"Expert Mode" Changes
Sep 10, 2012 | 10:24 am
#961
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: SFO South Bay
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 3,053
I haven't made it all the way through the thread, but if anyone from UA is reading this, please consider enabling the feature for various elite tiers and up. i.e., 1K+, GS+ or whatever. This change has effectively rendered useless a couple of benefits that are made available to GS members - namely those that allow us to request an agent to open up certain award/upgrade fare buckets when other classes are available. Program is feeling more and more diluted every day and it is truly disappointing.
Sep 10, 2012 | 10:44 am
#962
Join Date: Feb 2007
Programs: United 1K, Delta PM, Hilton Diamond, Starwood Gold, National Exec. Elite
Posts: 1,406
Are they removing the functionality all together, or just the links from the website?
I have never used this so if you can give me an example of what we would use it for, I might be able to build a hack for it.
I have never used this so if you can give me an example of what we would use it for, I might be able to build a hack for it.
Sep 10, 2012 | 10:45 am
#963
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: IAH & HOU
Programs: UA GS & Marriott Titanium
Posts: 455
Will do. Did you get any response? Was considering sending a note to Jeff directly as well. The search feature clearly knows elite level when displaying results, so would think this is relatively easy to enable on a "status-ed" basis.
Sep 10, 2012 | 10:46 am
#964
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: BOS (South End)
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP, TrueBlue, IHG Plat Amb, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold, Accor Platinum, National Exec Elite
Posts: 913
I don't know if anyone has posted this vid from UnitedHub but beyond ironic..."We are going to revamp the website not only it's look and feel but we're adding more and more functionality so we can stay connected with our customers..." What a sick joke!!!
https://hub.united.com/en-us/Videos/...connected.aspx
https://hub.united.com/en-us/Videos/...connected.aspx
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:08 am
#965
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: UA1k; Bonvoy Titanium; Hilton Gold; IHG Gold; AA Plat Pro
Posts: 1,875
Almost a thousand comments - and no replies from UA.
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:12 am
#966
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: BOS, PVG
Programs: United Global Services and 1MM, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 10,307
I don't know if anyone has posted this vid from UnitedHub but beyond ironic..."We are going to revamp the website not only it's look and feel but we're adding more and more functionality so we can stay connected with our customers..." What a sick joke!!!
https://hub.united.com/en-us/Videos/...connected.aspx
https://hub.united.com/en-us/Videos/...connected.aspx
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:12 am
#967
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: DEN
Programs: Recovering after 7 years of UA 1K, Still UA Silver (Which means nothing), Marriott Lifetime Plat Pre
Posts: 1,950
Say there are 5 flights that day, and I want to upgrade, I do a flight search, see the times, and I can see that the 4pm flight has R1, and the other 4 flights are R0. I book the flight with R1, and apply my upgrade certificate. This is especially important with international where upgradeable fares cost more. Why pay extra if I can't upgrade it?
Also, the day before the flight, if its one I didn't want to upgrade in advance, but might want to upgrade now, I look. If I see F9 I wait it out. If I see F2 and R1, I might use a certificate or pay the buy-up price to assure F.
The other part I like was I would use it to look for saver awards. If I am booked a paid trip and the price is a little steep, and I see Saved F or Saver C, Ill just use my miles instead.
I feel blind now, very sad. I wonder if they are trying to prevent people form booking and upgrading immediately so they can sell even more buy ups. It also makes it hard to search for saver awards. I pay an annual fee to KVS so I can search fro saver awards, and that functionality seems to be gone now.
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:14 am
#968
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:16 am
#969
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: On strike
Programs: FT badges are idiotic
Posts: 7,950
You're playing a very asymmetrical game and claiming that the results are useful. I don't believe that's true.
You say that Z9 R0 is more likely to clear than Z3 R0 is more likely than Z0 R0. [...]
Maybe the Z0 flight has a few misconnects or people cancel while the Z9 flight suddenly has a group booking up front which swings inventory in a way RM wasn't expecting.
You say that Z9 R0 is more likely to clear than Z3 R0 is more likely than Z0 R0. [...]
Maybe the Z0 flight has a few misconnects or people cancel while the Z9 flight suddenly has a group booking up front which swings inventory in a way RM wasn't expecting.
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:27 am
#970
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: IAH
Programs: UA/CO-GS/PPlat,AA-Gold,SPG-Plat,Hilton-Diamond,Marriott-Plat,Hertz-Pres_Circe
Posts: 824
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:30 am
#971
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Toronto YYZ UA-1K 1MM,QFgold
Programs: Royal Ambassador/ SPG Platinum 75/Marriott gold
Posts: 14,283
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:37 am
#972
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 203
I know I am a little late to this party, but I wanted to add my displeasure for this decision and the functionality and transparency that is lost. I also disagree with their logic in dumbing down the website to please the lowest common denominator of customers.
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:39 am
#973
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
So you think the decision to make this change rests solely on the shoulders of the UA Insider team and they're just looking for ways to piss off customers so they suggested this one?
Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here.
Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here.
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:41 am
#974
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Homosassa, FL & Ringwood, NJ -UA-G(Lifetime); SPG-Plat (Lifetime)
Posts: 6,122
Let's pretend they did run it by some folks. Do you think any of those folks would have said, "Wow, this is AWESOME!" when hearing it? Of course not. So do you think that the folks on the UA Insider team would actually believe they'd get any useful feedback? If they already know that everyone is going to hate it - and they're pretty smart folks so I believe they did know that going in - what difference does it make to talk to those same people in advance.
In the very first post they acknowledge that they know it is going to piss people off: "I know that this is a popular feature for many of you here in fact, we liked it too." And yet they made the change anyways. So either they're complete morons who have decided to lie for a living or it wasn't actually their choice.
Remember that they're just a few folks in one department at the big company. If they simply acted on what was posted here FT members would get priority on upgrades and only ever pay G fares, even if there's no inventory. But that probably doesn't work so well when they go into a meeting with the revenue management folks. I have to assume that this move was a similar situation. the Customer Experience team can scream and yell in the meeting that some customers are going to be pissed and post a lot on FlyerTalk, but if the RM or Call Center or Marketing managers agree that the change has to happen then the change will happen.
Just because a bunch of folks here (self included) don't like the change doesn't mean that it is bad for business.
In the very first post they acknowledge that they know it is going to piss people off: "I know that this is a popular feature for many of you here in fact, we liked it too." And yet they made the change anyways. So either they're complete morons who have decided to lie for a living or it wasn't actually their choice.
Remember that they're just a few folks in one department at the big company. If they simply acted on what was posted here FT members would get priority on upgrades and only ever pay G fares, even if there's no inventory. But that probably doesn't work so well when they go into a meeting with the revenue management folks. I have to assume that this move was a similar situation. the Customer Experience team can scream and yell in the meeting that some customers are going to be pissed and post a lot on FlyerTalk, but if the RM or Call Center or Marketing managers agree that the change has to happen then the change will happen.
Just because a bunch of folks here (self included) don't like the change doesn't mean that it is bad for business.
Sep 10, 2012 | 11:45 am
#975
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
If I have a "75% chance" (based on whatever crazy metrics someone comes up with based on the minimal data available) to get the upgrade and I don't clear that doesn't do much good versus the 25% chance which does clear. And the truth is we simply don't have the data to say with any reliability more than a couple days out whether odds of clearing one flight versus another look good or not.
Not in this case. They all sign their real names.