Why Not Miles for E+?
May 16, 2017, 12:25 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Santa Cruz, CA USA
Programs: AA, UA, WN, HH, Marriott
Posts: 7,290
Why Not Miles for E+?
I'm sure this has been discussed previously and I apologize for a repeat - but I keep wondering why, if UA and other airlines are willing to let people use miles to upgrade to business or first class, why they don't allow people to use miles to sit in E+.
If there is a thread on this, please just post the link - no need to repeat the discussion. Thanks.
If there is a thread on this, please just post the link - no need to repeat the discussion. Thanks.
May 16, 2017, 12:51 am
#2
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,861
Think this would work but a backdoor approach if a Chase credit card holder would be to paid with the credit card and then use credit card miles to create a statement credit.. 100 miles == $1 credit (5,000 mile min).
May 16, 2017, 12:54 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: ZOA, SFO, HKG
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Also - E+ is classified as a auxiliary revenue. So it would be better to get cash rather than redemption so that the income statement can look better.
May 16, 2017, 6:44 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
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Delta has mileage awards directly into Comfort+ seating. Delta will also show the increment in $ or miles to confirm into Comfort+ seating at time of booking on delta.com.
May 16, 2017, 6:45 am
#5
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 844
E+ is priced dynamically, which increases the difficulty. Even allowed, the mile equivalent will be poor in value anyway (1 mile to 1 cent).
Also - E+ is classified as a auxiliary revenue. So it would be better to get cash rather than redemption so that the income statement can look better.
Also - E+ is classified as a auxiliary revenue. So it would be better to get cash rather than redemption so that the income statement can look better.
May 16, 2017, 7:06 am
#6
Join Date: Nov 2014
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 1,679
I'm sure this has been discussed previously and I apologize for a repeat - but I keep wondering why, if UA and other airlines are willing to let people use miles to upgrade to business or first class, why they don't allow people to use miles to sit in E+.
If there is a thread on this, please just post the link - no need to repeat the discussion. Thanks.
If there is a thread on this, please just post the link - no need to repeat the discussion. Thanks.
May 16, 2017, 11:48 am
#7
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: ORD
Programs: United Plat 2MM, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,727
May 16, 2017, 11:52 am
#8
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 553
They already allow the use of miles to pay for wifi (also auxiliary revenue? – but granted, probably makes less money than cash for E+). They could easily tie the cost of the redemption to the cash price of the seat. I imagine the bigger hurdle is dealing with seat changes, equipment swaps, etc. The system handles that for cash purchases, but I can see updating the system to support miles as the currency for all of those scenarios would be non-trivial.
May 16, 2017, 12:42 pm
#9
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
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Posts: 66,861
Many uses for miles instead of cash, such as for wifi, UC membership, Shopping Mall, annual chase fee, ..... are all well under 1 cpm. All poor values but for mileage rich folks, not needing all their miles for "better" uses, such as premium cabin international tickets, it is not an unreasonable option.
May 17, 2017, 2:20 pm
#10
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 7,419
There is probably also a relatively small market for using miles in this way. Elites, the ones that tend to have a lot of miles, already get E+ for free. And non-elites, who don't fly a lot, probably haven't built up a whole lot of miles. Of course there are exceptions . . .