dgdevil

I'm one of these, and I know the writing is on the wall. One of our merits is that we don't tend to sleep around. We stick with the same gal even when prettier ones offer better deals. Maybe it will be for the best if UA cuts us loose, and overall travel spend drops.

UAkls

The thing I wonder about UA following (which will happen eventually) is that it just rolled out a new system for earning elite status, which I think is a reasonable mix of miles and revenue. If you keep changing this every few months, does it just become too difficult to keep track of? My guess UA waits a bit to see how it pans for Delta before it follows. A year or two.

JNelson113

That would sure be nice, but I don't know if the decision makers are wise enough to do that.

thenecropolist

Well, let's just all write emails to the MileagePlus desk, and who knows, perhaps we'll get a response in 2016.

milepig

One reason is employer reimbursement policies. If I fly on UA and pay $350 for my ticket that's when they pay for. I get an E+ seat (or upgrade) and free bags. If I fly some cheapo airline for $250 and pay $25 for priority boarding and $25 for a checked bag, they only reimburse $250.

gunther

If it is more challenging to earn miles flying, does this change the value of buying miles for around 2 cents / mile? If you knew in advance that United was following Delta, and you had the opportunity to purchase at around 2 cents / mile, would you max out that opportunity?

bocastephen

A smart leader would certainly wait to gauge the impact on the early adopter before joining, as well as gauge the willingness of other competitors to follow before jumping in - but unfortunately UA leadership does nothing but copy everything Delta does, lock step as if on queue - which is really quite sad as it displays such an incredible lack of innovation, thought or leadership in general.

Of course due to Delta's own sloppy and incompetent job postings to recruit people to program these changes, the cat was out of the bag a long time ago and everyone had a free look at what was coming in rather gnawing detail.

zombietooth

Look, Amazon and other national online retailers are already required to collect and/or report sales taxes for 20 states. That's a lot of different tax rates/jurisdictions to keep track of. Yet, they do it easily. Eventually, they will be collecting tax/reporting sales for Use Tax collection to every state with a tax.

The airlines would be responsible for reporting the miles. Values could be determined like the hundreds of different per diem rates are right now. Not really that difficult so long as miles earned are tied directly to the cost of travel.

elg26

Just for understanding,

If UA did this....based on DL calculator......what would a EWR-HKG..... in Business (Z) class.....which costs me on average $7,500... get me miles wise?

Currently as a Gold I would earn approx 32,000 miles. What would it jump to?

zombietooth

Max per flight is 75k miles, so that is what you would earn.

cmdinnyc

Closer to the end of the end, not the beginning of the end. The end began long before this move.

dtremit

If all those things happened, then I would probably attempt to reduce travel in my current position.

I'm not yet convinced that the loss of RDMs and the loss of elite benefits are necessarily correlated, though. I would gladly give up significant RDMs (which I don't use nearly to their potential) for better elite benefits.

bocastephen

Not correlated, but a possible next move. US offered Elite status only on Y/B fares in 2001 and their customers blasted them over the move and no one followed. If Delta's customers blast them over this move, especially when the new award chart is released later in the year, and no one follows them, my bet is Delta will retract this change if enough HVF vent their anger and move. I know it *could* happen, because a HVF revolt sunk previous DL management when they got too cute.

Remember, there is little to no chance your surrender of RDMs, which are useful, will result in better Elite benefits or an improved inflight product. United under Smisek will offer reduced RDM's, a 'catch-up' product, and pretty much the same Elite benefits as today, continued to be sold out from under Elites to Kettles who are willing to buy them per trip.

I'm trying not to get too worked up over this change due to the following:

1) I don't fly Delta
2) UA has not announced it will match - nor has AA
3) without seeing the award chart, we don't know the full impact
4) with manufactured spend and gaming the credit card system, I can make up the missing RDM's along with some strategic per trip RDM purchases if UA makes this change, and still offers RDMs for purchase - as long as I can earn elite miles and GPUs, I will continue to fly and earn status so I can use the benefits that make flying something between passable and pleasant

If this change occurs over here, and there are people who are in a bind due to the loss of RDMs they need, I'm sure we can arrange for a private tutoring event away from the prying eyes of Chase and United for manufacturing spend to make up the difference for a fraction of the cost of spending the extra dollars on airfare.

briank1973

Here's why I'm pretty against DL's new system and if it came into UA. This would be a crude and simple model, but there are costs associated with flying that are both mileage independent and mileage dependent. In other words, the cost of flying could be something like C = S + a * D, where S is some mileage-independent cost, 'a' is some cost/mile, and D is the distance flown. I'm writing these as airline costs, not revenue. S is based on landing/take-off costs, airport and gate costs, etc that have nothing/little to do with mileage.

In terms of profitability, an airline can't just look at the ticket cost of a particular flight. It has to account for the mileage as well. In that sense, a fair FF program to both the consumer and the airline would be one that weights BOTH ticket cost AND mileage flown. The past model has always been the latter, and now DL is shifting to almost completely the former (except using mileage as part of its status earning).

I see DL's move as being quite unfair to long haul flyers and the cost-profit that they represent. This could potentially be a move by DL to reduce their international flights and rely more on partners for these travel needs. The demand for their long haul flights is definitely going to drop.

If UA adopts the same policy, then my days with MP are numbered. I might stay another 3.5 or 4 years or so to get to 1MM status, or move to SQ's program straight away. Worst case for me, I *gulp* join QF's ridiculous FF program, or tolerate the low earnings AA gives QF tickets on discount economy tickets. It would still be better than DL's ridiculous move.

UA announced PQD in mid-June or so last year. I figure, if they don't announce a change of this magnitude in the next month or two, then it won't be happening for 2015. UA would be smart to hold off a year and try to get as many DL jumpers as possible. I could see 2016 as the year it all ends.

Superguy

Actually, I believe the AA VP is in charge of the FFP.

If AA offers the status match from DL, it would be foolish to pull the same crap and piss off the HVFs it just poached.

Dougie may have done some stupid things and may be on the cheap side, but he'll go with an idea if it turns out to be a money maker. He's also not afraid to reverse course if he's wrong too.