mkasperzak

I'm just curious to see if other United FT'ers have changed their travel patterns as MileagePlus has become less useful.

Back when I joined MileagePlus in 1981 I was practicing lawyer and had the luxury of traveling in paid First. I used to fly out in the morning and return after business in the evening. When paid first was no longer possible, I was always able to apply an upgrade and flew in upgraded first 95% of the time. I always reached the highest membership level, only to have the bar raised, first to 75,000, then 100,000 then 1K with $12,000 spend. I finally reached Lifetime 1K, but the program has changed so much that it is virtually impossible to find an upgradeable flight, especially transcon.

So, I now take the redeye in coach when going east, take an Ambien and get a fitful sleep. Don't need First to sleep. (I never took redeye's in the past) I usually end up buying the cheapest first available for the longer flight back to the west coast. Of course I'm now 35 years older, adding to the wear and tear.

20 years ago I used to lament the loss of "the good old days of air travel". Who knew it would get so much worse?

So, how have you accomadated your travel to the new realities?

Darlox

This pattern is now years-old stemming from merger-related issues, but I have long-term status in both UA and DL. I was a CO flyer, and prior to the NW-DL merger, had booked all of my CO (and later, UA) flying to the NW program. Walked away from 1.2MM in DL to fly UA primarily after the merger, being based in CLE.

"Fortunately" (though I'm not sure that's the right word for travelling as much as I have to do), I'm still in the sky frequently enough that making status on even 2 airlines isn't a big deal. So I'd guess you can call me a "Kayaker". I buy J tix spread out between UA and DL + alliances -- typically UA TPAC and DL TATL. Between that spend, I can reliably make 1K on UA and Plat or Diamond on DL every year.

For domestic/economy tickets, I buy whatever seems best at the time. Try to avoid UA's RJ145 fleet like the plague. Try to avoid flying DL through JFK. Sometimes I'll engineer for a likely upgrade. Other times I buy whatever is going to get me there/home quickest.

For points, I don't even bother playing the game anymore. Between Chase UR and Barclay Arrival+, my freebie travel comes almost entirely from cc programs. My airline-direct points are used for upgrades, or I give 'em away to friends & family as gifts -- my traditional wedding gift to a family member or close friend has become 2x J tickets anywhere in the world they want to go.

Heck - I've even started flying F9 and B6 out of CLE occasionally. Buy all of their upgrades, and you can have a pretty decent flying experience at still a fraction of the price of either of the majors. Book my ticket on my AmEx, and I even get 5x points out of it. I'll take an exit row or a Stretch seat on F9 over an aisle on UA's RJ145's any day.

Basically, the airlines made it all about money. Well, congratulations guys... it's now all about money, and where I'm going to get the best value from it. And it ain't giving ANY one airline all of my travel budget anymore!

Often1

With the economy on screech and carriers having smartened up by cutting capacity rather than prices, forget about free upgrades other than at odd hours on odd routes (which some may have the luck to require).

The advice above is the best. If you are flying for business and are twisting yourself into a pretzel to earn tickets and upgrades, it is not likely worth it.

Rather than worrying about hoping that the guy in front of you on the UG list drops dead, take a look at B6 Mint for the TCON. If you do some comparison shopping, you will likely figure out that you are risking a middle seat in Y near the lav just to get a "free" bag.

Aussienarelle

This!

UA started chipping away at my MP benefits but I still stayed loyal as it was easier. But the cost/benefit equation was less and less on the benefit side such that UA taught me it was about the money/cost to me.

UA taught me I needed to pay more for a ticket for the UG. Okay I did this if I wanted to use a GPU but I would also compare to <W fares for the miles and co-pay for the UG. Then they they taught me UGs would be less frequent and if I wanted to be upfront I needed to look for a "P" class airfare which I did. Then they taught me there will be less "P" fares and more "Z" fares available but the cost differential was significantly higher. Then they took away paying for my GE. Then they took away my waiver of my annual CC fee. I now travel domestically slightly more often and do not have access to a lounge for connecting flights (I am not located in a hub).

Like a previous posted I am fairly indifferent on the miles I earn and predominantly use them for family and friends although do use them for miles and co-pay when it makes financial sense.

I now compare UA with WN on short hops, especially as UA is a connecting flight and WN is non-stop. I now look for international fares on *A carriers that will earn me PQM. NZ in PE is so much better than UA in E+ and LH is starting flights from SAN next summer. I will generally make my PQD so that is fine. I have switched my CC from a Chase UA card to Amex Platinum and as I am 1MM this only impacts UA Platinum but I still aim for 1K status. I like 1K for IRROPS and the GPUs that will stick but basically if I am on a *A carrier they will still look after me.

Lessons well learned.

lotemblizej

I fly UA less now and more *A partners, especially Lufthansa and Austrian. I also have branched out more to American and OW, as well as even more Delta.

In the future, I plan to branch out further to other carriers once I reach 2MM and have lifetime plat with UA. I will avoid 10 across Y on 777 and other tight Y seats that are becoming the norm on United by looking to other airlines with better Y products. And when I do pay for C internationally I will give my business to airlines in Europe and Asia that are in a whole different league from UA.

worldwidedreamer

Changes to MileagePlus have made me a much more transactional customer. At one point I would tolerate a slightly higher ticket price or a connection to fly Continental. Given lower upgrade percentages, more TODs, PreCheck and better 3rd party lounges MileagePlus no longer provides incentives for this behavior.

