anc-ord772

No, you're right, that is an overstatement. Plenty o problems tho, mostly around customer facing policies and operations. I have found the inflight experience to be fine.

tegelad

Funny side story ... so I finally crossed the threshold this week into 1K land; however, getting there was strange as United was delayed posting flights really late "and" because of a FEQM push to get to gold so I could have E+, they were further delayed in crossing the faux-100K threshold [9,991 CO PP card use] ...

'So I call the line as a PP, and I ask where is the status update, I get told oh it will sweep Saturday night (if not then definitely monday ...). I asked if there was anything that could be done as I have another pair of flights through the East Coast this weekend, and would it be possible to at least get it tagged as 1K, and they started working on it ... he kept thinking I cared about the upgrade (which already was done via a B-fare) ... I kept saying don't care ... what I care about is IRROPS not the upgrade ...

His response ... "Oh" I see EWR in your future and there are storms this weekend... let me take care of that right away (30 seconds later signout/signin) bammo. Status update.

aacharya

Fascinating, isn't it? Folks have parsed out the "we don't know anything about PQDs" and yet can't remember the YQ, which is clearly within PQDs. That says a lot about many of the postings on the PQD thread re "opaque earnings".

WineCountryUA

Well since the only notice (which I believe) is a post from UA Insider in other thread and there is nothing yet in the FAQs, it is not surprising there still is widespread confusion / lack of knowledge even among the FT community let alone among those not receiving early insider info.

mgcsinc

While I'm inclined to never disagree with you about anything, since you're quite the senior statesman, I just can't agree with you about this. The FAQ's and other announcements make crystal clear that "carrier-imposed surcharges" are included. YQ is undeniably a "carrier-imposed surcharge." I knew from the moment I read the first stuff on the PQD's that YQ would be included. The only people who are still worried or confused are the chicken littles.

aacharya

Confusion/lack of knowledge is not what I'm seeing when mitchmu and others are calling me out with their poor accounting to refute my assertion that at most 20% is taxes.

Especially in a thread that's supposed to be about 1K benefits being worth it.

WineCountryUA

It was not in the original FAQs (but added sooner afterward) and "carrier-imposed surcharge" may make sense to some insiders but as with most things related to FF programs few others understand (and I prefer not to attack those in the process to educate) -- one role of FT is to help educate as I did a few post back.

The banter between some is an area I prefer to stay out of.

FlyWorld

In fact, this conversation, which highlights the confusion about how to interpret YQ, supports my assertion that the PQM program will be personally demanding, and that it imposes yet another "frustration tax" on each flier who chooses to play the game, precisely because nobody can figure out what counts and what doesn't count. That opacity will be used to the benefit of the regime and to the detriment of customers. And, tracking/managing the accounting will impose a significant personal cost and it is pertinent to the question of whether 1K is "worth it" because now the diminished benefits of 1K status need to be balanced against the increased costs of attaining it, both in dollars and in terms of the new frustration tax.

aacharya

What confusion is there in tracking/interpeting YQ? You deliberately incorporated them into taxes when you were very aware of this exclusion in the other thread. The only confusion then is in new users who believed your numbers.

FlyWorld

Let's bookmark this until Feb 15, 2015.

I hereby predict that, no later than Feb 15, 2015, we will see no fewer than 500 messages from flyer-talkers who are legitimately confused about what qualifies and what doesn't qualify.

If I'm wrong, I will buy up to 10 beers for flyer-talkers who present themselves at a time and place of my choosing for redemption.

bldr1k

This is the detail from the United Site for an upcoming SFO-FRA roundtrip.

Fare Breakdown
Airfare: 880.00
International Surcharge: 536.00
Germany Air Transportation Tax: 54.30
Germany Passenger Service Charge:40.20
U.S. Federal Transportation Tax: 34.40
Germany Airport Security Charge: 8.60
U.S. Immigration User Fee: 7.00
U.S. Customs User Fee: 5.50
U.S. APHIS User Fee: 5.00
U.S. Passenger Facility Charge: 4.50
September 11th Security Fee: 2.50
Per Person Total: 1,578.00

I was assuming the surcharge didn't count but apparently it does.

These fuel surcharges are the stupidest thing. It made sense when oil spiked temporarily but I don't think oil is going down anytime soon.

aacharya

500 unique FTs, and not message padding from the same FTers?

You're on. I'll match if it goes above that. We'll use WineCountryUA or someone else to do the counting to assure objectivity.

I stress legitimate, not this "not sure about YQ" melodrama.

Why did you assume the surcharge didn't count? Not picking at you, but you were awfully quick to refute us without checking the PQD thread.

13.3% of the ticket price is in taxes/fees.

Kacee

So getting back to the subject, I think most people will find that somewhere between 85-95% of their total spend will count toward the PQD requirement.

FlyWorld

That means 5-15% doesn't count, then if you add the frustration tax (value of time spent tracking and fighting with UA and trying to figure out what's in and what's out), then you get close to the 20% number that I tossed out.

Kacee

Those are apples and oranges.

I'm not too concerned about the calculation because I'm going to clear the threshold pretty easily. So I don't accept the concept of a "frustration tax" that applies in all instances.

But history suggests that there likely be issues with the PQD calculation for some percentage of people at the margins. And yes we are likely to see a bunch of threads here about how UA screwed up the calculation in a particular case.