What benefits do you wish MP offered
 

CPUs for international flights, maybe limited to GS/1Ks. Incredible how many non-revs fill up the J cabin on the HNL-GUM route, typically I see over half the cabin being upgrades from people who were on both waitlist and standby. I've been on Europe flights where the J cabin is almost empty.

More award flight promotions.

MP cardholders w/o status board after Premier members.

And on the note of boarding, they need to remove pre-boarding for military in uniform. It's pretty much unheard of to be required to fly commercial in uniform (although some service members choose to do so for "whatever" reason) and calling them out is a superficial way of showing your support when it should never get put into practice. And don't get me started on United's changes for offering military Club access.

Caveat: I am retired military - that said

I like this benefit as I fly ORD-CHS quite often and see TONS of new recruits leaving boot camp to not only fly to CHS for training but to all areas around the US. I think it is nice and my last flight had 53 new recruits in Uniform.
NOW - the ones who roll up not in uniform and try and get on because the agent says "Active duty military" are the ones I don't care for and I don't blame them as 99% don't realize it is "In Uniform" unless the agent actually says it.
That said, in CHS most of the GA are perfectly fine with any and all active duty boarding first and that is the general policy, which again leads to even more problems when they try it in ORD or IAH and don't understand why the policy is different.

As far as what I would like to see:

W fare restriction go away
1 GPU - R bucket, 2 GPU - P bucket
Sharing miles - I went to xfer my wifes miles for a summer vacation and the xfer fee was almost what I could just buy the miles for - that is insane. Instead my family is now on 3 separate PNR's one way to our summer vacation.

Double GPU/RPU/Award miles=upgrade without availability restrictions..

Yikes. What next?

Use three GPUs if fare class is BE
Use four GPUs to have instant clearing
Use five GPUs to have the FA smile during service

-1K/First class board with GS
-1K clears into PN with GS instead of R.
-Extension of RPU/GPU if usage was attempted during valid dates
-Option to use more miles in lieu of a copay for a PS/international upgrade
-Option to use miles instead of upsell charge for TOD upgrade
-Choice benefits like Delta offers such as more RPUs for those who do not need GPUs, miles, e-certs, club memberships, etc.

While not precisely an MP benefit, when booking reward tickets, I'd like to see the ability to add on one or more revenue tickets with the same itinerary. In an ideal world, the two sets of tickets would be linked through a mechanism equivalent to a single PNR.

Give back the RPUs they stole from MM flyers.

I am not military, but greatly appreciate that UA recognizes these young people in uniform. When I am on flights with these young recruits (as it is the young recruits in uniform) I trade my seat for theirs to thank them for their service. They are going to be risking their lives for our safety. Now if there were 53 of them that would make it slightly problematic. If for some reason I am not in F then I will ask the FA to give them my free meal that I get as a 1K member - again 53 would not be enough free meals from me, but I would probably get out my CC at that time. These young folks do not make a ton of money. BTW - this is all anonymous so the new recruit(s) have no idea it is me but will know there are people who appreciate their service.

I am glad that United has the policy of military in uniform getting to pre-board and would be really disappointed to see it go away. Not sure how it hurts anyone else getting on the plane.

For the ideas of using more GPUs for upgrades, that is a slippery slope I would hate to see.

I would like to see the co-pay reduced/eliminated for using miles for upgrades - or have the co-pay count towards to PQD.

GPU Follow Up: Be careful what you wish for
 

If UA dropped the GPU fare class restriction, I'd expect to see some other "adjustments".

Example: 1Ks earn six (6) four (4) GPUs which upgrade to the next class of service. This means from Y 1 GPU would upgrade you to Polaris premium economy. Or 1 GPU would upgrade you from premium economy to Polaris.

At times what we see as negatives (e.g. W+ fare class restrictions) are what allows UA to balance the benefits for us with the costs.

Some ideas for realistic M+ benefits:

Good catch - or if they can't do a soft landing, the ability to put your status "on hold" for a set period of time due to job changes or personal reasons.

FWIW AS allows one to extend their status due to a birth - https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...ts/elite-leave

Mileage Plan™ elite status (MVP®, MVP® Gold and MVP® Gold 75K) members who go on parental leave at any time starting in 2017 are eligible for Elite Leave: eligible members will be presumed to qualify for their current status in the year in which their parental leave ends, to apply for the following year. As an example, a current (2017) MVP® member who takes parental leave which ends in 2018 will receive MVP® status through 2019. Only elite members who earned their current status through qualifying travel in the previous calendar year are eligible for Elite Leave. Status granted complimentarily, including gifted and matched status, is not eligible for Elite Leave. Members who receive MVP® Gold 75K status as part of this Elite Leave offer are not eligible for the 50,000 bonus miles associated with qualifying for MVP Gold 75K status. Qualifying types of parental leave include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave. Member must contact Alaska Airlines at alaskaair.com/EliteLeave after completion of parental leave and submit evidence in order to qualify for Elite Leave.

Agree "Family Pooling" is a MUST to look at.

Virgin Australia have done it for a decade, and a great system.

As long as it is tightly policed it works well for airline and pax.

(They also have the parental leave gap of 6 months etc as outlined in post above.)