Artpen100

My experience, too. In fact, I used to be UA Gold based mainly on domestic travel and AF Gold based on TATL travel, and I only shifted more to UA because, after the long AF strike a few (3?) years ago, I have found that AF for TATL is often more expensive than UA, or UA will have R space while AF does not have O (their equivalent). A few discount business class international trips plus some moderate domestic travel and 1K is easy. I don't consider myself loyal to UA, and if AF or any of the others became more competitive on price or upgrades, I doubt I would be 1K any more. If you are in international business class, status does not add much.

BigPoppaCO

So far mine in 2017 is $.18 and I've safely re-qualified for 1K. Is $.18 considered desireable for UA?

Kacee

It's higher than their average yield and 150% of what's required for 1K qualification at 100K miles, so yes, that's a good number for them. You're certainly not buying many deep discount fares.

OTOH, a GS candidate would likely be over 40 cpm, so it's all relative.

BigPoppaCO

wow- that really puts GS in perspective for me. I will finish the year safely over $20K and I won't be close. (I buy lots of P-class fares)

WineCountryUA

is "m", PQM or BIS miles?

For elite status PQD (if required), you need to average at least, 12 cpm using PQMs.

The "average" UA passenger cpm (BIS) is 15-16 cpm.

Of course, UA likes higher numbers

BigPoppaCO

PQM. Should I be calculating it off of BIS miles?

WineCountryUA

depends on why you are doing the calculation.

The earlier GS 40 cpm is normally BIS based.

For PQDs, it tends to be PQM based.

Kacee

Although if someone did 100K PQM at 40 cents per, that would be $40K, which is generally viewed as the minimum threshold for GS qualification.

MBS MillionMiler

Not completely true. I'll finish the year with around 120,000 PQMs and maybe $200 over the $12,000 spend. Pretty much a flat 10 cpm. I will have flown about 65,000 BIS miles.

I pay for mostly P fares, including internationally, I shop the 'deals' on premium cabins and often travel off-peak (often, the P fare on a the late-evening ORD-LAS or ORD-SFO is cheaper than the lowest coach fare the next morning).

That being said, I'm curious at the calculation in general, surely my spend/BIS = $0.18, but my spend/PQM is more like a dime. Am I desirable to UA? It doesn't feel like it most of the time. I do know they won't be handing me GS status any time soon (and too far from 4MM).

findark

I think comparing PQD to PQM and that against the ~15cpm average revenue is probably a good metric. Sure, you might be paying 25c per BIS mile in paid F, but you're at a much higher CASM at that point. But then not really sure my goal is to make UA a profit

WineCountryUA

That average yield number is based on BIS miles.

findark

Well yes, in a sense. But it's also an average across cabins, so unless your butt is in a Y seat roughly equal to the Y/F ratio on the fleet, then it's probably closer to use PQM. Because there's no way someone paying 16c per SM and flying in F is going to be turning a profit for UA.

Jimmie Jet

My YTD PQM is 92,211
My YTD PQD is $8316

So I guess my cpm is .11

MBS MillionMiler

Yay me!

But that being said, each individual seat does not exist in a vacuum. That 0.16/mile seat in F is profitable because it's not just that seat--it's the collection of all seats on board. If, for example, I didn't pay (my average) $0.18/mile for that F seat, there is some chance that it would have been given to an upgrader, or sold at check-in for less than the delta of that buyer's fare and upgrade versus mine. (Or it may have sold for less, or more as a direct sale to the F or J cabin).

There's also the school of thought that if UA only sold expensive F/Y/B/M fares at $0.50-$1.00 or more per mile, they'd be out of business, or be flying around nothing but 50-seaters domestically and 737s internationally.
They may want to fill all of those 739s and domestic 777s with $0.30/mile flyers, but they need those $0.10 or $0.15/mile flyers (and everyone in between) to make it work--to keep them profitable.

Here's a non-airline example, and a real-world one from my line of work. We generally sell at a 22% gross profit margin. We have one very, very large client who makes up about 20% of our total annual sales. Our products are sold to them at a 10% gross profit margin. Are they below average, yes? But we need those 10% margin sales as much or more than the 22% stuff. While I'm by no means suggesting that I, as a flyer make up 20% of UA's revenue, but we need the lower-margin stuff to support the higher ones. And if I had an invite on the same day to visit the 10% client or another very good 22%-er, I'm going to be on the plane to see the 10% guy in a heartbeat.

Therefore, my humble opinion is that my incremental revenue is profitable to UA. It's not a big chunk of money, I'll admit, but if they didn't want my business, they'd have found ways to let me know and if they weren't making money on my P fares, and they wouldn't offer them to begin with. But in the long run, I've spent hundreds of thousands on UA over the years, and will continue to mostly give them my money if they continue to give me something more than other airlines (no status) do. But I know I'm not alone--I'm guessing there are thousands of 1Ks like me. Alone, I'm nothing, but collectively, they need 'us'...They need 'me'.

Definitely reward those with the biggest spend (per mile or collectively), hence GS status--which I'd never attain, yet I support UA's right to bestow it. I know these guys carry the weight for the rest of us!

chipmaster

UA must love me or hate me at ~ 0.07 cents/mile, and now wonder the FA give me such great service