eng3

In some sense, this already happens. At least with the CPU's. intl road warriors by definition don't fly domestic thus won't be getting any CPUs.

GPU's can be used like your RPU's for domestic travelers. It is a waste, especially for those whole fly UX every week earning 1K by PQS but I'm not sure what benefit could be given them other than perhaps club access.

chavala

I certainly don't have a disposable income -- in fact no income at all since I retired early. But I drive an old car, live in a cheap state and didn't have children so I could spend my life travelling. It's all about priorities

JVPhoto

2013 I sneaked by with like 100,600 miles to make 1K. Those GPUs changed my life. '14, '15, '16 combined I had $65k in PQDs with an avg PQM of 130k.
I had a job in NY that literally had no problem with me saying "take me off the schedule for 2 weeks in May, a week in April, 3 weeks of July". Flexibility meant every GPU/RPU cleared at booking on top of the J/F tickets I would buy to fill in the gaps. It was a lot of money but it eventually made me realize how little I actually wanted to continue to live in NY and after 10 years finally moved.
Now that I've settled a bit more in California my '17 numbers are going to be 76k PQM and $7.5k PQD, luckily the Explorer CC waiver will get me Plat. The miles were hit with my GPUs, I didn't pay for any INTL J this year. I shouldn't have a problem making Gold going forward. Although I may end up buying a business in Hawaii that I'd probably need to do r/t 7-10x a year so who knows.

bocastephen

Actually if the OP has UA miles, the better deal is a BR B fare and upgrade to Royal Laurel.

Not sure if it was mentioned upthread, but it's the fare rules not the airline's relationship that dictates on whose ticket stock the reservation can be issued. Most fares, and certainly anything discounted, can only be issued on the airline that published the fare.

JVPhoto

More info on this? I've never done a non-UA upgrade. I was thinking about SFO-TPE-BKK r/t in April that in PE is about $1200 right now.

jsloan

There's a thread on Star Alliance upgrades on the board. If there is award space available to UA on the partner flight, you should be able to upgrade a B or Y fare using UA miles. The tool is somewhat clunky, though.

bocastephen

BR B fares are almost always very affordable (within range of UA W or V fares on many routes) and if you have the miles (25k each way), it's the best business class deal out there if you can find the upgrade space.

Before ticketing (which should be done through a live TA in order to get the right fare and booking class), you can call BR and ask if they have any upgrade space for their own program (they will wrongly insist the inventory for *A vs their own program are different and offer misleading information about *A upgrades).

Once you confirm there is space, the TA can issue the ticket and if the upgrade does not clear right away, they can then void that ticket within 24hrs (or 36hrs if ticketed on a Friday) and you can start again with new dates.

restlessinRNO

Each leg requires a separate Star Alliance upgrade. So 25k would upgrade SFO-TPE, although I thought it was 30k.

bocastephen

Correct, but given TPE's much better location, one has two choices for the connection:

1. take coach on the short flight from TPE to BKK,
or
2. a cash buy-up to PE during check-in - provided PE seats are open, a flight of that length is about $75 each way, which is not bad for the bigger seat and slightly enhanced meal (which you wouldn't even bother with after eating what they serve in the lounge during your layover)

findark

Honestly I'm a bit surprised at people who make 1K entirely on personal travel just because either (a) they're getting pretty badly ripped off for an FTer, or (b) they do a lot of personal travel (time-wise) compared to how much vacation time the average (even affluent) American has.

JVPhoto

How was I being badly ripped off by UA? When it went to PQD x 11 (well, 13 if using the Explorer card I was raking in award miles, my GPU/RPUs all cleared at booking. I wasn't really scouring the premium fare deals section but my cents/mile went from '14 .18 to '15 .17 to '16 .12 to '17 .10. I think I became a little smarter as time went on as I sort of fell into 1K at the end of 2013. In '14 & '15 I had a few purchased LH & LX F flights.

findark

Not implying you were - just that to get to 12k PQD, you either have a lot of BIS miles, or you have a very high cpm. I would generally expect an FTer to have a low cpm in personal travel since we know how to get good airfare deals, which would mean an all-leisure 1K is flying a lot of miles for leisure. Hardly impossible, but not the most common thing to be able to spend that much time traveling, while also holding enough income to do so (unless retired).

Baze

UA determined that $12K was a happy median between lots of short segment flying and expensive little bit of long segment flying. When I was on UA I found that lots of short haul cheap flying made it hard to qualify for 1K and a little of long haul cheap flying made it hard to qualify. But lots of short haul mid range or more than a few long haul was easy to qualify for 1K. This is from direct experience, so take it as you want.

JVPhoto

2014-2016 were on average 130k PQMs. The grey flights were award (if *A) or non-earning to UA MP (non *A).

Yah....lots of time and freedom. I probably didn't get the best deals every time but I have been happy the past 4 years.

FlyfromDenver

To the rest of the world, if you are able to travel, however you budget, you have disposable income.