WineCountryUA

Can you see the ticket price?

Can you see the same fare basis online (might be difficult to do, will need to see if a dummy booking will bring the same fare basis up)?

UA1KPHL

I thought PQD included the surcharge??? nope not according to the United.com chart

Total Paid $477.50
Fare $254
Taxes & surcharge $223.5

PQD $257
RDM 2,827
PQM 16,768

I am getting royally screwed out of miles now.. need to bank elsewhere but where? any advice?

Baze

UA Insider came on and confirmed there is a glitch in what is showing online. PQD does include the surcharge.

mmack

There are lots of charities and NGOs that could use the miles to good effect, if you don't want to use them. Giving miles away shouldn't violate T&C

WineCountryUA

Donate your miles

trekwars2000

Okay, I would figure I wouldn't need to get ORC for a reroute for PQD but I guess I do. So the other day I bought a flight for ~250ish PQD LAS-LAX-SMF (last minute). LAS-LAX had an 8 hour delay and we just decided to go LAS-SFO and grab a rental car from there. THe PQD posted and I only got about 100 instead of ~220. This is silly...

Obviously, the RDM earning was based on this lower PQD... I don't get it....

LEONIDES

This system seems like it was devised by Jim Carrey. Maybe it was put together by the accountant from his movie The Mask.

Singapore_Schwing

So this equates to $302 in airfare, plus taxes for the outbound.

Under the previous method, you would have earned $187 worth of miles (assuming 1.5CPM value- a low estimate, if you're using for premium transpacs), meaning UA took in about $115 net in return for flying you 7100 miles.

Out of curiosity, what would you say is reasonable value of a reward for your loyalty on this flight? I'm not trying to be mean, but it's a question a lot of people don't want to look at from an economics perspective.

You stated you were flying for work, which is the ultimate reason for the travel. The miles are gravy, rewarding those who bundle into one airline. Of course, they prefer those that bundle lots of money to those who spend less on the same lights.

If that bothers you, I agree that you SHOULD switch for as long as possible (until they all get in line) to another carrier. Like any relationship (especially business), if you don't like what United is giving you in return for what you give them, it's time...

RobOnLI

So much for buying business class tickets helping get back to 'normal'.

I'm on a paid business ticket SEA-PTY-NY-SEA this week. Ticket cost about $1,850 (airfare portion is ~$1,640).

In the old scheme as a UA 1K on a business fare I would earn 9,500 miles x 2.5 (1K 100% bonus and 50% COS bonus) for 23,500 award miles.

In the new scheme I will earn 1,640 x 11 = 18,040 for a net loss of 5,460 miles.

So I'm giving UA more money and I'm still losing out big.

Later this month I have a SEA-PEK business class ticket for $3,200. Routing is SEA-SFO-PEK which is 6,592 miles one way.

In the old scheme with 1K bonus and COS bonus that would have been 32,960 award miles.

In the new scheme I will earn $3,180 x 11 = 34,980 for a net gain of 2,020 miles.

I don't mind earning miles based on revenue spend so much...I will really mind when UA completely devalues the miles further and raises the mileage requirements for award tickets. We are all earning at a much, much lower rate.

PS - have taken a few domestic trips already that are booked in lowest economy class and have lost thousands on each of those.

-RM

myb821

What the heck do you expect. You flew in business class for sub $2k.........

jjmoore

I think there are still some kinks and bugs in the calculations. I have had to call in twice to have PQD and, subsequently, RDM's corrected. Everyone needs to be keeping a very close eye on mileage that posts and hold MP accountable to make sure you get exactly what's due.

transportbiz

The concept of mileage earnings based on revenue makes sense to me. It's logical, and I would have been 100% in support of it, had the execution of it been even remotely balanced or "fair"...fair always being in the eye of the beholder.

My understanding was that United wanted to reward those who fly on normal fares, and above. And reward those less who flew on deeply discounted fares. And perhaps this is indeed how it is working, except that I always thought "deeply discounted" fares were basically "s" and below. It would seem United's definition of deeply discounted is "e" and below.

