yeah... no... why should they give out free upgrades, if they can monetize them either in money, miles or upgrade instruments.

Don't worry, some of us in the US never received our full 2012 kits, either (though I did get a replacement card).

Wow, lets do everything to give away the ship and kill revenue. Airline still needs to make money. Revenue should come first then the certs, then the freebies. Nothing you state will happen as they all reduce revenue.

I'd like a revenue based program all on *A, but minimum of $3K on UA tickets

Silver $5K
Gold $15K
Get rid of Platinum
1k $25K
GS whatever UA decides it is

Quite a bump from what was speculated last year....eg 1K was rumored to be in the $8K to $10K range.

oh please ....

and how do you keep track of spend on partner airlines?

this would be suicide for UA unless everyone did it. There are plenty of people who are not corporate drones, that fly enough to be considered valuable customers, this would alienate all of them, without a chance of status - why should the person flying UA twice a year TPAC choose United, if everyone else would offer them status for the same price?

To be fair, I highly doubt UA really cares all that much about 2 TPACs on cheap fares.... In an industry with single digit margins, two far in advanced TPACs in Y for a total of $3000, including all taxes and fees is probably a break even endeavor for them at best.

I've always been surprised that you could get gold with a couple of east coast US trips to SIN or MEL and perhaps a trip to Grandma's at the holidays...

There's another thread about people's spend to hit 1k and the variance (especially to the low end) blew my mind. I don't buy premium tickets for the sport of paying more, but I just can't fathom how some people are swinging 1k on less than $5k spend.

All I ask for is something to shoot for above 1k, as I have a really hard time justifying loyalty for GS when I have no idea if I'll even get it. Status qualification should not be akin to religion in terms of blind faith and devotion, with an abstract concept of potential reward at the other end.

yes, I will get 1K for under $5k next year for sure.
All the money is out of my pocket, and its all discretionary leisure travel, no work flying, no mileage runs.
If there would be no status for the $5k - I would fly a different airline.

That $5k is still > zero, and it adds up.

I realize I am not as lucrative as a corporate contract drone who flies on Y fares back and forth across the country every week. However, alienating us bottom feeders by taking away all perks is dangerous ground. If the airlines didnt need us to fill seats - they would have gone revenue a long time ago.

AC has just gone full on revenue based - low fares earn zero or 50% at most. Full earning fares are double the price in some markets, so hopefully the US airlines do not go the same in face of true competition.


I still believe mileage and status should be earned by who paid for the ticket, not by the passenger - that would be the fairest system of all - but nearly impossible to implement.

Because elites become loyal to an airline that gives them those upgrades. Simple, not a new concept. The key is finding the right balance of free vs. offered for cash. If I wasn't upgraded with swu/rpu/cpu like I enjoy now I would look elsewhere. This is the primary benefit I see for being an elite free upgrades. I get them, they get my business.

You must have been getting surprised for years as this has always been the case. I don't trivialize "a couple east coast to Sin or Mel" those are LONG haul flights and at least 1500-2500 I would guess in economy. That isn't a small amount of money and a significant year of travel for almost all US based fliers. I would guess less than 5% of UA fliers take 2 of these 20k + RT's a year. Because you fly all over creation don't discount 2 LONG haul flights and some other domestic flying. This is earned and deserved by all who take them.

Well we have government fares where the traveler doesnt' earn mileage nor does the govt. get any miles. In your system I coudl buy your ticket and i get the miles. This has never been the case in any program I know and don't see where it helps consumers or the airline. Simple rule is whoever flies gets it, period. Why the need to change who gets it?

So employers who fund so much of the business travel should get the miles rather than all the workers?

I know many companies operate like that but I know if my global consulting firm tried that there would be a call to storm the HQ.

$10k seems very low for the top tier. There are probably a bunch of Golds out there that spend more than this, maybe even some Silvers...

Wouldnt that be a more fair revenue based system?
If its revenue based, why not reward the actual source of the revenue?

If the airlines implemented such a systemt, then you'd have no recourse with your corporate HQ.

Of course none of this is feasible, and would be impossible to implement with the current state of IT, and would be suicide if just one airline did it.

Finally...someone on here that doesn't totally hate Silvers.

Good point.

I don't think the published benefits will change notably (other than maybe RPUs being axed late in the year). But further tweaking on the inventory management will worsen the mid elites experience, I am convinced.

This Lowly Gold (tm) has done over $7k in revenue (excluding taxes & fees) this year... all domestic.

I consider the Domestic Air Warrior in a different category than the int'l flyers. It's a serious grind.

I'll be close enough on PQM's at the end of December that I can throw a few FlexPQM's at it to be Plat for 2013.

This year, my travel dropped off for the summer months because of some changes at work... I don't expect that dropoff again in 2013.

I'm not sure I like a revenue program, but it would be nice to find a way to reward those of us flying the unfriendly domestic skies ....