rbcgerard

I've really started to resent the PQD system as its a constant reminder that I've been overpaying for airline tickets!

Here's my point for 2015 you need to have PQD's of $0.10/Mile (i.e. 25,000 Miles & $2,500 PQD) for 2016 its going up to ~$0.12. This in my mind means there is some segment of the flying population that is potentially hitting the mileage numbers but not the spend #'s....

I on the other hand I am sitting on ~46,000 PQM's and ~$10,000 PQD's YTD which is ~$0.22 a mile!

Not asking for a solution - but wondering if it annoys anyone else to be constantly reminded of the fact that they paying more than others for their plane tickets!

BearX220

All data is useful. In this case the data ought to make you question the actual value of the prize you are over-paying to attain.

One downside of PQD is that it's a constant quantitative reminder-readout of what you or your employer are laying out for sub-standard products / services, while other travel choices could serve you better (and more reliably) for less.

BTW, chronic over-paying, if you are flying on client or employer funds, ought eventually to lead to analysis and policy changes by said funding authority... as what you are doing would be seen by objective eyes as "waste."

rbcgerard

Completely agree - living in Houston at the moment so really not much choice, glad we're on the same page, but wonder how much thought UA put into "if we quantify how much customers spend with us over the course of the year - they may actually raise their expectations"

LaserSailor

Plane tickets are not commodities, so comparing what you pay for 'a ticket' to someone else's 'ticket' is meaningless.

Even consumer reports doesn't understand this, btw.

UnitedFFinAsia

I am an over entitled elite that is constantly reminded that the better bargains are for those who are no longer elites on United. Frankly I used to make 1K with about $7K of spend this year I had more domestic but I cannot help but realize that it is quickly becoming no longer with it!

rbcgerard

Agreed, but if one imagines a distribution of FF's sorted by $/mile one would imagine that the PQD minimum would maybe somewhere to the middle or bottom third of the distribution - and more than twice that would put one at the upper end of the distribution > emotionally its not very satisfying (especially if one starts thinking I have the spend of a 1k, and get treated like a sliver...but that's a slippery slope)

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Getting rid of the mileage requirement would make everything black and white. "What $ amount is this FF # worth to us?" UA asks...

$/mile alone is a useless metric - someone who flies once SFO-EWR at .20/mile is worth less to UA than someone who make 2 flights at .19/mile

UA wants the one flight guy, but wants to keep the 2nd guy flying.

Often1

The whole system is skewed. Why reward people for flying miles at all when it is their spend you are after?

If UA went to a simple system where you earn a point for every dollar of spend and you can use that point to "buy" tickets and other trinkets, this would be more stark. It would be most stark for those who fund their own travel. But, businesses would consider why on earth they ought to purchase a more expensive ticket so that one of their people can take his family to Disney on an award and so on.

All comes down to the fact that there is no free lunch.

PV_Premier

This is exactly my situation and the reason that I have moved over half of my business to an airline program that does not have a spend requirement (AS). I do not want to manage 2-3 variables (spend, segments, miles) to worry about making status. I want to buy plane tickets, fly on them, and earn the status I earn based on how much I travel.

The irony of this for UA is that I am paying more on average to AS than I would pay to UA for the same flights, particularly on longer routes, despite the lack of a spend requirement on AS. Case in point, connecting in SEA to go to PHL usually costs me about $220-250 one way on AS, whereas if I bought a flight on UA it would be $200 or less. However, because AS isn't bringing my constant attention to what I am spending and how it relates to my status, I just buy the tickets and fly them...I get upgraded routinely, the service is good, and the people who work at the airline are awesome. I benefit, and AS makes money.

rbcgerard

I guess the whole point for me is not so much passing judgement on the system, but rather why I need the constant reminder of how the system is not benefiting me!

drewguy

I think you're not using the right assessment tool. The PQD requirement is designed to cut off the low end of the curve of people getting elite status in terms of spending. The average cpm of most elites I imagine is well above 10 or 12 cpm. The point of the PQD requirement is to ensure that all elites are at at least 10 (or 12) cpm.

So, paying more than 10cpm is about like ending up with anything over 50k, 75k, or 100k miles.

pindi

Exactly. I distinctly remember the astonishingly low PQD numbers quoted by certain members of this board to attain their 1K status - some well under $5000. It is this practice that UA is trying to stamp out with the PQD requirements IMHO (and to a large extent, the changes next year in miles earning based on dollars spent).

dmodemd

UA has me by the you know what and I am crying "uncle".

I made 100K PQM this year and barely am going to make it to 10K PQD. I had to push some of my flights up a fare class or two to do it

Next year it seems I am going to have to just push it up more (to S or W, no more K and L). They win.
...and I get 40% less RDMs, just great...

I would switch to Alaska if they had the frequency to IAH but it's not even close to being as frequent and convenient.
If they just added the planes, I am sure the defectors would come!

WaxComb

I use to make Silver quite easily because I fly twice a year to Germany plus a few domestic flights.

This year I was going to make silver again, but my PQD would have been around 2600 (so just barely). Then they announced revenue based mileage earnings so I switched completely to M&M (since the flight I take to Germany is a code share operated by LH). I got a M&M credit card and I'll probably get rid of my UA card.

So UA may make money on me in the future, but definitely not as much as they were making on me in the past simply because of the revenue based award miles and the PQD requirements.

If I fly to Germany 3 times next year I'll make FT. (I'm going to start booking Premium Economy seats .)

PebbleBeach

Self-employed or reimbursed thru employer/client? It's great that you are having a more rewarding travel experience. Seems like you are spending more money and time in the air to get to Point A to Point B, although it's your choice. I respect that, but don't quite get your point as you are consciously spending more money.