Kacee

The degree should not be based on elite status (any fool can fly the miles), but rather on some sort of success ratio (x/y) where x is your ability to get on the flight you want, in the cabin you want, and y is the number of customer service experiences that are FT rant-worthy.

MSPeconomist

Maybe MMers should get tenure.

ILikeComfort

Bad assumption. I take care of all my own travel. Too easy to mess up otherwise.

sbm12

Really? Which seat would you pick on a Delta 757? No, I won't tell you which of the eight versions you're on or how to figure it out. Delta also adds CC holders into priority lists more than UA does for benefits. AA isn't trivial and with the US integration things are likely to get confusing there, too.

The grass really isn't all that much greener anywhere.

Yes, there are such seminars. A couple different groups run them throughout the year. And I could argue that as the challenges in understanding the programs become greater so does the value of such seminars. Similarly, if FT could manage to focus on understanding the rules of the program rather than on hating the CEO it could remain similarly useful.

bennettb

I caught your great humor here^

kirkwoodj

There is FTU once or twice a year!!!

love_to_travel

I googled (interesting that this is now a verb) and found this one. Is that the one you mean?

I wonder when the next one will be, I might be interested in going.

kirkwoodj

Yup, Frequent Traveler University. Simply sign up for email list & you'll find out next one when it's planned.

Mats

I'm imagining the course catalogue for he Masters in Mileage Plus (MMP) core curriculum. (I've spent just a wee bit too much of my life in school.)

Here are three for starters:

MMP100 Postmodernism, Rhetoric, and The Sense of Other in Premier Status. From Marx to Foucault, this survey course examines silver, gold, and platinum status as social functions, echoed in modern literature. Permission of the instructor required. Usually offered every autumn.

MMP101 Rhapsody, Red Carpets, and Ramekins: Symbolism in the Skies. Students will explore and write about the depth and dimensions from anthropological and sociological perspectives. MMP101B is a concurrent and mandatory three-hour seminar. Prerequisite: MMP100. Usually offered every spring.


For those pursuing an earned doctorate in MileagePlus Studies, I can't wait to hear a dissertation defense about Naturally Fresh balsamic vinaigrette.

Also, someone needs to have a seminar about how the guy at the beginning of the safety video speaks in Thai, but United has discontinued flying to Bangkok. There is so much symbolism to unpack and discuss.

Baze

It should read FlyerTalk United Frequent Fliers as I know plenty of clueless United frequent fliers from general members to Global Services when it comes to what benefits they get.

Yet there are plenty of FlyerTalk United Frequent Fliers who are clueless too

garkster

Or, for the independent study option, deciphering the vagaries of UA's IT may well be worthy of special honors. For example, I'd be in awe of someone who could create an algorithm which would be able to predict the combination of conditions under which a) you'd get the error stating that UA has no flights for the specified city-pair, or b) how many times the average FT'er has to log in to .bomb over some specified period, or c) the website goes belly-up due to apparent "fatigue".

Starblazer

What does that make FFers turned agents? Teachers? Masochists?

nerdbirdsjc

I love this curriculum.

JohnMacWW

Uh.... I learned more from 1 minute on FT than 3 hours on the phone with my "specially trained assistants"!

WineCountryUA

What does the doctoral regalia (graduation grown) look like?
Do we get a choice of airline / alliance liveries (past and present)?