[Survey]: From 2014-15 Did your MP Status Increase, Decrease, or remain the same?
 

MODERATOR NOTE

This thread is now a consolidation of three threads regarding if your MP status increased, decreased or remained the same post - Feb 1, 2015.

goalie
UA Forum Co Moderator
====


We need YOUR input, please reply to this survey. We need to get a very large number of FTers who read this MileagePlus forum to respond in order to get a better idea of the trends that may have been established for 2014-2015.

UA monitors these threads on Flyertalk. They will not release their statistics on MP membership changes, so let us work together to compile our own data.


There has been much speculation in this Forum that the MP Premier herds will be thinned (speculation varies in regards to what degree) because of the inability by many to qualify for the 2014 PQD requirement for 2015 MP Premier status. Also, many posters have reported voluntarily dropping MP Premier status to fly other specific carriers more for several reasons.

This thread is set up to get some insights into reasons FTers had their status to change or remain the same from 2014 to 2015 at the time of the Feb. 1 changeover in the computer system. (Feb. 1 is included to include those persons who took advantage of the January "Buy Up" offers to retain their Premier status.) THIS THREAD IS NOT TO REPORT STATUS CHANGES DURING 2015 AFTER FEB. 2. THERE IS ANOTHER THREAD FOR THAT.

This thread will also help all of us to get some indication of percentages of persons who dropped status, stayed the same, or actually increased status from 2014. This will be for the FT population who reads this MileagePlus Forum, which is a small portion of the entire MileagePlus membership across the world. However, it may indicate some trends that can be applied to some extent to the entire population. UA will not release their statistics, so we can compile our own here on Flyertalk.

(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. Please also take some time to answer that survey and 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?

While this present thread is anecdotal evidence from 2014 activity towards earning 2015 status from the small percentage of persons who post on FT compared to the vast number of Premiers who do not post on FT, it may still give us all some insights.

Perhaps even some from management at UA may read this thread to gain some insights. (Perhaps they MAY consider remarks here in making future changes in the Premier qualifications and/or benefits as a result of feedback here...after all, many FTers posted in the past about the food on UA flights and UAInsider posted in this Forum that UA says they heard the customers and are making changes for the food in 2015).

This present thread is not to debate past or future UA changes, rather it is a ROLL CALL and simple survey to get some simple data and reasonably short responses.

There are plenty of other threads to debate all those other issues.

Please, let us keep this thread simple and not get into long debates with other posters about UA policies, other issues like food, service, WiFi, IRROPS, etc. Do your debating with each other in those other threads.

Let's get some FT feedback. (please feel free to come back and edit if you later think of something else to say)

PLEASE REPORT SIMPLY:

(1) If your status remained the same from 2014 to 2015 or changed on Feb, 1. 2015 (the status changeover date). (What is your status?)

(example 2014 Plat.>2015 Plat., 2014 GM> 2015 GM, 2014 1K> 2015 Plat., 2014 Silver> 2015 Plat., 2014 GM> 2015 Silver, etc.)

Did the status you earned from 2013 for 2014 change from 2014 to 2015? (may indicate trends)

(example: 2013 Gold >2014 Plat>2015 Gold)

(2) What were the reasons your status changed, or remained the same on Feb. 1 ?... please expound in some detail FOR THE MOST RELEVANT TOP REASONS FOR YOU...... (see example reasons below) ... just keep statements concise and just please don't use a several paragraph essay with very lengthy explanations... Thanks.

(EXAMPLE REASONS (your possibilities may not be listed here) could include such as:
took advantage of a "Buy Up" offer before Feb 1 to maintain your status;could not/did not want to "buy up" status; voluntary choice; flew in 2014 and/or now flying other specific carriers that meet your wants/needs better; did status match in 2014 from UA to other carrier and decreased flying on UA; reduced your flying on UA in 2014 because of new 2015 Reward Mileage calculations announced in June 2014;you could not meet some or all of the 2014 PQM,PQS,PQD requirements for 2015 status .... such as fell short of Gold by 2,000 PQM, or fell short of 1K by $2,500 PQD, or had $10,000 PQD, but only 72,000 PQM, so fell short of Plat., etc...; you were exempt from PQD requirements because of credit card or foreign address....; in 2014 UA met your needs/routes needed for your flying better than other carriers; your company requires certain fare purchases or requires flying on UA, or on other carriers; you find other specific carriers better than UA for on-time arrivals and fewer IRROPS; you prefer routes, food, service, comfort, etc. of other specific carrier compared to UA; in 2014 you got a better upgrade percentage on other carriers; in 2014 you split your flying between UA and other specific carriers because..., etc.)

(3) Did you have any particular difficulties in maintaining or increasing your 2014 status for 2015?

