A shinier piece of plastic because theirs was more expensive?

...that's assuming that they also make 1K. I've met segment warrior 1Ks on JFK-IAD who do nothing but NYC-WAS (why they don't take Acela is beyond me). They're comparatively rare, but presumably everyone in that camp would prefer to be a 1K (having likely spend $20k of other people's money to obtain it) than have me be one.

We all have our own personal biases towards our self interest. My horse in the race is much more towards the status quo than not.

Yeah, I just had a hard time finding numbers from within the past couple of years. DEQM really distorted things up through '09, and travel patterns from '03 to '05 seem quite old at this stage. January might be a good time for another general polling of the frequent fliers, to get updated numbers for '12.

I think that many of us GS travelers purchase business class for international and coach (lowest available) for domestic travel.....so we do like our upgrades.

That's not true - Air China has some in the T3 lounge.

I would assume they should eliminate all corporate discounts under this system or are you suggesting a customer who buys a OW V-fare for $500 with no discount is entitled to more benefits than a customer who purchases a OW $499 B-fare with a substantial corporate discount (that would retail for $998)? Even better would be to expect United to be able to keep track of such a system accurately since they struggle with simple things like the distance between point A and point B under the current system.

To summarize:
1) Suggesting a straight $ BIS system is as well thought out as suggesting there is a very real M-Up benefit to 1ks
And
2) The lucrative (creamy) corporate customer would not rise to the top under a straight $ BIS system

By "Capital of the Free World," I meant IAD. Air China doesn't serve IAD.

I did not mean LHR (which CA serves at T3). There are a multitude of airlines with showers there.

Our organization's GSs (4 of them...I used to be but no longer) never purchase F or C international or domestic...rather, they purchase last minute Y fares and are "sometimes" automatically upgraded, but more often, use earned instruments or instruments provided by UA sales. For what it is worth, they are only about 50-60% successful on upgrades since 3-3...in comparison, in last 10 years they were nearly 100%.

I am not sure they care about GS either. I do get luggage tags - and (sometimes) ability to board first. But there is no service difference anymore. It's just gone.

s

What about scenarios where F was cheaper than Y? Are they still forced to buy Y?

3.8MM - so close to lifetime GS.

...and yet how telling it is that said poster is no longer actively flying UA from what it seems.

Sure he's not alone.

I have two friends that have been GS for many years. They work for different company's and have different professions. Most all their travel is international out of DC and they both have their company pay for business, as it's all about working while they fly.

I think what maybe is common with these two and other GS is they (or I should clarify their company) always buys them last minute tickets. And what I think is also common is they really don't have time or willingness to mess around getting from point A to B.

My two friends have no idea what FT is. They also have no idea what SWU's, GPU's, CR1's, RPU's, or CPU's are and have no idea what balance of these instruments they have. They also don't know for sure how many miles they have, other then they both told me a few million (lol).

They just enjoyed UA for many years getting them to point A to B in the pointy part of the plane. And they both have stopped flying UA mid year. When I asked them why they said "something changed" but neither of them knew anything about 3/3 or really the merger of CO and UA.

They both just fly on other *A airlines now, as they both really like *A. I'm sure this is for family vacations when they maybe look how many miles they need to get all the family members up in F.;)

Yep, sample size is way too small, but I have a feeling GS is not like the previous years anymore and have also a feeling this is what the newUA wants for some unknown reason.

Similar experience for me. I called the 1K line and the agent answered "gold desk". I commented that I usually get the 1K desk and the agent said that he is the 1K desk, too, there's no difference.

Over 50K in Sydney and not a GS? I find that surprising.

To be fair, most *A don't give *S anything unless you belong to their program. *G gets a lot more but even then, it has its limits. I've had LH do jack for me as a *G while trying to resolve problems they caused. I have no doubt that I would have been taken care of a lot better had I been a Senator or HON.

Outside of really basic benefits, I think many expect too much of *S and *G on other airlines.

Which has few benefits I can truly rely on:rolleyes:

I was loyal (to the extreme) to UA for nearly 35 years (before that it was TWA since 1KPath Dad was a pilot for them)...and I will still fly UA when it makes sense...but to be honest, since December of last year, it has only made sense for 26K BIS...compared to over 100K on AA and another 60-70K on BA and more on CX...you get the idea. I will make lifetime GS in 3-4 years, but in the meantime, good customer service and operational reliability trumps all loyalty to the corporate name United...for United is no longer the airline I once flew and could depend on!