For example:
Although I'll end this year with a little more than 50k BIS miles on UA, I'm not sure it is worth aiming for elite status next year. For me the big benefit of Gold Status is E+ at booking---and as this year much of my *A travel has been on ANA + Copa, the benefit does not transfer. My Amex offers better lounge access than *A. Of course no upgrades so far on my minimal domestic travel.

The changes did mean that the 15k BIS miles I've flown on Alaska/Virgin this year would have previously gone to UA. (Largely SFO to HNL + MSP). I have also flown something like twenty segments on WN. UA has never been competitive between SF and RNO, so this is not a change.

I recently signed-up for a promotion that offers a Southwest companion pass with a new credit card; they have also announced service to Hawaii. A combination of my Amex including lounges at OAK + RNO, new service and the companion pass mean that going forward it will be hard to send much domestic business to UA. Without elite status it makes more sense to book whatever the best value international ticket looks like regardless of airline.

What could/should UA do to change my mind?

FLYDCA

All the airline programs have devalued in some form to the point I'm no longer loyal to any of them. If I get status then that's fine but I'm not going out of my way to stay on one airline. It's easy enough to buy most benefits a la carte.

Hipplewm

I came over from DL, UA has a TON more devaluing to go before they catch up to DL

Even after next weeks changes, UA is still light years ahead of DL.

I have used 865,000 miles this year, flown Int'l J exclusively and still taken family on vacation and wife on 2 side trips

entropy

now I'd go with
1) Timing
2) Stops
3) Comfort (= E+/lounges)

In the past I'd connect to stay on UA, now I won't if the n/s is available and not obnoxiously expensive.

Evident

I went out of my way this year to ensure I hit 1K, because I know i will be traveling a bunch next year with economy class paid for by my company, which I would then have to use my GPU's to upgrade. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't even bother. I was only hoping to hit 75K this year, but I moved to Japan and was able to get out of the PQD waiver. I then spent about $1500 on a J class ticket to hawaii, now doing a bunch of small domestic flights within japan to hit the 100K mark. out of my own pocket I spent about $2300-2400 that I wouldn't have spent otherwise to hit 100K. I would have used miles to redeem the domestic japan flights and probably would have flown economy to hawaii for half that price or not bother going.... so yeah I think I got suckered in this time

zrs70

When I first started with UA in earnest in 1999, I earned 1K by segments. It was cheep (BUR-SFO-LAS-SFO-BUR) many times a year. But it took planning...

In those days, a Sat night stay was required to get a $90 roundtrip fare. But the legal loopehole was to purchase a one-way BUR-LAS, then a series of LAS-BUR-LAS flights, taking advantage of the Sat night stay.

I used to fly ORD-DSM-DEN-LAS-LAX for the segments.

I then shifted to mileage based 1K. Took many mileage runs a year. SWU's were pretty easy to confirm.

Now, well, this will be my final year as a 1K. I have lifetime Plat status, and that's enough for me. I am also Plat on Delta, so I have good options.

I like JetBlue, but only in Coach. I'm really not a fan of the Mint seat.

mozilla

Mergers/consolidations and lack of new players that challenge the status quo all contribute to the decrease in loyalty parks (although it's certainly not the only thing).

I've been wondering lately, with the economy at an all-time high, fully booked/overbooked flights, low oil prices and so on, where are the new players? Why are no new airlines standing up? Why are the legacy carriers being allowed to rake in all the huge profits?

According to this article, three new airlines started flying in the US this year, but there were also three airlines that closed books. Europe seems to do much better with a lot of new players spreading their wings, even though that continent is dealing with more geopolitical instability and terrorist threats. So what is holding America back?

3Cforme

You've the sequence wrong. The U.S. deregulated fully two decades before Europe. U.S. legacy airlines became relatively more competitive (although it took a lot of bankruptcies to do it). Certain European legacy carriers have been slower to reorganize to face competitive pressures (cough Air France, Alitalia, Sabena...) due to labor laws and their declines made it easier for LCCs to enter and grow to critical mass. Small LCCs don't have the frequency or destination counts to compete with U.S. network carriers. The lesson from JetBlue's successful entry? Bring money - lots of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/15/bu...e-airways.html

European legacies have been consolidating for over a decade: see AF+KL, BA+IB, LH+SN+LX+OS. They're on substantially the same path as U.S. carriers but they haven't hit the happy carrier count for sustainable, market cost-of-capital profits.

mozilla

Let me make sure I get this right. Are you saying that the American aviation market is ahead of the curve and that the EU will have a similar situation in a decade or two? Is a "pseudo-regulated" market going to be the new norm worldwide, with only a few big carriers and everyone else virtually barred from entry or limited to "regional carrier" status, because it's not financially viable to operate a new continental network anymore? Will the Airline Deregulation Act eventually prove to be a big failure?

Our country currently doesn't suffer from a lack of investment problem. The money is there. It's just not used to start a new airline.

The carriers are becoming increasingly more comfortable with a market where they copy each other's decline in service while raking in record profits (at least until the next recession hits). If there aren't any new birds to challenge that, there won't be any incentive to stop the race to the bottom, and loyalty programs will eventually be a thing of the past. And worst of all, we let them get away with that. As a frequent flyer, I sincerely hope it will never get that far.

xliioper

Any carrier starting out today will take decades to actually challenge the existing big three network carriers. Do you really think someone can magically snap their fingers and put together a 500 aircraft fleet, staff it with pilots, and build out a worldwide network in a year or two?? If you want a viable alternative in your lifetime, you should support the existing alternatives like B6 or AS+VX who are already moving along the path.