Feb 5, 2015, 5:25 am
Last edit by: mkr
THIS IS A THREAD FOR WHICH ALL MP MEMBERS WILL BE ABLE TO RESPOND ...THANKS.
The goal of the survey is to benefit all of us.
This thread is to ask ALL MileagePlus members who read the MileagePlus Forum to please respond to this
short 3 question survey. It will only take a few minutes..
PLEASE PM YOUR MP FTer FRIENDS TO ASK THEM TO ALSO POST IN THIS SURVEY....THANKS.
This thread is to ask ALL MileagePlus members who read the MileagePlus Forum to please respond to this
short 3 question survey. It will only take a few minutes..
PLEASE PM YOUR MP FTer FRIENDS TO ASK THEM TO ALSO POST IN THIS SURVEY....THANKS.
The 3 questions are in Post #1
WIKI UPDATED FEBRUARY 24 (already over 275 posts)
PLEASE READ THIS WIKI AND POST #1 BEFORE RESPONDING TO THIS SURVEY. THANKS.
WE NEED YOUR INPUT....PLEASE TAKE PART.
IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE WHO HAS ALREADY RESPONDED, KINDLY CHECK YOUR POST TO MAKE SURE YOUR REASONS FOR MAINTAINING OR CHANGING YOUR STATUS LEVEL ARE CLEAR IN QUESTION #2. KINDLY EDIT, IF NEEDED. THIS IS TO HELP IN GATHERING OF DATA FOR THE SURVEY, TO BENEFIT US ALL. THANK YOU.
The data will be compiled and posted in this WIKI after approximately each 100 respondants during the year to keep it simple for someone (me) who has trouble figuring out where Boarding Line 1 is
DATA WILL BE UPDATED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WIKI
UA monitors these threads. They will not release their statistics on MP membership changes, so let us work together to compile our own data.
PURPOSE OF SURVEY
The aim is to get a very large number of data points in the coming weeks/months to see percentages of those who dropped, maintained, or increased in status through their 2014 earnings activity for 2015 status in MP because of many reasons.
The survey asks persons to state their individual reasons for their 2014-15 activity for attaining a certain status level for 2015. The survey will determine in a objective, structured, measurable and efficient way, what were persons' experiences in flying on UA in 2014 in light of various changes in the MileagePlus program or other UA flying experiences that have affected the amount of flying they did on UA in 2014. This MAY have affected their Premier status. Kindly PM your UA FTer friends to ask them to post in this survey. Thanks.
The Feb. 1 changeover date is to include those persons who responded to a "Buy Up" offer in January to maintain their 2014 status.)
IF YOU RESPONDED TO A BUY UP OFFER AFTER FEB.1, PLEASE INDICATE THAT IN YOUR RESPONSE (UA's BUY UP OFFERS EXTENDED UNTIL 2/28.
. (Some persons have other reasons for changing their 2014 flying on UA other than complaints about UA or MileagePlus.... such as the amount of business travel changing).
It will take just a few minutes for you to respond. Data will be updated in this WIKI after every 100 responses. Please read Post #1 before responding to this survey. Thank you.
(There is a separate thread for 2015 in which a brief, 3 question survey is being taken in regards to persons' plans for 2015 for earning 2016 Premier status (and reducing, maintaining, or increasing the amount of your UA flying) in light of the new PQD requirements for 2016 and new policies regarding earning Reward Mileage, or your other unique reasons. Kindly expound on your 2015 plans for 2016 status in that thread. Thanks.)
HERE IS THE LINK TO THAT THREAD:
[2015] Version: What plans do you have in 2015 for earning 2016 Premier status?
DATA
I am working on the data for this thread and will post more information later. So far, I have counted 200 respondants through Post #204 (including those who reported for 2 persons). 46% have dropped in status from 2014 to 2015. 40 % have stayed the same. 14 % increased status.
The most noticable trend so far among FTers who have reported to this thread is that of the (92/200) 46% who reported dropping in status,
(53/92) 58% were 1K in 2014. Of that 58%, 50% dropped to Gold or Below.
Here is the 2015 status breakdown of the 200 persons so far reporting included in the survey statistics : GS 3%, 1K 35%, Platinum 19.5%, Gold 18%, Silver 12%, GM 12.5%.
