notquiteaff

Not only that, I also have two credit cards that give it to me as a benefit.

But yes, it is hard to understand that this is a MP benefit people waste their wishes on. Sends UA the message that everything else is apparently fine.

Gabdawg

Yes!!

elCheapoDeluxe

Regarding the PQD requirements, I'd actually prefer a completely different system. It would hurt people who don't continue to fly united much and it would help those who are still flying - seems like a good incentive match from UA's perspective!

Instead of 1MM getting gold, 2MM getting plat, 3MM getting 1k, etc, do it like this:

• 1MM starts out with 25k PQM and $3000 PQD on Jan 1
• 2MM starts out with 50k PQM and $6000 PQD on Jan 1
• 3MM starts out with 75k PQM and $9000 PQD on Jan 1
• etc

Whereas right now as a 1MM if I fly 74,9xx PQM and $8999 PQD in a year I get zero benefit above my 1MM Gold anyway. There is only an incentive in the current system for marginal revenue if you think you have a shot at exceeding that to reach Plat or 1K. And with my proposed system if you don't fly UA much you still are guaranteed at least Silver as a 1MM, which doesn't really matter because we've already established you don't fly UA much.

kittiyut

Well said, couldn't agree more. Keep Polaris access the way it is, pax flying biz/first.

What I'd like to see is that 75K RDM cap/ticket removed!

But more than what I'd like to see changed for the better is to NOT see benefits taken away!

jp12687

Return to the days you could piece together award itineraries and they would price correctly.

finding what they consider a "valid routing" is near impossible. Getting there through somewhere used to be easy and fun. Lots of options and connection options.

losing that one hurt a lot

mduell

Relegating 1MMs from Gold and *G to Silver and *S will go over like a lead balloon. CO-style thinking doesn't fly in 2017.

WineCountryUA

Believe you are mis-reading this suggestion.

It is not suggesting to downgrade 1MM to Silver but rather 1MMers would start the year with a balance of 25k PQM and $3000 PQD instead of the present 0 PQMs and $0 PQDs.

(and still keep their minimum Gold status)

atword

I understand that PQD is not going away, however I'd like the waiver to go through 1K. Or add a second waiver level equivalent to what UA gets with 1K PQD revenue. I'd probably hit it.

Reduce GPU quantity but allow clearance on any fare class. Buying W or higher to play the game almost seems criminal when you could have paid T to get the same E+ experience. Or guarantee clearance if you pay W or higher and apply a GPU.

elCheapoDeluxe

Well, no. I was willing to make it a trade-off. As I said, if you fly so little that you don't come out better under this system than the old, then you fly so little you shouldn't care.

If you fly less than 25k miles/year you'd come out worse, but if you fly more than 50k miles a year you'd come out way better. If you fly between 25k and 50k miles/year you'd see no difference.

u600213

Eliminate GS. Make 1K top tier again.
Have First Class board first. Boot Platinum from Group 1.

PushingTin

If anything, I see them adding a level between them, but based on revenue. So the group that are high paying 1Ks, but not to GS levels get a better whack at benes. Something like 1Ks that get there on all domestic that might not have the spend/margin that you'd get from a INTL J.

1K is not a differentiator or discriminator anymore. I was on the phone with UA today trying to play funky with a SDC and I said I rarely, if ever change flights and could they do this for me once as a 1K. The answer "We have a lot of 1Ks.....". Ouch, that pretty much puts the UCs "Thanks for being 1K" in perspective.

lhrsfo

Tell me about it. I know it's OT, but on a recent Business Class flight, my seatmate was asked his choice of main course and was told he'd get it because he was a GS. But when it came to me, I was told that nearly everyone was GS or 1K so whether I got my choice was marginal. (in the end I did get it but wished I hadn't, but that's another matter)

FlyfromDenver

It was a benefit and then it wasn't. I suspect many people who used it are getting close to renewal time.

And it was a benefit that actually paid off unlike RPUs that you apply and get returned.

tcp1

Is this just because of increased travel in general, or switching proportions on who flies and how much?

I remember all through the 90s and early 2000s, 1Ks were semi-royalty like GS was today.. and fairly rare.. and those were in the days of no PQDs???

Are people really just flying that much more?

I know my 150,000 pqm / $18k PQD probably isn't much compared to some people - but with all the once-a-year fliers in the back, it's hard to believe the chasm is that wide.. People are either kettles or 100,000+ miles?

elCheapoDeluxe

I remember 1K really was like royalty. I think that the larger these airlines become, the more the flying of the really heavy hitters gets concentrated to fewer airlines, the more top tier there will be. Back then if I were a theoretical person who split my flying 50k/yr between two carriers and took two flights, one on CO and one on UA, one of those flights had a Gold flyer and one had a Premier Exec flyer. Now, both flights under the same carrier each have a 1K flyer. For those who weren't splitting their time before it feels like the plane got a lot more crowded even though that flyer who used to split his time in the past isn't flying on any different flights or flying any more than they used to.