jsloan

There is no exception to the duty of care under EU.261.

threeoh

They cash payout isn't due in some "extraordinary" circumstances outside the airline's control (and there are many court cases about what counts), but the duty of care (meals, hotel, transport to/from hotel, and two phone calls) always applies regardless of reason.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...-united-5.html

It applies for EU carriers world-wide and flights departing the EU on any carrier.

l etoile

lincoln841

Thanks. I'm pretty agnostic here - are there other airlines out of SFO that offer a more likely upgrade to first class for Gold Status member, or members one level above the bottom? Or is it basically everyone in first class is paying for these days?

I'm at hotel points - trying to get good at airlines

findark

SFO is a United fortress hub, so you're likely to be a little bit better off on another carrier. However, the 50k tier on any airline is not going to be a promised land of upgrades. The flip side is that UA has by far the strongest schedule out of SFO of any carrier except WN to California (and maybe AS to the Northwest).

I'm not very experienced at the hotel status game, but I think it's somewhat equivalent to asking what it takes to get upgraded to a suite at a hotel. Certainly none of my middling hotel statuses are good enough for that

FlyerTalker70

Agree 100% on those points and make use of them fairly regularly. OP will have to weigh the importance of E+ seating to them. The major change between Silver and Gold is with Gold you get to choose your E+ seating at time of booking which means you are more likely to capture the "throne" E+ seats before another elite or wealthy kettle snags it before OLCI! This benefit extends to one addition pax so if you're travelling with your significant other on UA they too would appreciate having the better seating as well!

If you do a decent amount of business travel, having the SDC fee waiver can be a real godsend. Back when I was working at a company that did a lot of travel, it meant a lot to employees if they could catch an earlier flight when their meets ended early to have a nice meal with their spouse instead of landing in the dead hours of the night. It's also been used strategically by fellow FTers to push themselves into flights that have tons of CPU space thereby ensuring they get the upgrade! Flying out of UA fortresses like SFO and NYC will also give you tons of options to play around with.

For me it was no brainer since I only needed to hit 50,000 PQM + 4 segments on UA metal every year to qualify as Gold (since I'm Canadian) and I easily get great milage out of those benefits over a year of travel! For you it may be a bit more challenging, since you have to justify hitting the $6,000 PQD target, no small feat. That being said nearly every US domestic FFP has a spend requirement so all of them are demanding your loyalty before they hand over any benefits. One thing you may want to look at is theUnited Upgrade SpreadsheetI maintain which highlights the cash upgrades United has offered fellow FT travellers to get a sense of what you'll be forking out if you want to fly F. These days, unless your EXP on AA don't expect to be receiving complimentary upgrades, especially when flying hub-to-hub.

Safe Travels,

James

lincoln841

Thanks guys. Final question. Are there any airlines where you can achieve high level status (above gold) through credit card spend? I can generally spend the dollars (7 figures a month), but I can only find hotels willing to give status with cc spend!

StuckinITH

The United credit card gives you a PQD waiver (up to Platinum) if you spend $25,000/year but you still have to meet PQM or PQS for that level.

findark

Not really. The best credit card programs I can think of for US carriers are Delta (30k MQMs at $60k and waive the spend requirement for Diamond at $250k, plus Sky Club membership), and Southwest (Companion Pass status is completely runnable by CC), but you won't get top tier status through solely spend.

I believe some of the higher tier cards like Centurion and Palladium might offer some complimentary airline status too, but it's not top tier. Are you really running tens of millions of USD a month, or is 7 figures a typo?

WineCountryUA

1 million and above is 7 digit

findark

Right - that would be 10 to the 7th. Still a million dollars a month is a ton of money.

lincoln841

Sorry for any confusion. Running a couple million a month on cards. Tried to get Centurion but an element of fame is required now and I don't qualify

findark

That has to categorize for over $50,000 a month in rewards... unless your MS costs are high seems like you may be over-optimizing here and the answer is just buy F

evanroberts

If you have the Club Card, the incremental benefit of *G for lounge access is small. But E+ at booking for yourself and one companion is excellent, and you can pick exit rows and bulkheads which will generally not be available to Silvers at T-24.

The Same Day Change benefits are highly useful once you know how to use them.

Flying internationally the treatment of *G vs *S by other airlines can be big. IME on Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Air New Zealand *G gets better seats and better boarding.

As Gold you'll be lucky to be upgraded on MSP-SFO or v.v. I rarely get this upgrade as a Platinum except in vacation periods or on Saturday nights.

FlyerTalker70

Airline loyalty programs are different than hotel programs where status is given very easily (i.e. I got Gold Status with Hilton till 2020 through a simple status match with my Marriott Gold). I once got BW Diamond Select status (their highest tier) by sending in an index card, but that's a story for another day. United's 1K will be helpful for some things, but generally you'll want to have something higher like Global Services which much like the Centurion card, doesn't have specific qualification requirements, but rather is based on how much moolah you spend annually with them. The general consensus is a $50K-$100K annual spend on UA fares will get you Global Services access. Once you hit that Global Services you'll literally be treated like a rockstar, you'll have dedicated agents, very high upgrade clearance odds (since you're only competing with 1 or 2 other GS members per flight at most), Mercedes rides on the tarmac from plane to plane, etc.

In other words, if you want the attention of UA you gotta fork over the money. Naturally you'd think that this would deter many people. However, when I see the sheer number of 1K members (which have the requirement of forking out $12,000 per year + 100,000 miles flown) yu can see that the airlines have no trouble getting loyalty from their pax. This is especially true if the pax travels frequently for business and is out of a fortress (i.e. SFO for UA or DFW for AA or DTW for DL)

Safe Travels,

James