The new scheme will work fine for those who travel on a corporate dime, and who never pay for tickets out of their own pocket, which there are plenty of such travelers in the world, so United should find plenty of them.

For those who pay for their own tickets, in one way or another, such as the self-employed or small business owners and employees, this new scheme is probably not going to make United a good choice at least in terms of Mileage rewards.

Aside from mileage, United comes in at the bottom of every customer focused service survey there is, has an abysmal on-time record, the worst food and service in first class of all the airlines (still the only carrier with no pillows--as a small example of their indifference), a lousy boarding experience for top status and first class flyers, policies on flight changes and reticketing that are brutally punishing even for 1K flyers, terrible irrops handling. Otherwise, it's a great airline to be devoted to.

For many, the loyalty game had made it worthwhile to put up with all of the above, because there was some level of reward in exchange, such as upgrades to that sub-par first class cabin, and a mileage rewards programs that was indeed rewarding.

The upgrades are gone, and now the reward program is probably the worst in the industry, and that's a pretty low bar that was set by Delta. Reward availability has been drying up in my experience, and I've read that other's have noticed this as well. Add to this the increases in miles required for partner airlines, which was something I found very amusing from an optics point of view, the headline there read: United acknowledges that it's partner's product is worth more than it's own, by in some cases doubling the miles required to fly partner airlines.

In the end, I'm not sure why even those flying on someone else's dime would stick with United? If you're likely to get the same in terms of "refund" (as some here seem to think of the loyalty program being) on Delta or United, why wouldn't you want the better product on Delta? you won't get upgraded there either, but at least if you do fly in First, you'll get a decent meal, and snacks, a nice pillow and blanket, as consistent hard product (not a hotchpotch of seat pitches, coverings and configurations), real priority boarding, and attentive service from a crew that doesn't hate their CEO.

Had this last change been equitable, for me, that would be if ground zero was at "w" class (fares above W got more than before, W got the same, and fares below W got less than before) I'd consider remaining with United at least for another year to see if other changes I actually do like will materialize.

On my first trip with the new scheme, LAX-GVA (arriving in GVA 4 hours, late of course, though due to Swiss) returning from FRA-LAX (arriving at LAX 7 hours late) booked in W bucket I earned 14,597 spendable miles. This is slightly more than half the miles I would have earned (26, 368) on the old scheme. This is an unreasonable hit to the so-called "refund" (which btw is absurd, since it's not a refund in any way, shape or form, as the refund comes in miles which can and do change in value at the stroke of an email, or by changing availability of redemption). I would have been OK with this return on a cheep, T bucket fare...but this wasn't cheep, it wasn't deeply discounted, in fact it was $1,200 more than the lowest fare at time of purchase.

As is, it's time for a status match and departure. Delta, doesn't particularly appeal to me, but I may gamble with AA in hopes that they will continue to value and respect customers who purchase products with a consideration of how those purchases affect THEIR bottom-line.

Baze

Lots of people keep saying this won't have much effect on those flying on other people's money. That is hogwash. Most companies I know require most of their employees to buy cheapest economy tickets with only upper management buying premium cabins. This has an impact on everyone with most coming out on the short end of the stick. The gap between the haves and the have nots is spreading.

WineCountryUA

Isn't that inherent in most rewards programs?

And for the most the general public, those that fly as much as many here probably still would be viewed as the "haves" (although many of us would disagree). How many times has someone (non-traveler) commented -- "it must be thrilling to get to travel so much."

Kurt

DEN-SFO-BUR, LAX-DEN - paid $208, received 1,280 miles based on a $160 base fare.

As a 1K (which I was until this year), I would have received 4,658 miles.

A 73% reduction in RDMs.

A bean-counter is smiling somewhere.

UA thinks I should spend something like $700 to get the amount of miles I used to. It must think highly of its product, because I sure don't think it's worth that much!

Glad I got some status matches when I could!