(such as a trip you were counting on for PQDs, PQMs near end of year was cancelled; had trouble getting the needed PQDs; your company/business required flights on some other carriers which made it difficult for you to fly UA sufficiently, ; you had to do a mileage run towards the end of 2014 to get your PQMs or PQSs, OR PQDs; you TRIED to get MP to extend your status because you were close,but they would not, etc.)

AGAIN, (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?


Thanks for posting. I hope this thread will give us all some better insights.

Best wishes in 2015 and Happy flying.

Side note: It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the near future if the number of persons in Boarding group 1 seems to be significantly affected.... either seemingly smaller or greater number of persons.

See Moderator Note in Post #1

goalie
UA Forum Co Moderator

1K to Silver

Voluntary choice/PQD was the reason. I flew 60k EQM on AS & partners and another 25K MQM on DL. I did fly 60K on UA but only spent $4300 PQDs.

UA summary:
2009 - Premier
2010 - Premier Exec
2011 - Premier Exec
2012 - Gold
2013 - Plat/1K
2014 - 1K
2015 - Silver
expected 2016 - no status

DL summary:
2007 - Silver
2008 - Silver
2015 - Platinum (status match/challenge)
expected 2016 - Silver

AS Summary:
2014 - MVPG (status match)
2015 - MVPG
expected 2016 - MVP or MVPG

^

Thought about posting a similar question/poll in December...

1) Same (2013/2014 Gold)
2) Int'l travel cut to one Europe trip. Did the BAH MR to make up the slack.
3) Needed a MR & Chase waiver. Neither were very difficult.

2016: Plan to stay at Gold with virtually the same stats as last year.

1K to Plat

Couldn't meet the PQD requirements.

See Moderator note in Post #1

goalie
UA Forum Co Moderator

1k to lifetime Plat. Switched 100% of flying to AS/BA/Emirates/Cathay and couldn't be happier.

2013 -> 2014

Silver to Platinum

Change in job which required several overseas trips per year. *A just made the most sense for me with LH and LX covering the cities in Europe that UA does not.

PQD's will prevent me from getting anything higher, as my employer requires travel at lowest available fare, in coach, regardless of flight length / destination / etc. Honestly with the PQD increase, I could see myself dropping to Gold next year.

My wife and I both kepf our gold status, by using the chase wavier and Barely hitting 50k miles all pleasure flying,plan on the same for this year. *gold for overseas travel is great

No Status to Platinum

Voluntary Choice -- I was disgusted with the exhorbitant fuel surcharges on award tickets overseas with Air Canada so I switched allegiance.

I had no challenges really since I am based in Canada and was exempt from PQD consideration.

1K to 1K. No changes here. Flew 152K miles in 2014 and I'll likely be around the same this year.

I just posted in the other thread (not having noticed this one). I was 1K and am 1K again. My SO went from Silver to Platinum because of the $1,500 fares to EU last summer. I went from living near EWR to living near ORD, so the hubs make it convenient.

1K to Gold due to PQMs. Well over the PQD threshold.

Platinum to Gold

Status matched to DL in Aug 2014 so my UA flying came to an immediate halt.

Went from silver to gold. Voluntary choice, mostly due to *A

GS to 1K. Dropped significantly in revenue spent after moving to Dallas from SF bay area. Now going to have pretty random projects so don't think I am going to get status at all this year...

Going from SPG ambassador and United GS to likely nothing next year...

Gold to tin/bronze/etc...or whatever the credit card bag and boarding should be named.
Ended up with 30-40k EQM but dollars were something like 1k since a large chuck of miles were on a single AC TPAC trip.
Also in the mix was that due to the burn rate changes I had a bit of redemption in premium cabins on partners that took place during the year.
I just flew AA this weekend and will continue to ramp down flying plus kayak from here out as 99% of my travel is personal. I can't see flying more than 10k on UA this year.

1K to nothing back to silver probably ending at gold. Travel pattern changed significantly in 2014 and realizing I'd need over $12k in personally funded tickets to requalify for 1K didn't make sense.

I've already qualified for silver and will probably hit gold by PQM with a PQD waiver. No real incentive to hit platinum but it seems that whatever itinerary I'm looking at UA or *A is coming close to being the cheapest so who knows.

1K to nothing. Switched to DL/AA due to lack of reliability and MP devaluation. I still fly UA occasionally for short positioning flights to EWR/IAD/ORD, but they will be credited to the status-matched TK account from now on.

