pmarrsouth

It's probably an automated action (and "correct") due to the rules that they had in place on their system. They may have never had this issue come up before and it was not QAd when their system was updated with the PDQ additions a couple of years back.

Presumably just needs to be reviewed at a certain level of mgmt that is not on the phone and then changed in their backend so the next person is not affects by this.

Imo it's prolly and oversight rather than malicious

username

Interesting...you would think the program to demote people only runs on 1/31 and the job to promote people is run every day for those who move to the next level.

If UA retroactively demotes people who move back to the US, will they retroactively promote people who move out of the US?

Catbert10

Yes, I do expect that someone write a test case for the obvious case of a MP member moving back to the US during the eligibility period. And the underlying philosophy of clawing back benefits perceived to have been wrongfully granted speaks volumes about how UA management views the members of its 'loyalty' program.

Silver Fox

Seriously, this is basic stuff. I don't understand how anyone can take it away. Every single piece of information was available to them to make sure this didn't happen. Whether it was a junior programming intern or the CEO, it doesn't matter, the information was there.

goodeats21

I think it really speaks more to the culture of the organization, which is set by the executive management team.

They have made the M+ rules very complicated and apparently dissuade front-line customer service agents from taking any initiative.

What I would expect is "I am very sorry that you are experiencing this issue. While the specifics as to how this occurred need to be investigated by staff that is not immediately available, I will be updating your account to restore your 1K status right now. This will allow you to enjoy the benefits you earned on your upcoming travel. A representative will be contacting you within the next 7 days to confirm your status and assure that this does not happen again. Thank you for your many years of loyalty and again, I apologize for you having to deal with this mistake."

In an organization with the right mindset, you make things right for the customer immediately. The back office / technology stuff should not be dictating inconvenience to good customers.

JNelson113

This sounds like a situation I had in 2013. In 2012 after the merger UA incorrectly credited me with about a thousand PQMs. I had no idea that this had happened and at the end of the year I thought that I legitimately made 1K, based on what I saw on UA's website. Then a few months into 2013 my status was dropped to platinum. This happened for a few of us. I was completely outraged. The status was restored, but still. I was going off the figures on THEIR website . . . I had no idea. I had even done a mile run at the end of the year to make 1K.

Your situation is even more ridiculous because you already earned status for the year!

Hopefully the right thing will be done.

azzurro

Well said. As an example... I will choose to stay at a Ritz Carlton over many other top hotels because of this type of service. It appears to me that every employee is empowered to make guests comfortable and happy, which includes giving front line clerks the power to change/lower the amount charged if such service failed.

emcampbe

This is now worrying me.

Wife is a gold and I a plat, we were both internationally-based from October 2013 for a year. Used my Canadian address, more because mail actually can get delivered properly (and I do have bank accounts/CC there to back it up). All travel during that time was ex-BOM, mostly on Asian-based * carriers, though there were a couple of trips back to the US on UA, and some domestic segments while back. If our travel followed patterns for the year or two before, we would have easily hit the PQD mark, and if * revenue counted, we also would have been well above.

I was specifically told by an agent not to switch until at least this year so something like the OP described didn't happen, and was getting ready to switch back (I haven't traveled much this year, but will start up again soon). We both easily hit the requirements for our respective statuses based on being international, but if the PQD was taken into account, we would both be silver - which doesn't seem right to be downgraded to, since we met the requirements we were supposed to based on our location last year.

I don't believe this is what UA is intending, either. I want to do the right thing, but things like this make it difficult.

Mike Jacoubowsky

You might consider a PM to UAInsider.

emcampbe

Thanks for the thought - i actually did that a little bit ago, too.

Silver Fox

I think the right thing is to keep your foreign address until such a time as United can sort this out correctly.

jabbered

I'm not a United flyer, but what's going to be missed by waiting? 2 possible upgrades?

If you allow any and every front line employee to change flyers status, it opens it up to a higher probability of employees doing things they shouldn't be doing.


What I hope would be done is that there are notes in the PNR of the flights and then an individual can force an upgrade if possible, but not to change the tier status.

MSPeconomist

Front line employees shouldn't be able to upgrade someone's status without documentation and review, but the OP should be able to have the error fixed immediately before it affects any *A travel, including upgrades, check in and security priority lines, partner lounge access during international travel, etc. Having to wait seven days to see whether someone will fix it or not is ridiculous.

It might be different if the OP had moved late in the 2014 calendar year, but this doesn't seem to have been the case.

goodeats21

It is not just about upgrades.

1k affects everything from priority phone handling (not to be confused with the now defunct "real" 1k line), boarding groups, RDM mile bonus accumulation, and so on.

And this is not about "any" front line employee. The OP phoned the MileagePlus service line...you know, the people in charge of the MileagePlus program. We are not talking about a random gate agent. The M+ service desk should be easily able to check last years stats and confirm 1k status was earned.

The pass-the-buck, no initiative, punish-the-customer response is ridiculous.

PTahCha

I don't really believe it's fair to think that a front-line MileagePlus employee has the empowerment to upgrade a member's status on the spot, nor would they have access to all the information necessary to make a judgement call. If it drags on for more than a week, however, than certainly I would escalate. But expecting a change during the call? Not a chance.