Regional Premier Upgrades--Is it time for a mass DOT complaint?
Dec 16, 2018, 8:50 pm
#16
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Portland OR
Programs: United 1K 1MM, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold
Posts: 560
No complaints from me. I’ve had pretty good success with RPUs this year, including on a couple of ex-BOS ps752s. Most have been spoke-to-hub or vice versa, and flights through IAH have been pretty lucrative, with R/PZ availability at booking.
Dec 16, 2018, 9:11 pm
#17
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 12,693
Indeed, airlines are regulated by the DOT. What part of the RPUs advertising is deceptive? They explicitly say "Regional Premier Upgrades are subject to capacity controls, which may limit the number of seats available for upgrade." on the page detailing them.
Dec 16, 2018, 9:38 pm
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,018
Maybe UA's FFP falls within jurisdiction of DOT, but it's a complete waste of time/energy if you decide to continue to ignore UA's printed terms and conditions as well as the experiences of others. No where does it say bmr12 is guaranteed successful application of awarded upgrade certificates or that United will set aside seats for bmr12 on the specific flights you book. There are thousands (10s of thousands?) of UA flyers who manage to use their certificates on their flights. It's not false or deceptive advertising. You have to remember that GSs (and those they gift certificates to) book into PN, so a lot of seats UA has allocated (and that you want) have already been taken by GSs. There are tons of flights where I see PN>0 and PZ=0. As 1Ks, we're often (not) getting GS scraps.
Dec 16, 2018, 10:10 pm
#19
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
I think this may have been discussed once or twice before. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...wadays-71.html
DOT doesn't regulate frequent flyer programs.
DOT doesn't regulate frequent flyer programs.
Dec 16, 2018, 11:35 pm
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Seat 2A
Programs: AA EXP LT GLD 1MM, BA GLD, NH/UA*G, Hyatt Dia, Marr Tit LT PLT, IHG Spire,HH Dia, MGM NOIR,Hertz PC
Posts: 10,571
Was thinking about gunning for Platinum as I'm currently at 68k but given the experiences here I'll stick to Gold and just relax the last two weeks of the year.
Dec 18, 2018, 11:00 am
#22
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
While the FTC does not regulate commercial air carrier advertising, DOT does. Unfair and deceptive advertising by an air carrier is a violation of Title 49 just as that advertising would be a violaton of the FTC Act for a non-carrier.such as a hotel.
However, nothing on UA's website or other materials appears to be false or deceptive. Rather, you have had poor luck or made poor selections. I am close to certain that UA has at its fingertips the metrics for RPU usage showing how many are used, by how many passengers and on what routes and when. Even here on FT, which is hardly statistically significant, it appears that there are many who are using their RPU's just fine.