ETA per request from mkr: I guess the buggest gripe was IRROPS handling rather than IRROPS themselves. I had my share of delays in the last couple of weeks on DL but they were more than happy to switch me to US/AA/UA (ironically) to make the inconvenience minimum (and gave me ORC without me asking). In terms of awards, I kind of miss no surcharge redemption at UA but I now transfer Amex, Chase or SPG points to whatever *A program that works the best rather than committing to UA. AA has the best award chart for now and doesn't collect surcharge on CX or JL to Asia, which is my main destination for awards.

Dropped 19 years of 1K.Not worth it anymore with UA. I have 2.5 MM so am lifetime Platnium but I doubt I will be using it.

1K for another year (fifth or sixth year as such after moving most of my STAR flights to UA/MP from AC/AE). Didn't expect to go for more than Plat but a $650 fare to SIN tipped me to go for the top again (and collect the GPUs and RPUs to recoup the additional spend). Not likely to go for 1K for 2016 though with all the changes...will at least get Gold, possibly Plat...but certainly not 1K.

Dissatisfaction began after the merger and the sudden drop in CPUs. Then came the sense that GSs were all that mattered to UA and 1K was clumped with the other STARGold tiers. This included the loss of many unpublished 1K benefits, service desk/agents, etc. Not residing in the US, I escaped the Spend requirement for status. However, the final straw was adopting RDM accumulation based on actual fare. I pay for my own flights and don't have a corporate backer (work-related projects must be funded too), W fares are too rich for my budget and don't always ensure sitting in business, not to mention RDMs are important for major trips on other STAR carriers in premium cabins. (That's what the end game really is about.) So while I could easily continue flying UA and making 1K, I began the transition 2-1/2 years ago with the AA status match offer and have enjoyed AA and ExecPlat ever since.) My west coast flying will move from UA to AS and I will take advantage of that airline's status match to MVP75K this year and see how much I fly to keep that status for next year.

Already at 42K PQMs with UA, so Gold is in sight. By the end of the summer will be at 84K EQMs with AA. So a lot of flying on AA and AS not booked yet for the 3rd and 4th quarters can be channeled into the AS account. Though will likely have a bit of domestic Canadian flying this year too. Not sure if I'll put these AC flights into MP or reactivate my AC/AE account.

It will remain to be seen what major changes AA brings to its merged program, so come 2016 can't say what my strategy will be. Only consolation is that I'm coming to the end of my flying days...at least heavy duty flying. End game is MM/lifetime elite status in both OW and STAR. Having come to US airlines rather late in the game (my marbles were with CP and AC for a couple of decades), i've a ways to go at about 700K each in MP and AA.

1K to Plat. Not chasing UA status for 2015. I've switched to AA as an EXP and loving it so far.

2013 -> 2014 -> 2015 : Plat -> Plat -> 1K

Simply, more time in the air flying for work. 100% on UA; they go everywhere I need to.

Kept 1K with similar travel patterns and spend. All domestic, last-minute, segment flyer. Workload was increased so did take extra segments with Delta.

1k to lifetime Gold

1K to Plat. Corporate travel decreased in 1st half of 2014, picked up later but not enough to hit $10k PQD so I deferred a few trips to 2015. I also matched over to AS. Flying out of PDX, AS's schedule seems to be getting better and better vs UA, and of course no PQD or $-based RDM on AS.

1. Silver to nothing (except I still do have a Chase PresPlus card - need to decide what I'm doing with that).

2. I didn't try to requalify this year for a few reasons.

- Silver is practically worthless since most of the benefits you get with a credit card (priority boarding, free luggage), so instead of trying to always fly United I flew other carriers for some of my trips. The new mileage earning scheme doesn't really help me much, either.

- Living nearer to Philly, with US merging with AA, there were fewer convenient, affordable options locally.

- Family and job changes left me with less free time to travel.

3. Made the decision by mid-year to not chase status so it wasn't that important anymore.

1. kept 1K
2. New company policy lowers the amount of vacation I can save so had to take more vacation. At the same time work travel decreased. That combined with GPU's to burn meant more trips
3. Came a little short on miles at the end of the year, had to do some creative routing

1K to Plat. Used a few RPUs and GPUs last month to re-qualify for Gold in 2016. May consider Plat again if UA repeats the $1500 USA-Europe deal this summer and IF quality improves. Cant beat the Star award offerings with UA.

1. Kept 1K status for what will be 6th year.

2. Flew as I usually do which is to say randomly and just for pleasure but also took 2 international paid J business trips which was new for me. All on UA with the exception for 2 flights on ANA.

3. Was worried about hitting PQD but luckily the new job and J class to SIN and LHR took care of that and should do the same for me this year for 2016.

Overall my experiences were positive this year. No major drama and when problems arose they were taken care of quickly.

I did very much enjoy ANA and the Kir Royales. Their INTL service is much better than UA's

Kept 1K status.
Flew usual route, 152K
Made the spend because of the 4/1 international business fare bonanza. I bought 3. If not for those probably would have relied on my 2MM Plat status.

