transportprof

I think you misunderstood my post. I would not look forward to such a scheme, just as I'm not eager for dynamic award pricing to arrive. But the latter is almost upon us, and it operates by the same logic that my scenario of dynamic elite status awards is based on. If one form of dynamic pricing makes business sense for the airline industry, I don't think we can dismiss the other side of the coin quite so quickly.

findark

I'm skeptical. Without a clear bar to strive for, I don't think people will run for status as much. Doesn't seem profitable for the airline.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

All it takes for a lot of travelers is 2 or 3 round-trip business tickets from U.S. to Europe or Asia to cover the 1K PQD. Domestic frequent flyers buying first or refundable economy have no problem getting there if they travel once a month, which is not really that heavy of a travel schedule. If you're flying discount coach on U.S. or other carriers, it's a slog.

chavala

This!

jsloan

I'm also skeptical... but this is exactly how GS is defined, and they seem to be doing well with that.

limey1K

Same here. I requalifiied in early August and I'm sitting at 137 PQS, 139K PQM and $28K PQD with zero international travel. 90% of my travel involves a CR145/200/700 at some point. My CPU and RPU/GPU success % is so awful that I stopped tracking it. I'll finish the year around 170PQS/PQM and $35K PQD and ZERO chance at GS qualification. 100% Coach ticket purchases

mtftw

My PQDs are through the roof because I tend to fly last minute fares, but they are exclusively Economy. $600+ PQD with 1,000 PQM is really a bummer.

spin88

+1. I see it as a real weakness in MP given that United lacks product that is competitive in so many markets at this point. E.g. ex-SFO if I want to fly UA to Asia, its either expensive J or Y which is .6" narrower than on a 737 on the 77W. As a result, CX is getting a lot of my travel recently, in J/PE or Y (on a family trip). Booking *A carriers that I used to take has gotten much more complex.

My guess is that the revenue sharing deal with BR/ANA does not include PE, which is why UA will not sell it.

ftweb

In my experience, all it takes is 1 round-tip business ticket. I easily spend $10K/year on Y-cabin travel without even thinking about it (between work and personal), and given that J usually costs at least $3K and often $5K more than Y, a single trip puts me way over the top for PQDs.

In fact, this is the first year I'm even having to think about PQDs, and it's because two things happened: I haven't bought a J ticket, AND I flew a bunch of code share segments that earned me no PQDs. So with planned travel between now and December 31, I'm looking at 98K PQM and $11K PQD. The 2K PQM is easy to make up with a domestic transcon, but I don't feel like spending $1K on a short flight like SFO-EWR, so will either have to make two domestic flights or one international. (YVR tends to be expensive, so maybe that plus an LAX trip or something.)

The real lesson is that if you want to be 1K and don't fly a huge amount of paid J, you can do it, but try to keep almost all of your travel on UA metal. That's not so bad if your home airport is a hub like SFO. But I've flown ~$1000 itineraries like SFO-FRA-XXX for various XXXes where I got under 100 PQD, because somehow they decided that all the cost of the ticket was in the FRA-XXX segment, which was on LH in K class and earned nothing.

But to all these people talking about $3800 J tickets (presumably Z or P fares), how and where? Do you have some mega-discount through work? I'd gladly purchase $3800 J tickets for international travel, but usually see prices around $7000 round-trip and almost never under $5000. Mostly I'm looking at the minimum number of stop-overs, though. I suppose the price goes sometimes goes down with a less direct route, but then J is no longer a clear win.

Repooc17

Yes, Z/P fares. I browse FT for discounted J tix. I have a R/T later this year in J (LAX-SYD-LAX), and the fare was around $2,500 from UA.

kale73

I agree. How many sane people would engage in mileage runs, dollar runs, segment runs, and book higher fare classes if there was only a chance that such activity might gain them a certain status? Yes, there are some (just look at LAS ), but the number of people who will strive to reach a set goal is greater than (and I think mostly inclusive of) those who are willing to "give it their best shot" with no clear outcome in sight.

I know exactly how many PQM (50,000) or PQS (60) I need to fly to reach Gold status and exactly how much money ($25,000) I need to spend on the United Chase® co-branded credit card to qualify. And I plan accordingly.

emcampbe

Absolutely incorrect.

Im almost 100% sure there is an inter line agreement. The issue is discount economy fares on BR - at least most, if not all, are restricted to BR stock. So if you want a full fare BR ticket, it shouldn’t be an issue. If you want a discounted fare, then forget about it.

jasondc

United doesnt have a revenue sharing deal with BR, only ANA. BR is not part of that arrangement.

Get ready for 10 across on the 777 on CX, which will mirror what UA has now on their 773.

JVPhoto

Flexibility and/or able to book in advance. I just booked SFO-FRA-BUD LYS-MUC-SFO on UA/LH J for $3300 in January. If it was BUD r/t would have been $2850.
I was also looking at my birthday in July and I could book SFO-EU-SFO for about $3500 today.

StuckinITH

This week I got lucky and purchased a return trip in Polaris class to HKG for the end of November for $3500 (P fare). Not so lucky when United wants $8000 for a December trip to MUC or for a January trip to PVG. No mega-discount at work so I'll be sitting in Economy + for those two trips. Bulkhead seats will make the trip a little more comfortable.