PDXPremier

Yes, it is a gray area poll...and more discussion (ie, getting know the rest of your UA elite "family") rather than pure numbers, although I will crunch the numbers at a later date just for fun

IflyfromABE

Group 2 easily, but 90% domestic flights (the international ones are for leisure) and easily qualify on segments and not miles (averaging about 150 segments a year.)

PDXPremier

150 domestic segments? Amazing....

sbm12

Perhaps (though I don't really think it is that clearly defined) but the distinctions you've drawn are quire ridiculous. People who fly short-haul don't care about wifi because they're never going to pay for it? Really?? And the idea that the short-haul road warrior is buying cheap tickets is quite funny. Similarly, the idea the people who only fly long-haul also don't care about IFE because they only bring their own is disproven on a regular basis in this very forum.

Doesn't make much sense at all to me.

pbearmedic

Hmmm. 0.85?

Except for the part about mileage balance. I have a ton of RDMs accrued because I never redeem them since I need the EQMs.

I'd rather take Amtrak given the choice of options to get from NYC to DC.

mkrecek

1.5 Buys Cheap ticket, but pays extra for GPU. Flies a lot extra to hit 1K...would be considered insane by most...business trips, extra fun trips and a couple MRs. track flights I took on spreadsheet and hours in UC - Between 60 - 93 hours in a year. UC and F seats are my office away from office. A few weeks without flying and I think it's been a while. After I get off a business class international flight of 14 hours, I feel like I just got off a roller coaster and can't wait to go again. Love the meals, even though it's the same old eggs. Always giddy over ice cream. Ran into the same FA on 5 different flights...many seem familiar or recognizable. On CO flight; asked the FA if she was PMUA and why she was on a CO flight....I was right and she said 119 UAFAs went to CO at merger. I just have the "Catch Me If You Can" Jet-setter mentality.

gsvt

It doesn't sound amazing to me, because I am in the same place and it's painful. I average about 140 segments a year. I live in VT and it's all commuter flights from BTV and I am increasingly funneled through EWR, where most connections are to what seems to be the world's largest fleet of 50-seaters. Does United actually have flights where you can get upgraded to first and choose between a hamburger and a salad? (And yes, I know they really do--when you fly 140 segments, you do occasionally end up on a mainline flight.)

dorisrpas

Ditto, at 100% domestic (UA 130 segments, DL 75K miles), all last minute travel

hobo13

Me neither.

Talk about wanting to put people in a tidy little box.

I'll stick to being a charter member of the Gang of 11.

uwr

I agree.
But it's just for fun.

chacoun

1.75. Main difference being a lot of domestic flying for me these days

LeviFlight

Group 2. Sitting here looking at Annie right now, waiting, waiting for UA to fix another plane. Why don't they services planes when i am not waiting to get on it? Why, Jeff, why?

asphaltman

100% 1 except I can't live without the miserable United Club and I do wonder where the WiFi is. Interesting to see the list, I feel like more of a flying nerd than I thought now..

gnetwerker

mecabq

I suppose I am closer to group 2. I live outside the U.S., and my strategy is to fly 2-3 round-trips from the Middle East to the U.S. per year when I go home, buying V/W and upgrading to C with GPUs. To qualify for 1K, I also take a handful of trips from the Middle East to Europe, always buying a more expensive fare-earning class if I am flying LH, along with a handful of miscellaneous Star Alliance flights.

When purchasing C for business or pleasure, I never take United. (I occasionally buy C on LH and try to upgrade to F, but with the changes to the LH GPU process, that is now pretty much impossible.)

GPUs are getting harder and harder to confirm at booking (I managed it twice this year on the BAH flights and once to NRT), so I am really just squeaking by. I will most likely continue this strategy until I reach 1MM, then abandon the annual pursuit to reach 1K status. I will buy non-UA C for long-haul trips, or dip into my sizeable mileage balance to purchase upgrades or, at worst, redemption trips since I won't fly more than 8 hours in Y. In the past, I have never used miles for an upgrade -- only for premium long-haul redemptions on non-UA Star Alliance members for myself or others.

So, in short, I look forward to the day in a couple of years when I will convert to a net redeemer rather than a net earner, going from a decent UA customer to a drain on them. I don't know if I am the type of customer that they are trying to wean away from UA, but I am surely not the type of customer who will suck it up and purchase premium-class tickets on UA, since once I reach lifetime *G, there is no reason to do so.