IflyfromABE

Don't do it
you can probably upgrade more for $799 with ToD upgrades

chasbondy

I made a small arithmetic error and came up 9000 miles of retaining my coveted Silver status. And, I was totally honored that UA would sell me my status back for a mere $1300 or so. I really can wait to pay so this elevated status will give me a 50/50 chance to get a free E+ seat on the day of my flight, and a 1 in 20 chance of getting an upgrade if I decide to go to ElSalvador or some place like that. They are so brazen, that its really embarassing

aacharya

Bitter, aren't we?

I flew BIS to make 1K. I didn't need to buy status. Good luck on WN.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Gotta like the humor

valor155

I do as well. +1

alex_b

My wife just got a card in the mail offering for her to buy up from Gold to Platinum by Feb 28th. 12,000 PQM for $2199 (18.3 cpm).

Also there is a bug in the PQS calculation in that it's just showing 1/1000 of the PQMs needed.

gcs1965

I've been a 1K for the last couple of years but took some time off in '13 and ended up with 115.5 segments falling just short of 1K status.

Today I got an offer in the mail from United giving me the opportunity to buy my way back up to 1K status. In my mind the difference between Platinum and 1K is pretty minimal (dedicated 1K service line, complimentary upgrades 1 day earlier, 6 global premier upgrades and a few other small things) but I was curious to see what it would take.

When I checked the offer, United wants $1,949 to buy the 5 segments I would need to retain 1K status which seems to me to be an absolutely INSANE amount of money for virtually no benefit (to top that off, I live in Cleveland but that's another issue entirely).

I'm wondering who else got the same offer and if the pricing is consistent or varies based on status, history, etc. It seems to me to be just one more example of UA doing everything possible to take advantage of their best customers.

travel.flier

dedicated 1k line disappeared march 2012.

the GPU's are probably worth more than $1949

nova08

There seems to be a ton of these offers going around, more than the usual. And of course they all seem to be aimed at the short term profit rather than keeping a loyal flier.

gcs1965

They would if United would ever let us use them. My experience has been that it's tough to find flights with available space. I just had several expire because there was never a seat available (and have several friends who had the same thing happen in 2013).

FlytheTail

The GPUs are very valuable to me too, but if the OP doesn't travel much overseas, then perhaps not. Price does seem a bit high though, I would have guessed maybe half the quoted price.

Boo_Radley

I wouldn't describe UA making you an offer as "taking advantage" of you. When something is overpriced, I usually just don't buy it. No one's getting hosed here, though.

EDIT: Slightly on topic: the girlfriend was 1200 miles short of EXP last year, and AA made her an offer somewhere in the $1200 range. She got a letter last week saying that they're just going to give it to her instead. Thought that was interesting.

Sykes

My guess is that they have banded prices that are looking entirely at EQM and disregarding how close he is on segments.

exerda

4.5 segments? I'd have done anything to get those segments in 2013 due to the exact thing the OP has run into. UA knows they can gouge you since you have no other options.

WineCountryUA

We have to disagree on this. What elite benefits do you value?

I would agree the offer was pretty unreasonable.