If AA stays independent, their union issues are settled and they start flying from my airport again, I would be very very tempted. I like their new energy and their new fresh upcoming fleet. Kinda like CO in the late 90s...

Au contraire....thy would actually be giving the upgrades arguably to the most loyal......

its ended up a disaster. Air Canada looks like its going to take back a lot of control 2013 March and the Aeroplan spin off destroyed the Air Canada program. Scam charges and the FF who can leave have left. Air Canada is left with passengers who are stranded within Air Canada's monopoly.

well I was holding out, hoping I'd see an announcement of being able to use GPU's on lower fare classes, but alas, I gave in and booked some intl flights with R open in V class for next year...

I think everyone was thinking nothing will change, and now I agree with them myself !!

If they started flying SFO-HKG and SFO-NRT and SFO-LHR, I'd be there.

The most optimistic and hopeful notion I can come up with is: They start running some numbers over the next 4 weeks, discover that the number of disappearing elites is far higher than they ever imagined, and they hire a new finance intern who discovers that those elites were actually worth having, then they grant "same status as 2012" to everyone who didn't re-qualify at the same level for 2013, recognizing the negative impact that the long list of failures has had on us. Until this week, such a notion would have been unimaginable. But, if Smisek actually fired the guy who was responsible for the war on elites and replaced him with a respected UA veteran ... it could be possible.

Sounds great! Maybe gas stations, grocery stores and department stores should do this also. Why bother to have fixed prices on anything !

Why just do it on upgrades - do it on the base flights (oops I forgot, it is already that way).

Gosh I hope not! I was hoping for a mass exodus leaving more CPU room for this Lowly Platinum.

Curious to see how many UA flyers, like myself, decided to stick with UA through the end of the year and haven't decided who they're going with for 2013. I didn't learn about the AA matches until mid-summer of this year and by then I had most of my travel planned on UA through this year's end. Many told me that AA wouldn't match me if I waited until next year, but it looks like they are still offering a match and I'm still interested, but haven't pulled the trigger yet as I'm waiting to see what changes, if any, there are to Mileage Plus. I fly out of AUS mostly, and the 8 usable upgrades vs 6 hard-to-use upgrades are really making it tough for me to justify sticking with UA. I don't really want to leave, as I'm comfortable with UA and generally like them, but I don't love UA so much that I'm willing to spend more money for the chance to sit up front on long hauls that I'm paying out of pocket.

I am waiting for the new program before making any purchase for my Q1 trips. So far I have SJO-CAI, SJO-HEL, SJO-RUH on hold to see whether I book with UA or just go with the status match over at AA and fly Oneworld.

At present short-notice award tickets and changes to award tickets are free of charge to 1K members. Does anyone know of any imminent changes to these benefits?

No one has any info at present about the 2013 program (aside from perhaps what's in the 2013 credentials some folks have received already).

However, I seriously doubt UA would introduce close-in award fees for 1Ks, or award change fees.

No one knows what changes will happen in the 2013 program. There's a thread about when the 2013 benefits will be announced; my new guess is 14 January.

The loss of fee-free last minute changes for elites would be a very big change that would make UA's product much worse than the competition's, so it seems unlikely.

No they wouldn't. They'd be giving them out by spend. No reason to go for 1K in my mind. Just hit silver and bid.

It's not gonna happen. Thankfully.

No news yet on the �new�program?

Given that people have been getting packets which presumably give the benefits of each level, I'm guessing no major changes. I suppose possibly in terms of how accrual works towards 2014 status, but doesn't seem likely at this point. I'm guessing status quo.