ironmanjt

Any thinking how UA might police the "48 states, Alaska, and Hawaii" thing? I'm sure they'll do something to prevent us all from registering with a foreign friend of choice just to get around this.

FlyWorld

Prediction 2:

Before March 25, 2015, we will see a thread that has several hundred posts from MP members whose status was summarily stripped from them, retroactively, and miles confiscated, because CO ran a sweep and identified all accounts that switched addresses from US to non-US and that qualified on miles but not dollars and whose flights primarily originated in the US.

TA

When your flown cities clearly don't match your overseas address, I think UA can start to figure that out.

antonius66

I think its hilarious all the people claiming they spend 10s of 1000s of $$$ in business fares and how they fly all these miles anyway. Well, great for you...but my question is...what do you care about status for anyway when you are buying all these full fare flex business and first fares anyway? A few more miles? Change fees on fully refundable tickets?

Also amusing are the thinly veiled insecurities...If everyone is elite, no one is! And my company pays for me to fly upfront so I can be special! They better call me by name and thank me when I fly and fall to their knees because I am super special DYKWIA man!"

Get over yourselves.

bubb1

Just like many other things in life, it seems like most "elites" here want to blame their problems on some sort of exaggerated villan, in this case the FT maximizer/gamer. I think instead you should be really concerned about how your airline is the next domino to fall after DL (the horror) and that management thinks they can grow profits by racing to the bottom in tandem with a shrinking set of competitors.

Remember that your "loyalty" means absolutely nothing and that, if airlines could have their way, virtually everything beneficial a consumer gets out of FFPs would be axed immediately and a rebate program would be the replacement. If this pattern we are seeing with elite status qualification continues with other major devaluations coming out of the mad scientist lab at Delta, we are in for a pretty bleak future here at FT.

DCBob

+1. That's exactly what UA will do and there will be no way to appeal on getting the confiscated miles back other than a frivolous lawsuit.

Duffman

what I wonder is what it takes to be Canadian as far as UA is concerned. Would changing my address to my cousins house in Canada (or the UK) suffice?

GoAmtrak

In other words, the folks who don't use any of the benefits that require a level of effort to apply. Remember the thread about the uber-1K who didn't even know about GPUs and turned out to be letting dozens of them a year expire? UA loves customers like that. Whether leisure flyer or HVF, the less informed or empowered they are, the better.

flyingnosh

This thread is growing faster than I can read it...

People why try to game the system are more likely to sign up for FT, that's why you see so many of them here. But across the entire UA customer base, the percentage is very small. About the only difference we'll see is that, on a typical flight, a typical Silver will advance from #19 on the upgrade list to #18. Any extra F seats that open up will simply be sold for additional revenue. For the vast majority who already spend 10 cpm this is pretty much a non-event.

sammyindc

It could but then you'd have to change your address for your UA credit cards (if you have any) as well which could complicate things.

Additionally, that might open the door for some audits and a more defined definition of what residency means in UA terms. If your "address" is in the UK or Canada but all your travel is within the US, might be hard to justify the change of address unless you have a UK/Canadian passport for example.

hirohito888

I think many of these "insecurities" are about the unknown/confusion about the spend requirement. Most of the 1K who spend $10,000+ are likely to be traveling in Y/C/F on multiple carriers around the world ticketed via UA and/or other *A ticket stock. So for UA to say the PQD only applies to 016 ticket stock doesn't make sense for elites who buy and fly on other carriers. UA is not going to be able to sell a 016 ticket for a LHR-FRA-BOM fare or a ICN-SIN-PER fare.

mre5765

If cash spent toward Premier Accelerator PQMs does not count toward PQDs, then the such PQMs (in absence of an enhancement, see below) are all but useless for elites subject to the PQD requirement.

What would not surprise me is UA adding a PQD Accelerator product to reservations. One would then be prompted to buy additional RDMs, and then PQMs, and then PQDs.

The airlines in *A have been proceeding with breaking the terms of the alliance for quite a while now. It has been reduced to a vehicle for redeeming economy class awards and a couple free checked bags.

In essence, UA is saying to:
- elites: fly our metal to re-qualify. Once you re-qualiy, you can enjoy benefits on other *A carriers (e.g. earning additional RPUs and GPUs)
- *A partners: join M+ like Copa did or die. It is brilliant. UA can control foreign carriers without buying them.

NickP 1K

For THIS YEAR; I'm at $6400 or so on 016 issued tickets, I'm on another $3900 USD on other * Carrier issued tickets where UA segments were also present. I likely have another 6K on united ONLY and another 5-6 possibly on other carriers (Star and non stor) but how my TA tickets if another carrier is on the ticket will be a mystery - meaning that remaining 6K USD in revenue may be NOT on 016 ticket stock.

Folks saying "hard to believe 100K can't do 10K USD"... it's pretty fricking easy for a biz traveller to do this if they have mixed Star tickets. Even if I just have ONE segment on a Star carrier our TA cannot get UA to issue tickets on all routes properly, so example LAX-HND but then 4 more segments in UA Intra-Asia then back to LAX on UA = our TA issuing the ticket on ANA ticket stock.

GUWonder

I have legal residence rights on no less than four continents and in more countries than that while remaining only a US citizen; originating half of my trips or a bit more in the US, even as I spend more time outside of the US than in the US and am most likely to get timely mail examined at my European and Asian addresses than in the US. Why should I be required to use an inconvenient address? What if no longer owning or leasing any residential real estate in my own personal name in the US? There really is no pretty way to do this, especially given DL's tendency to feed so much passenger data to intelligence and law enforcement agencies even in the absence of an identified individual airline customer being subjected to a court-ordered warrant.

LAXOGG

Agreed. A lot easier to implement and a lot easier to track.....for both the company and the customer!