Richym99

Already booked enough to qualify for 1k this year. Jan/Feb next year fly 50k miles to guarantee *G for 2016 and top off my mp to about 230k miles, enough to head down under again if I want on TG. Then re-evaluate what is on offer between all the players.

In other words, I'm going to waot and see.

sfo

Am 1k and will be 1k in 2015, am close to the million mile mark, so will concentrate on completing what I need to obtain Gold for life, or until UA kills me off :-) I will have 6 GPU's for 2015 and will use them, and if possible will try and obtain 1k for 2016. I have enough miles for travel for the next few years and that's what I will be using, except if I keep 1K for 2016, would use the 6 GPU's and then the spending will stop.

catocony

I have over a million FF miles banked up, so I won't really miss much. I have a lot of short, fairly expensive routings that will make out positive on the switch. Long flights? I haven't decided yet.

I did an analysis of my flying so far this year, and I would have more RDMs with the new plan than the current plan. But, I haven't done any international trips yet.

For guys who do $500 500-mile round trips, this will be a boon. $500 transcons? Not so much.

FlytheTail

I'll be 1K again in 2-3 months and will finish the year strong on UA, racking up GPUs, RPUs, and 10-12 cent EQMs (and 5-6 cent miles) along the way. Whether I stay with UA will honestly depend on details for next year's program, in particular GPU/RPU allowance (number, required minimum fare class, etc.). DL made a huge improvement to their SWUs (allowing essentially all fare classes eligible), but they only give up to 4 to Diamonds. So, I'm on the fence at the moment but certainly am closer to returning to DL as my #1 than I was earlier this week.

WineCountryUA

0% chance once in place, the revenue based RDMs is rolled backed. The parameters might change but there is no going back on programs like this.

Other things such as food service levels, .... might be rolled back

SunLover

As a 1.1MM (without the current benefit of much OPM) *G will have to be good enough for the foreseeable future. This and LTUC will make UA my first option domestically post 3/2015 if everything else is equal; but price will ultimately be the final determinant. Any paid international long haul Y will go to another *A member airline.

I will have ~900k RDM’s banked by then which for me equates to five long haul J reward round trips, and some extra miles saved for last minute domestic travel.

If it were me and I was that close I would certainly shoot for 2MM. You have come this far and at this point IMO the benefits for achieving that level are worth the effort. Hold your nose if you have to.

Well stated...


SunLover

jasonp622

I already have flights booked to put me over platinum for next year, I will probably have enough last minute travel to make 1K. I expect AA to follow .... eventually. Maybe they will wait until 2017, I'm not sure if they are the answer. Usair, wasn't my favorite when I used them when they were in star alliance to phx and clt. I expect some downgrading of AA. Being out if sfo and the nature of my work travel I will probably stick with united. I just wish they'd try to improve service and get rid of all thsee rj'S. I l know that is probably isn't going to happpen. Really would like mainline to cvg or clt, ugh

CCIE_Flyer

Cutting $2B puts absolutely everything on the table -- esp us. Yes, there will be further devaluation and further tweaking of the system we've known all these decades. The next move seems likely to be that status, also, will track spend more directly than the current straight PQD requirements. That will hurt and benefit exactly the same groups of people as this change, so when that comes to pass the mileage poor will get poorer and the mileage rich will get richer. In the short term, seeing 75,000 RDMs appear in my account every time I take a business trip will be nice (realizing, of course, that next year 75,000 will not be worth 75,000 miles today and so forth and so on). But eventually I'll shift back to domestic Y travel and this will hurt. All the major airlines will coalesce to something fairly industry standard and so no one program will be a lot worse or better than the others. This was inevitable, grab the popcorn, stay tuned...

hobo13

Low probability, sure.

But it's not 0%.

ThisYearsModel

I have qualified for 2015 1K already. I am actually on a pace to spend about $40K with UAL this year. I have a couple more TATL trips planned through September, and then I will move on. If UAL sees the light, I have all of 2015 as a 1K to get back in. Not sure where I will go. AA offered a challenge, I want a match. Thinking about moving to WN or B8 for domestic and VX for international instead of going to AA.

steveman518

I'm a kayaker, but I only qualify for Silver certain years when I travel with my family, as my dad is a 1K and tends to insist on travelling with UA. That being said, this will be incentive to stay away from UA given how bad the hard and soft product are if there's a comparable DL/AA fare

Flyinace2000

Since I am based near EWR and my client is in Houston, my only real choice is United. For me it works out ok since my ticket prices are always over $500.

Madone59

Almost all of my flying is TCons booked far in advance like $250-$400.....so I am screwed.

I plan on being platinum next year so I will look at my mileage bank, calculate what I need for whatever type of trip my wife and I want to take in the next year or two and see if I have to MR pre 3/1 to bank the miles.

After that I am going to Kayak it back and forth across the country and try out some different Y products.

I'll fly 75K again in 2015/2016 and with the CC waiver (as long as it lasts) be platinum I just don't know how I feel about getting so few RDM's.

aacharya

I think I'll be there with you in 2015. I am trying, as the OP noted to fly more in January/February - but right now, the transcons are pushing $400-$450.

mduell

Gold vs Plat is currently a 50-60k RDM/yr difference (75*1.75 vs 50*1.5), now it's a 30k RDM/yr (7500*1.1*9 vs 5000*1.1*8) difference at my typical 11 cpm.

I'll make Plat this year, but with grim CPUs and competitive UP fares (compared to the inflated coach fares from IAH) I'll aim for Gold next year and fly more awards and prem eco on OALs overseas.