why fly

I am a Canadian and I live in Canada, United came up with a CND web site a few years ago without all the fluff of the US site so i changed my address and cc address to a US address.
I actually have no problem with the spend or rules of being US registered, and for sure some promotion are only for US residences. [IAD=DXB eg.]
However even though I will spend $20k+ I changed my address back to Canada. I guess i will see if all the bugs are fixed in the CND web site.

Travelomania

Exactly my idea (and headache as well) !
FWIW, Delta at least is clear about the requirements - see my post here
So far I've had to provide documentation about 2 of my 4 legit foreign residences

Exactly ^
If they would do so, I'll be happy to give up on any Elite status and fly the other airlines I'm able choose from.

I hope you're right in your assumption. It's quite an annoying and tedious process having to provide all the necessary documentation.
(And IMHO degrading as well !)

craz

I Agree 100% with You on this.

I just dont think UA meant OK change your address to a friends or relatives or colleagues who has a non US address and you will be good to go. They really mean what they did with the PC membership, its for those people who LIVE outside the US, and not for those who have a 2nd home they go to 2 weeks a yr or have an Overseas mailing address they can use.And the vast majority of their flights originate outside the US

Now could be a US citizen is based Overseas and flys in and out with their trips starting here in the US, I suppose if they can prove they actually are based and are now living outside the US UA will grant the wavier to them.

But I have the feeling most folks simply planned to change their address to 1 outside the US to get the wavier.Its not only for 1K, a person who spends say $3500 but flys 81k will end up a Silver, by using a non-US address they will be a PP and most fees wont apply which would if they were a Silver.

Yes for PP a person can do $25k on the CC, but Jan+ is a long ways off and who knows what if any MS will still be going strong, and not everyone has $25k spend on a CC a yr.

If a person has a non-US PP on their acct that will probably take care of things, but few people have both. Also if their non US PP isnt from a Country that is on GE, they may have to kiss that goodbye as CBP wont have them as flying in and Id hate to run a ground of CBP and try explaining well Im playing with UA .....

bocastephen

But without a T+C entry, we have no idea - UA just made a footnote that exempts MP accounts based outside the US without any further reference to what that really means. I doubt they're going to go through the effort of playing location cop. Like DL, if you can supply proof of a legitimate foreign residence and physical presence, that should be enough - how many days you spend there or here should not be relevant.

craz

Time will tell. I honestly dont remember the T&Cs from the free PC membership,I didnt do it. But I do remember several FTers being about switching back to their legit US address.

I just dont see where owning something outside the US will be good enough (could be a time share will be enough then) I do remember some posts saying CO wanted to know if I lived outside the US why did all my flights originate in the US

With CO wanting to rid itself of all the Over Entitled Elites , I wouldnt past them to dot all the I's and cross all the T's say for PPs and 1Ks maybe Golds as well. Silvers they probably wouldnt care much about since a CC will get them everything anyways, and Silvers will pay most fees as well.

The problem is what if they dont specify anything till very late '14 when all of a sudden a person will see they wont qualify w/o the wavier and the wavier is gone for them.

My own .02 (if its even worth that) is I wouldnt play Russian Roulette against Jeff & Co, if a certain level of status really matters to a person. If a person doesnt care then Play away

DaviddesJ

Why do they need to? Why can't they just do what they want?

bryanwallace

as a 1k living in japan for 17yrs this address stuff doesnt affect me but just to
give some idea of poss problems.
usually compensation vouchers come in form of 10% of flights rather than a straight dollar $
have had some issues paying in $ on the us website with a japan based card,as they track where the card is from.

not saying these will affect you just personal experiences

not actually true-you can print it off the website and stick it on an old card.
this is what i did this yr when i lost my card and works fine everywhere.
(i didnt bother asking for a new card as when my card was lost 5yrs ago it took them 4months to send a new one)

dsquared37

Hmmm, so is it ALL or just the vast majority?

There are a handful of viable reasons someone does have most/all of their flights on UA start in the US and yet they legitimately live overseas



I don't see how the address that UA has on file will propagate through to the federal gov. Time will tell.

Now UA could (and likely will) eliminate the $100 GE benefit for foreign addressed members.

Back to ALL I see.



OK Cartman. Wha-ever, I do what I wan'.

DaviddesJ

Yes, it's their program, they can administer it however they want. When you start your own frequent flyer program, you can run it how you want.

fjfv19

They certainly could, but from a business perspective, it certainly could make sense to define the rules to avoid disputes going forward. On one hand, the vague definitions do help by not constraining how UA chooses to enforce the rules. However, people place inherent value in their membership in frequent flyer programs/status so losing the account to a vague technicality could lead to a wide array of claims. Whether or not they have standing is another question, but it just seems cleaner and slightly more customer friendly. My guess is that they'll opt for less definition.

dsquared37

They can indeed run it how they want but that generally requires published rules which they desire to be followed.

They also are allowing foreign based MP members to skirt the PQD threshold for whatever reason therefor that's how they are administering it.

Clarification is needed is this entire new FFP tangent and UA sure seems to be taking their time.

What's your point again?

craz

The problem with the non-US PP on file is , when I use the GE kyosk it asks me if I just arrived from XYZ and tracks me by my finger prints connected to my US PP info that was put in when I went for my GE interview. Im Assuming that if you switch from the PP used that the kyosk wont recognize the person since it wont be able to match that you were a passenger who just flew in since UA sent them your non-US PP info. I could be 100% wrong

I never said a person cant have a legit reason why they lived Overseas and started their trips from here instead. My pt was Im sure UA will assume that anyone who has a non-US address would be starting from outside the US, and when the audit red flags them, they will have to most likely prove to UA that in fact they are living outside the US = simply changing ones address to a non-US address wont be the problem solver as some think, again I could be wrong.My feeling is UA doesnt simply want to give a simple way out to Everyone, otherwise it never would have started with a Wavier. It does want to give that Wavier to anyone living outside the US just as it did with its PC membership in yrs past

But I do agree that UA should spell it all out, my guess is they didnt think anyone would have thought that simply changing ones address w/o actually living outside the US would be good enough and what they had in mind

dsquared37

There are so many grey cases that UA needs to give some direction. My take is they threw a handful of info against the wall and is counting on us to beta test it.

While CO's offer of free PC access to their foreign members is something to be controlled at their whim I'm rather inclined to believe that there's a significant increased leeway that UA will grant 'foreign' members as this program might well have an international legal (as some FT members have repeatedly stated) limitation.

But, we shall how this plays out as the year comes to a close.

bocastephen

Actually, no they can't - rules still apply, and the program is still a contract between the vendor (UA) and the customer (us), and therefore UA must follow its terms and conditions as do we. Sure they can make changes to the T+C as they see fit, but making up arbitrary rules and applying them unevenly based on a whim does not fit into the T+C or the contract between us.

bocastephen

I think you're way overanalyzing this. Clearly UA needs to place the criteria in the T+C, but with so many unanswered questions about this program change, I doubt we'll see it - but when we do, the likely criteria will match DL - drivers license, utility bill, lease, etc. Once that documentation is provided (which is unlikely for someone who switches addresses for convenience), that should be the end of it - unless the T+C includes a statement that insists the majority of customer travel must take place outside the US or the flying pattern for tickets must originate outside the US.