay with United because I have enough domestic travel to make me like 1K benefits. I'm reaching 1K again in two weeks, and three weeks after that, I'll have an international flight to Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. I've already bought two international business class tickets for prices well above the competitor's price this year.

However, with this Asian trip, I could buy one ticket from a competitor for about $5K, only one, and it will have no effect on my status. I can send a picture of that ticket to the United Facebook page (and this site) with a note saying that a loyal customer bought a business class ticket from a competitor because he wants the United leadership to understand that loyalty needs to be returned. My $5k ticket would be about 15 denied domestic upgrades, certainly more than the 8 I won't get to use this year.

It's clear money is their driver, and while one person won't have an impact, imagine the meeting room conversations if hundreds of denied loyal flyers let their frustrations be known monetarily.

Thoughts?

Well the meeting room discussions would be kind of hard to imagine, especially since they wouldn't involve anyone at UA management giving a flip about a loyal customer defecting.

Maybe they would take about USC's chances for a national title this year.

The idea that "money is their driver" any more than it is with any other airline or any more than it was with UA or CO in the past is, quite frankly, laughable. Don't confuse complete disorganization as a result of a large merger with a deliberate ploy.

It will likely be some time before we really get to see what the strategy of this airline is and I can assure you it won't vary much from their largest US-based competitors. That's the nature of the US airline industry.

I'm sure your suggestion would have some effect - so if it makes you feel better then you should definitely do that.

I think it's a good idea - or at least it can't hurt.

I'm also thinking though that it probably takes a while for any one campaign to sway the actions of a giant corporation. It's also hard to tell what causes (or caused) any particular policy change of a company, and often what seems like a policy is in reality just corporate momentum.

You can tell that I don't have a lot of faith in these giant behemoths that we've allowed to merge and merge.

Good points by all. The thing is, I still like UA, they always get me home and I can fly the mother/mother-in-law to see the granddaughters for basically free. I don't think they understand that we paid extra to get those perks, and if we lose them, we'll get crabby.

You're upset that they're offering a IAD-SFO upgrade for $289? Like, roughly what it's worth?

I pay, on average, 20% more than the competition for a total of almost 40K a year largely because of their loyalty program. Part of that loyalty program is an offer of 'confirmed' regional upgrades. I have tried to use these upgrades repeatedly, and they deny them to me and then offer to sell it to me afterwards. Why would I not be upset? I've already paid more than once for them.

My idea is those of us w long histories as Elites w UA should take pictures of all our BP's flown w other airlines this year and post them. (no award tkts). You can black out your last name & FF # but fare code is shown on most BP's (I just looked at a few old LH BP's and they clearly show O.A.F. This is proof instead of just talk UA can see

1, do we need another thread on this?
2, I'm trying to figure out how this relates to a programme being devalued? Based off of it being tougher to use an RPU or being offered a $289 upsell? I'd partly say that some of that is based on a poor revenue mgmt causing upsells to be offered to elites (which I don't recall you saying WHEN this happened, which does make a difference.)

I wouldn't waste your time. UA is going through the normal pains of a merger, just like Delta did two years ago. As customers we're trying to make sense of whether the changes are a net positive or negative while employees struggle to understand new systems. Once all the bugs are washed out there is still a chance everyone will be better off.

Fair enough it's talked about, but of the dozen or so threads I've read, most people over-react and say they are leaving (not practical for me) or just accept it. This upsell was today, and last week, and two weeks before that. Before 3/3 I was upgraded about 35-40% of the time and was always near the top of the list, now I'm number 5 or 6 and have had them taken away at the last second by an upsell. I believe my upgrade positions have been lost to a re-ordering of priority based on individual fare when my annual revenue to the company far exceeds the silvers splurging an extra 50 dollars.

I've been quite patient with horrid phone experiences, flights cancelled for capacity and calling it weather, or overbooked, long-delayed hub-to-hub flights caused by this poorly executed merger. I'm trying to find a way to financially remind them that loyalty pays.

You're assuming that it is being shuffled off to a silver for $50 (or a gold, or a plat, or another 1k). Yes, if your annual spend is high because you flight a lot and someone, say another 1k (who coincidentally also would fly a lot) happens to spend more on a flight because theirs was more "last minute" than yours, yeah, you're going to get bumped down because, quite frankly something has to be the tie breaker. UA chose revenue to be the tie breaker on the CPU list.

For the record, I was clearing 35-40% of upgrades as a 2P a few years back, last year as a 1P it was closer to 60, and this year as a plat it has been pretty close to 95%. You might be flying on a lot of elite heavy routes (such as IAD-SFO) where upgrades are just tough to use in general. I'm not saying that it is right, but it could just be the case.

No offense, but you say you're unhappy with the lack of perks and want to post to FB about it but then you say that you "still like UA. . ." Not sure that your point is made well when you say that in the end you're still happy.

Sure.

I suppose there's a chance that I'll wake-up tomorrow with wings that grew out of my back and I can fly myself anywhere I want without any airline, but that's highly unlikely....just about as unlikely that ANYONE will be better off as the HouCrew decimates this airline.

Is part of the problem that there are just a lot more elite flyers now that there is an upturn in the economy? I have made GS during the last 3 years because starting in 2010 I have flown a great deal more than I have in my life - about 180,000 miles or so per year. I also have 4 friends who have also made GS for the first time in their lives due to massive increases in travel during the last two and a half years. We were all 1P or 1K in 2009 and the 10 years before that. I have had no trouble using upgrades this year (this is not a gloating e-mail). I am currently on a family trip and was able to upgrade my family of 4 from LGA to ORD and then ORD-SFO round trip in 2 weeks. I also used upgrades earlier this year from ORD to FLA and JFK to LAX round trip. I even used a one class upgrade from FRA to ORD in June.

It seems like there are just a lot more GS members, and GS members unfortunatelty trump 1K's. My friends who are GS seem to be able to use their upgrades. So perhaps 1K's ability to upgrade has just been diluted by the increase in GS people? does this make sense?