1K to Silver and will become GM next year.
I hate PQD system and less travel last year.

1K to Lifetime Plat.

I'd been 1K for many years, since BEFORE it was a "status level", if you're long enough in the tooth to recall that time in the mid 80s!

The merger was the undoing for me. I recall well NonePass. I recall close friends explaining (or trying to explain) why CO didn't permit its elites to upgrade once they were inside T-24. I recall the contempt for hub captives. I recall the lack of SWU's. I recall the TODs everyone complained about prior to the merger. I recall speaking to FLIBS and having him tell me that CO management WANTED to take both airlines' strengths into the merged carrier - and then hearing him denigrate "training" at pmUA.

Each of you has your own reason for liking pmCO, and therefore the current UA. I can fault no one for that. But, none of you can dispute the above issues. They are simply fact.

My LT Plat status will keep me flying the carrier, but last year I did 1500 EQM'S. I'll do a few thousand EQM'S this year, too. When the tide turns (as it will), UA will once again SEEK customers. When that occurs, my flying on them (100% leisure) will increase. Until then, I'll let fanboys be fanboys and I'll fly OALs.

All the best!
Dave

Went from 1K to Platinum. Traveled less for business last year and not chasing the BIS miles this year. Using other overseas airlines as well as UA product is not that great anymore.

+1

My employer's mandated "fly the lowest fare possible" made PQD's impossible to reach. Had to use the MP Credit Card waiver to make Plat. 105k PQM but only $4100 PQD.

From Gold to a most reluctant 1K, strictly due to UA's monopoly on my most common route. Took DL whenever I could -- likely cost me GS, but I plan to continue to avoid UA as much as possible.

In response to the request for reasons, they are manifold:
1 - Far and away the biggest reason is lack of reliability. There were a couple egregious examples but the number of trips with non-trivial delays over the past year was staggering. There is also a troubling pattern of flights arriving late and then departing even later, with zero sense of urgency on behalf of the ground staff.
2 - Piss poor handling of irrops. Multiple instances this year of being rebooked to unacceptable alternatives, often not in my ticketed class of service. Most travel is OPM so refunding the difference does little for me.
3 - Group 1 insanity -- it's just too big. My spend was circa $35K on UA last year; the GS flanking maneouver while I still have to show up well before boarding time if I don't want to play the game of swimming upstream to get my bag from further back in the plane because magically the bins have filled up is kind of a slap in the face.
4 - Onboard services are egregious for the cost of F. More important than anything else, I'm tired of the dice throw for a plane with operational power/wifi - I travel for work, so I need to... you know... work.
5 - Constant moving of the goal posts on frequent flier perks (feels like there are material changes to the program every 9-12 months). Pick the program and stick with it. Not that others do better, but I'll just give up the game altogether at some point.
6 - Continued cuts to SJC service not appreciated

Didn't make the list because it's kind of overarching, but I just don't trust United; multiple breaches of trust and lack of fulfillment of promises (including basic implied promises of the brand) has left me feeling antagonized every time I fly.

The same for Mrs. Fredd and me, although I consider it "Lifetime" Gold, or maybe Lifetime "Gold." :rolleyes:

(1) If your status remained the same from 2014 to 2015 or changed on Feb, 1. 2015 (the status changeover date). (What is your status?)

We both moved from 1Ks of many years standing to "Lifetime" "Gold."

(2) What were the reasons your status changed, or remained the same on Feb. 1?

UA sent us a very clear message that they would no longer offer any incentives to secure the loyalty of leisure on-our-own-dime travelers such as we are. Along with the legally sanctioned but immoral devaluation of previously promised "lifetime" benefits documented in the infamous Million Miler lawsuit, the final straws for us were trying vainly to gift GPUs to relatives as we watched them getting sold out from under us. Yes, we got the message, UA. In return for our "loyal" Million Mile BIS flights in a decade of flying through 9/11 and bankruptcy, we will cheerfully board with credit card holders on future flights.

(3) Did you have any particular difficulties in maintaining or increasing your 2014 status for 2015?

We didn't try. We flew 30,000+ UA miles and will continue to book UA if and when its fares are competitive for a particular destination. We received a generous status match from AS and are enjoying flying and travel in general.

Stayed the same: 1K to 1K.

Getting over 100K PQM required me to buy some vacation travel that I would otherwise have used miles for, but I had $2000 in VDB/downgrade vouchers to blow. And I got good value out of 1K last year, so it was worth the stretch. Next year... dunno yet.

1K to plat. My own choice, moving to AS.

Stayed 1K, qualified pretty easily. maybe the last time