No GS dropped below 1K. 6 GS dropped, replaced by 3 new ones.
16 Platinums dropped, replaced by 9 new ones. So there was a slight decrease in Platinums...combined with the number of 1Ks who dropped below Platinum, shows a trend of a smaller group that MIGHT eventually show up in the sizes of Boarding Group 1...(if the data from this survey would be interpreted to somehow signal a drop of MP members across the system...We can only speculate on this, as FT is a small percentage of the entire MP population, and not everyone on FT will respond to this thread. OF COURSE THERE ARE OTHER FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE SIZE OF BOARDING GROUP 1 AT TIMES... SUCH AS IRRROPS, SDCs, DEPARTURE CITY, ELITE HEAVY ROUTES, DESTINATION CITY, DAY OF WEEK, TIME OF DAY, etc.)
But it is interesting to see such a drop of 1Ks to be below Platinum who have reported so far in this thread.
************************************************** **************************************
REPEAT: There is a separate thread for 2015 in which a brief, 3 question survey is being taken in regards to persons' plans for 2015 for earning 2016 Premier status in light of the new PQD requirements for 2016 and new policies regarding earning Reward Mileage, or your other unique reasons. Kindly expound on your 2015 plans for 2016 status in that thread. Thanks.)
HERE IS THE LINK TO THAT THREAD:
[2015] Version: What plans do you have in 2015 for earning 2016 Premier status?
Many posters are providing excellent reasons why their status dropped, stayed the same, or increased from 2014 to 2015.
However, many posters are not providing any reasons.
IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL TO US ALL if future posters would expound in more detail for their reasons for their status as of the changeover date on Feb. 1, 2015...see examples in Post #1.
Please read Post #1 before posting in this thread. Thank you.
For those who have already posted their status, it will be very helpful to us all for you to go back to edit your posts to expound more clearly to give us all some better insights for your reasons for your status. In particular, for the 46% who dropped status from 2014 to 2015.... It would be very helpful to us all for you to expound on your reasons. This may help to see if any trends are being established (at least among those MP members who choose to post in this Forum... a small sample of all MP members). No significant trends for reasons have yet emerged in the early life of this survey.
It is possible that number is somewhat indicative of all MP members across the UA system, but it is unknown. UA certainly will not share their statistics with us. How representative are those who post in this FT Forum of the entire MP membership?....unknown...we can only speculate.
The more persons who take time to report in this thread, the greater number of data points we will have.
[IS UA's STRATEGY TO THIN THE RANKS OF PREMIERS AND HOPE MORE PERSONS WILL "BUY-UP" their upgrades rather than using CPUs, RPUs, and GPUs ? Or is UA thinking that more persons will now buy higher fares? Hard to know...there has been a lot of speculation in the past in the MileagePlus Forum about these possibilities.]
If these numbers are somewhat indicative of MP members across the UA system, then we ought to begin seeing some indications of this in the size of Boarding Group 1 in the coming weeks and months. If Boarding Group 1 seems to be shrinking, this may indicate a larger drop in 1Ks to Gold or below, and a drop from the ranks of Platinums. (OF COURSE SOME CITIES ARE VERY HEAVY 1Ks and Plats...but be observing...see if you notice any overall shrinking of sizes of Boarding Group 1,)
Most posters so far have been Premier members.
Some posters are providing excellent reasons why their status dropped, stayed the same, or increased.
However, many posters are not providing any reasons.
AGAIN...IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL TO US ALL if future posters would expound in more detail for the reasons for their status...see examples in Post #1. This will help to identify if any trends for reasons are emerging.
Thanks. I will update WIKI at some appropriate point when more data becomes available in the future.
[Survey]: From 2014-15 Did your MP Status Increase, Decrease, or remain the same?
Feb 8, 2015 | 8:35 am
#226
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: IAD
Programs: UA Gold + 1MM; HHonors Gold; Marriott Plat
Posts: 751
1st time GS
Made GS for the 1st time ever. Was 1K last two years.
Reason for change in status: Travel (mostly international in Y) went up by 50%. Ended year north of 150k PQM and ~4lk PQD on United. BIS miles on United alone were ~96k in 2014. All travel in Y, but lots of high prices Y/B fares due to last minute, and multi-city international travel.
