fragment54

No doubt it is a money grab, but United was smart enough to put it under the guise of controlling a problem that is likely underestimated by some of flyer talk and intentionally ignored by another large segment (those that do the multi bookings). If they would just take away the spend waiver, a lot of that excuse would be gone as the system gamers are also likely to be spend waiver qualifiers who do mileage runs.

I do feel bad for the plats who actually pay reasonable amounts for their flights and arent qualifying under a CC spend waiver. Most loyal flyers who spend like 4k for 75k miles aren't valuable.

Siberian_Viktorya

will United ever start demanding co-pay for free award tickets?
(like the co-pays for upgrade awards)

perhaps $125 + 25,000 miles for domestic US
$300 for TATL, $500 for TPAC?

transportprof

I'm intrigued by your comment above, but must confess I don't understand it. What is the 1K fee structure, and how do phone agents share in it?

fragment54

Only a matter of when. You can bet they have some marketing people cranking away at new buzzwords for the release as we are typing. I imagine it will be something lie, super Huge Mega Awesome Upgraded Enhanced Streamlining of United's Galaxy Leading Frequent Flyer Program

minnyfly

No one is going to leave - at least not enough to move the needle. People aren't paying $3,000 more to United to reach Platinum just to save $25 in close-in award changes. They're flying UA because it's better for them as a whole. This won't be the straw that breaks a camel's back. And besides, it's not like you can run to another airline and find greener status grass.

spin88

Thanks again for confirmation yet again that I was smart to move my travel to better airlines (DL and VX) starting in 2013, and give up on both United and reaching 2MM. ^ I could just tell that any loyalty from me would be dumped on by UA.

dand99

+1

MP seems to be just be getting worse and worse, I've been here for about 5 years but at this rate this'll be my last year.

D.

luckypierre

Ouch
The moment I read, "our customers have been asking for.." I knew it would be a root canal.
The stopover takeaway is a big deal to me. For some reason, I had an uneasy feeling that stopovers would be high on their devaluation list.

c2cflyer

You forget that in the corporate world, many flyers are taking revenue flights on someone elses dollar (Company paid flights) then using their earned miles for all their personal flights.


So yes, someone most certainly would spend (read: ensure they direct) $3,000 of their companies money to a single airline to get them to the next tier where they can use those benefits on personal flights.

If they no longer get a personal benefit from advancing to another tier, then they aren't going to take the two-stop United flight with a 45 minute layover in chicago when they can fly direct on American and spend 90 minutes less overall in transit.

raehl311

Does taking away the stopover even save them any money? Like, did they have to pay more if we booked with a stopover or not?


I think what really happened was, there was too much confusion with the agents on how stopovers worked, and their system sucked at pricing it out right, and a lot of phone time was spent booking awards and fighting over legal awards (I had a legal award fight just 2 weeks ago, which I lost.)

So they wrote the policy to match what their IT could actually program.

fragment54

recently, Mr. Green, one of our customers taking his second United flight, was confused about a few individuals receiving complementary upgrades. In an effort to enhance the travel experience for our passengers, like Mr. Green, we have streamlined our complimentary upgrade policy such that no upgrades will be made available for any members of United MileagePlus®. We hope you enjoy the upgraded travel experience this enhancement will provide and you are welcome for our continued effort to allow you to Fly the Friendly Skies©. We look forward to seeing you ejoying our service again soon.

... It's coming

daslax

While I realize they sent the same message to the entire MP list, as a Platinum do not tell me in the short email you sent introducing the "enhancements":

That's not spin, it's a lie. Before: no charges at any time. After: depending on the day, we may charge you $50 per person. I understood the first system perfectly well and can't imagine any other Platinums had any difficulty.

Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining. Shameful.

minnyfly

Whose money it is doesn't change things. If $25 in some situations or more stopovers is THE reason they choose to fly UA or gain the platinum level of status (the only status tier to fully lose out in the fee changes), then UA must be an inferior airline to them compared to the others. UA has to be inferior elsewhere if this is the straw that broke the camel's back. So why would people willingly fly an inferior airline for better award perks? And then change when those award perks are still superior? Why would people subject themselves to the hours on end of an inferior flying experience just for that measly advantage over superior airlines?

Their behavior doesn't pass a logic test. If I'm the company, I'd call their bluff. And if they leave, I'd say good riddance to those customers (if they exist at all that is). I'd be after more rational customers. The one that left will come back after they get mad with changes at the other airlines. Those customers are treating the product as a commodity. I'd treat them the same way.

ermintrude

I've been 1K for the last 3 years and it's nothing special. Free upgrades are worse now than when I was gold 4 years ago as they sell First off relatively cheap at check-in and the UA rewards program has been massively devalued. IMO the best strategy is either to go for Gold and diversify to other airlines or if you can spend 40-50K (50K is currently safe) go for GS. The recent devaluation is just an example why loyalty doesn't pay off.

TennisNoob

This hurt us plats here.

PP card holders can only get PQM's up to Plat. When Jeff was around, plats were protected quite well in terms of benefits. Plat & 1K were basically the same less RPU's/1K desk. But the 1K desk in my opinion didn't mean much because half the times I called UA's premier line, an 1k agent picked up proudly "1k desk, this is XXX speaking how may I help you?"

When Jeff left, many lower tier status holders were targeted by UA for an "One-year status upgrade".