bse118

Oh, I don't actually think they're letting E+ benefit changes out of the bag. [famous last words...] Just plain old fashioned incompetence. Clearly they couldn't be bothered to think through the messaging in their own email. Typical.

portland67

Living in Denver it's pretty much United or Southwest for non-stop flights to where I usually need to go for work and pleasure. As a gold member I'm not sure what I want to do, I feel like I'm in between a rock and a hard place. I might move all my domestic flying to SWA and get a companion pass for my wife and I. Then I'll move all of my CC spend to my AMEX SPG or AMEX premier rewards card. The hard part is being from Hawaii and getting home non-stop is only on United vs. Portland has both Alaska and Hawaiian.

cova

I think we are headed in the direction of elimination of the FF programs.

1. Corporate travel offices will get smart and negotiate ticket rates/discounts that do not allow earning FF miles. They already do it with rental cars - use your corporate code to rent a car and the code prevents the earning of points.

2. Previously a FF number was used to track people, including security tracking. Now with many getting a Registered Traveler number - it essentially becomes a universal FF number - so not need for airline FF numbers. Make all travelers get a RT number.

3. As upgrade rates continue to decline - then upgrade seats become a bid/paid item - hence no reason for FF benefits.

4. Credit card companies switch to a credit based systems and then you use those credits to buy an airlilne ticket - already have such cards.

5. IRS reconsiders taxing FF miles, now that a dollar amount can be associated with them. FF miles then become less desirable.

Let's see what happens - but I suspect the FF program could go away in the future.

JBord

I think 0.20 cpm passes a reasonability test, at least what I know of fares from ORD.

If you average a 2000 mile rt, and your average ticket price is $400 rt, that's $0.20. That's low for me, but I do tend to book only 7-10 days out and have more short flights than long flights.

blakeIV

I really just don't get the venom for UA. The old way was stupid. I understand many used the rules to their advantage. When SWA came out with their rational points per spend system, the writing was on the wall that all would change, eventually.

Hey, I understand being disappointed. But you can also recognize this is a smart move for UA. They want $$$$. Reward those that spend the $$$$$.

What I am most worried about is my company deciding that now that points are $$$$ based, that they are a rebate and belong to the company and not me.

Or that my spend on flights will be more closely monitored. I would never do anything unethical like pay more for a flight just for points. But right now I can pretty much take the lowest fare and add $1k to it and still book, as long as its a better time/routing/etc. But I don't want to be hasseled every time I pass up a Delta flight at $4,500 for a UA at $5,000.

ElieW

Precisely!

GUWonder

And given government and big corporate discounts/negotiated fares account for a good chunk of business travelers who don't necessarily book way in advance, business traveler tickets aren't all that high cost as it may seem when looking at the published fares available to the general members of the flying public ... whether flying for leisure or business. And it's not like business travelers aren't generally business+leisure trip travelers.

javabytes

The big winners here are last minute, short haul travelers... no doubt about that. If I was flying ORD-CVG on last minute notice at $1,000 a pop all the time, I'd love the new system. As someone who flies to FRA for $1,800 and SFO for $600, I'm earning a good chunk less.

BearX220

I just went and had a look at the UA Facebook page. It's in total meltdown. Hilarious unless you're one of the poor kids typing corporate-approved answers to the livid.

rankourabu

so, its ok they do this, as long as you can benefit from it by upcharging your employer and not actually spending your money for your flights? Right.

Benefiting the actual spender, not the flyer, would be the most fair way to deal with this. It will never happen, but it would be the fairest.

GUWonder

If it ain't the company clawing back the rebate paid for by them but credited to you, it may as well be the tax man that cometh next for your "un(der)reported compensation".

olouie

I fly mainly WN domestically and love it for the most part. The seats are what they are, but everything else is great. The no change fees is HUGE for me. I book multiple trips each month and then just cancel or push if I need to. Saves me a ton of money over the course of a year. Also I like the simplicity of the earning and burning on WN (its fixed value both ways).

CP is the single best perk in the airline industry. Anything I fly my wife can come with me for free (er... plus the small taxes and fees). Now that WN has international you can go to Mexico and Caribbean using CP too.

If you hit A-List preferred status its also 100% more points. So basically I book business select flights and get a huge point rebate which I then use to book WGA fares with CP. It may not be the most glamorous but it works.

DENflyer3

i tend to side on basic incompetence, but this is the last thing keeping me full time from Southwest as it is. I would absolutely jump ship if they started making me pay for E+. Its bad enough I only clear 50%.

SFO777

Uh, not really. If UA actually provided a quality product and an enjoyable experience, perhaps. But they don't.
As a result, no sane person would pay the same amount of money to fly a crappy airline like UA with a now diluted FF program when there are far better alternatives. Ergo, not so smart.

LaserSailor

Quickly looking at the 6 united road warriors in my office (heavy domestic travel) shows they win by 2.9x on miles. The winners are the 20cpm+ biz travellers

For all the analysis that mileage running was not significant, UA has ended it, either deliberately or not.