Thanks for putting this together.
Reason for change in status: Travel (mostly international in Y) went up by 50%. Ended year north of 150k PQM and ~4lk PQD on United. BIS miles on United alone were ~96k in 2014. All travel in Y, but lots of high prices Y/B fares due to last minute, and multi-city international travel.
Thanks for putting this together.
Last edited by sharmaintl; Feb 12, 2015 at 6:37 am Reason: Added reason of change
Feb 9, 2015 | 10:53 pm
#228
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Tucson, AZ
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott LT Titanium, AA LT Gold, Hyatt Exp, HH Gold, Hertz PC, HP Masters emeritus (sigh)
Posts: 453
Gold for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Would have been silver if not for CC waiver (and then I would have matched to AS). Was harder to get gold in 2015 bc loss of US. Very hard to book limited UA options sometimes in TUS and PHX
Feb 10, 2015 | 3:18 pm
#229
Original Poster
Suspended
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Just outside Big D, or many other places in big metal tubes
Programs: WN Rpd.Rwrds, AA, was longtime CO very top Elite tier, Overentitled UA Lifetime 1K (since 2012)
Posts: 1,334
WIKI updated 2/10
WIKI has been updated on 2/10 with data.
sharmaintl and gsvt would you mind taking some time to edit your posts with reasons you think you got your status? Any problems/challenges in earning status? It would be helpful to the understanding of readers of this Forum.
Thanks.
sharmaintl and gsvt would you mind taking some time to edit your posts with reasons you think you got your status? Any problems/challenges in earning status? It would be helpful to the understanding of readers of this Forum.
Thanks.
Feb 10, 2015 | 3:30 pm
#230
Join Date: May 2005
Programs: Million Miler, 1K - Basically spend a lot of time on planes
Posts: 2,202
But it is interesting to see such a drop of 1Ks to be below Platinum who have reported in this thread.
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I think that the 1K folks are the ones who have seen the biggest drop in realized benefit versus expected benefit.
Upgrades used to be 90%+ for me personally, and now hover around 10%. This alone was the biggest benefit for me to have loyalty to their program. Removing that leaves me not having any real realized benefits over a gold / Plat member.
Why spend the extra revenue and give the extra loyalty for nothing in return ? - I watched the remaining 12 seats at -2hrs on a PS flight last week go to cheap Buyups with NOT ONE person on the upgrade list getting upgraded.
Those are the actions of a company with no appreciation of their 1K flyers.
************************************************** ********
I think that the 1K folks are the ones who have seen the biggest drop in realized benefit versus expected benefit.
Upgrades used to be 90%+ for me personally, and now hover around 10%. This alone was the biggest benefit for me to have loyalty to their program. Removing that leaves me not having any real realized benefits over a gold / Plat member.
Why spend the extra revenue and give the extra loyalty for nothing in return ? - I watched the remaining 12 seats at -2hrs on a PS flight last week go to cheap Buyups with NOT ONE person on the upgrade list getting upgraded.
Those are the actions of a company with no appreciation of their 1K flyers.
Feb 10, 2015 | 3:55 pm
#231
Original Poster
Suspended
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Just outside Big D, or many other places in big metal tubes
Programs: WN Rpd.Rwrds, AA, was longtime CO very top Elite tier, Overentitled UA Lifetime 1K (since 2012)
Posts: 1,334
But it is interesting to see such a drop of 1Ks to be below Platinum who have reported in this thread.
************************************************** ********
I think that the 1K folks are the ones who have seen the biggest drop in realized benefit versus expected benefit.
Upgrades used to be 90%+ for me personally, and now hover around 10%. This alone was the biggest benefit for me to have loyalty to their program. Removing that leaves me not having any real realized benefits over a gold / Plat member.
Why spend the extra revenue and give the extra loyalty for nothing in return ? - I watched the remaining 12 seats at -2hrs on a PS flight last week go to cheap Buyups with NOT ONE person on the upgrade list getting upgraded.
Those are the actions of a company with no appreciation of their 1K flyers.
************************************************** ********
I think that the 1K folks are the ones who have seen the biggest drop in realized benefit versus expected benefit.
