CO_Nonrev_elite

And according to almost every metric, the flying world has decided that United is terrible hence why they are last in pretty much every poll

This is almost true in that as soon as irrops happen, they are taking them back off the customer and telling them that they do not really have a first class seat, and downgrading them. If United didn't have such terrible operations, this would be less of an issue, but they cancel and delay more than their competition.

Again, I've been 1K for almost 13 years, and was over 90% on upgrades for most of them until 2 years ago. In our company, everyone that is EXP on AA and Diamond or even Platinum on Delta are still getting those rates, and all the 1K's are hovering between 10-15%

Of course, that's why their revenue is in decline especially in the Higher revenue passenger department.

Look, I understand and agree that GS customers should receive better perks than 1K passengers, but PN9 vs R0 basically says we value them a lot, and 1K zero. It could be PN9 and R2 for example, but ZERO seems a little harsh.

As mentioned, it's not just the buyup that comes from that bucket, for international, PS etc, this is the upgrade bucket.

While I can only speak for myself, the frustration stems from United saying for the millions of miles you have flown with us, you will be lifetime platinum and shortly lifetime 1K, but after you have done 90% of the work to achieve this, we are going to change what you actually get for your investment.

Of course we can let our wallets talk (and my revenue is down over 80% on United as is almost everyone in our company), but I still fly all the time, so I still hit 1K despite the lower revenue. Therefore, it is frustrating to not reap the rewards for our investment (that' life), but I believe that's the frustration for most 1K folks. They feel a bit of bait and switch, and general feeling of this company would bend you over and ... To save 5 cents from anyone.

revigik

before you get all up in arms- PN inventory is usually either the same as P inventory or tied to P inventory. The message here may be that the revenue manager wants to sell lower bucket F seats!!

Baze

UA is making boat (plane?) loads of money on ancillary income from the kettles and elites that buy up. This has more than made up for the loss of the "over entitled" Silver to 1K's that have left. For now anyways.

pdx1M

Yup - that's the message I heard and have taken to heart. So this year I have bought 1st class on all my longer trips (or biz for TPAC). And EVERY one of those premium tickets have gone to an airline other than United. So they give me my valueless xPUs for being a lifetime 1K and they get no revenue from me (my last trip on UA was 11/14 and even last year UA trips were minimal across the year. Fair exchange I guess. But if the stock market is any indication right now of where we are headed economically UA may really wish they still had the business from folks like me.

scruffair

This is a bit terrifying to me. Has UA truly warped your expectations this much?

Everything is relative. Of course GS are still spending more than you. But you are DEFINITELY a top revenue/profit driver for UA compared to most of their passengers! The question is: How broad or narrow an amount does an airline want to consider. UA clearly continues to narrow their consideration; so much so that you consider your 25K spend to not be worth that much to them.

Other airlines would be much happier to have that $25K that UA is. I'm just a Gold on DL (after 8 years of elite UA) but enjoying 60% upgrade rate, top reliability, amazing customer service and free booze on every flight just to name a few.

Everything is relative.

Kacee

The disparity between PN and R is particularly common on the ps routes. It suggests a policy decision has been made that - for the most part - UA will allow GS to upgrade ps in advance, but not 1Ks. (The exceptions are typically the oddly timed flights, such as the late afternoon SFO departure and the mid-afternoon JFK departures.)

andyh64000

BS...every 1K has to spend at least $12K and many like me spend close to $40K a year which seems like a lot for the privilege of usually being treated like crap.

glx

It's quite simple:

If a GS uses instruments to upgrade regularly, they are highly unlikely to hit GS again the following year.

It's not that GS'es don't use upgrades, but they're far less likely to use them on trips that would be a high-yield for UA, and yes, they are giving their most valuable customers a benefit on the rare occasions that they fly leisure.

If there was some miraculous change to make 1K's the equivalent of GS'es in the program, they wouldn't make it R9. They'd make it PN0 and everyone loses.

I don't see anyone championing moving Silver into the ability to book E+ in advance - like any rewards program, there are tiers, and benefits for those tiers. Welcome to the real world.

PanAmOneTwo

This. I often see P > PN (P9 PN0 seems very common on e.g. India, DXB, TLV routes) that it seems clear enough that PN is separately regulated for GS upgrade inventory and it clearly doesn't just track P. Closer in I have regularly seen e.g. P9 PN6 R0 RN0. GS can upgrade in advance, 1Ks thrown in with everyone else and have to worry about poachers when the system doesn't clear us in real time. Seems like a policy decision to me...

andyh64000

OK fine...but the way 1Ks are treated should be closer to GS than Silver which has not been the case since the merger.

transportbiz

Great plan! But, wouldn't it need to be worth buying?

physioprof

I don't ever price out economy fares on the flights I regularly take, but there are lots of cheap discount F fares available lately. For example, I've got IAD-SFO-EWR coming up for $816 including taxes and fees (in P both ways). So I do think UA is coupling their deprecation of "freebies" with reducing paid F prices.

TA

I think that's more a statement about inflation and the larger numbers of people able to afford to fly in the US, than unique to UA... Gone are they days when 50,000 miles meant you were high flyer level and worthy of special treatment.

StingWest

Probably, but I assume the number of 1K's is *much* larger than the number of GS. Even if only 1/4 of the 1K's spend much over $12,000, it doesn't take too many of these to equal the revenue of a $50,000+ GS.

ExtonUS

Revenue does not equal profit. If a domestic discount Y ticket is 10% profit and an international J ticket is 50% profit then it is nowhere near as easy to claim that 4 1ks equal a GS.

A GS could easily be 25x as profitable.

The focus here is clearly that the plane will be baseloaded with economy tickets so whether someone buys one or one hundred economy tickets doesn't really matter to UA. In that environment it makes sense to focus on the profitability of the passenger. If/when load factors decrease I imagine over entitled elites may start to look more attractive again....