Upgrades used to be 90%+ for me personally, and now hover around 10%. This alone was the biggest benefit for me to have loyalty to their program. Removing that leaves me not having any real realized benefits over a gold / Plat member.
Why spend the extra revenue and give the extra loyalty for nothing in return ? - I watched the remaining 12 seats at -2hrs on a PS flight last week go to cheap Buyups with NOT ONE person on the upgrade list getting upgraded.
Those are the actions of a company with no appreciation of their 1K flyers.
Feb 10, 2015 | 4:47 pm
#233
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: DL DM, HH diamond
Posts: 330
2013 (and for about 6 years before that): 1k
2014: Plat
2015: Gold
Am shifting travel to OAL as I'm sick of the last second battlefield upgrades / no upgrades at all, especially for my overseas flights. We shall see if the grass is any greener...
2014: Plat
2015: Gold
Am shifting travel to OAL as I'm sick of the last second battlefield upgrades / no upgrades at all, especially for my overseas flights. We shall see if the grass is any greener...
Feb 10, 2015 | 5:27 pm
#235
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SMF
Programs: UA Gold, 1 MM
Posts: 11,634
Went from 1K in 2014 to Plat in 2015. Will likely never reach 1K again with the $10K spend requirement - made Plat with less than $5K spend (and MP CC). Hopefully will reach MM in the next 2-3 years so I don't have to play the game anymore 
Feb 10, 2015 | 5:43 pm
#236
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Olympia, WA
Programs: United MM Alaska MP Cessna/Piper Captain
Posts: 244
1K -> Platinum. Only rode UA for about 82,000 miles last year. With the new spend requirements even Platinum may be a challenge for next year. But, being a 1MM member Gold is as low as my wife and I will go.
Feb 10, 2015 | 8:15 pm
#237
Join Date: May 2005
Programs: Million Miler, 1K - Basically spend a lot of time on planes
Posts: 2,202
My guess is that maybe half of my flying has been removed from UA. So far this year UA are down about 40k+ in revenue from us. We fly a lot though, so reaching 1K isn't that tough. I'm not anti everything they do, I'm just saying that in the past I valued them differently and went out of my way to fly them. Now I generally just choose what option works best for us on the day. From NYC, all three airports are reasonably similar distances for me, but so far this year, in almost all cases, UA were offering up a single cabin Embraer 145 whereas Delta was offering at least a CRJ700, or CRJ900 with an F cabin, so I keep booking the Delta flights.
Feb 10, 2015 | 8:19 pm
#238
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Montgomery, Alabama, USA
Programs: UA Gold 1mm, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 662
Wife and I both 1K MM went to Gold by virtue of MM status. We only had $1,000 each in PQD last year with one paid ticket each. PQD and lack of R space caused us to give up the battle with each of us left with 6 GPU. We have been using some of our combined 3,000,000 RDM for travel.
Feb 10, 2015 | 8:47 pm
#239
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Illinois-downstate
Programs: UA 1K, UA MM, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 955
I've maintained 1k for about 5 years. I am 1k once again for 2015, so no change.
However.......I ended up buying some business class tickets because:
1. my GPUs are hard to cash in on transpac flights
2. I refuse to fly thru NRT now that UA dropped BKK service. Do not like ANA.
However.......I ended up buying some business class tickets because:
1. my GPUs are hard to cash in on transpac flights
2. I refuse to fly thru NRT now that UA dropped BKK service. Do not like ANA.
Feb 11, 2015 | 12:00 am
#240
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: London NW10
Programs: UA 1K 1.5MM, BA Blue, Wyndham Diamond
Posts: 214
2014 1K -> 2015 1K (6th year at 1K)
Same travel pattern every year (LHR to various United States destinations) also one return flight LHR-BKK-SIN on TG 'D' fare and occasional LHR-BUD on LH - but reduced percentages for *A miles from March 1st may mean that I will miss PQM target this year. (Exempt from PQD)
Same travel pattern every year (LHR to various United States destinations) also one return flight LHR-BKK-SIN on TG 'D' fare and occasional LHR-BUD on LH - but reduced percentages for *A miles from March 1st may mean that I will miss PQM target this year. (Exempt from PQD)