physioprof

#2 & #3 are HUGE devaluations of companion benefit, altho #2 is only really relevant for international travel. WRT, #3 , I just got a number of companion IN domestic First tickets & they were all still at the 25,000 saver first price, even for two flights that were 100,000 for JN.

ua_sp_102366

indeed this is terrible. Especially the ability to book IN saver award on paid business ticket. Changing it to one segment only makes literally no sense especially if connections are involved. United doesn’t have direct flights from Chicago to large parts of Asia (India, Taiwan, Hong Kong) Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and parts of Europe.

physioprof

I guess #2 is still a bit ambiguous? I mean if you book a one-way domestic connection, you'll be able to force companion IN for both segments, or no?

ua_sp_102366

I put in a clear example to make that point.. the answer I received was that they can “open up” IN for one segment (flight) only.

villox

If the IN opening up is true, we’re going to need to complain. Really doesn’t make any sense either. And will cost United revenue. I buy business class for trips I might not otherwise take because I know I can bring a companion.

greenpau

I think this is thoroughly misinterpreted guidance because this example doesn’t make any sense at all given the need to transit.

I might wait a couple of days to when the regular team are back from GS versus the Web Support team to get a good response to your response.

getagb

This is probably coincidence given the few times you’ve called.

• I've called the GS line hundreds of times and almost never experience a wait
• GS agents have told me when the GS line is full it falls back to the 1K desm automatically

It’s dynamic so they don’t promise a specific amount. In practice, 12.5K if booked far in advance, and higher closer to your departure date. Basically, the same price as if XN were open on that day.

~15 min is sadly normal for this benefit. However I’m happy to wait for it since it’s so valuable.

FTLexMUC

i can confirm GS converted T into 12.5k saver award. Such a great benefit

UAflyer93

I’ve noticed a huge change in the past month where many GS agents have been very eager to strictly enforce rules — even rules that don’t exist!

Being able to open up companion space is the main benefit I value in GS. With all the hoops and HUCA, it’s becoming no longer worth it.

When traveling (outside of work) with a companion, it’s becoming much more enticing to just redeem Amex points and fly a better airline (e.g. ANA F, LH F). And with all the cutbacks to Polaris soft product, I’m seeing all the less reason to hoard or spend United miles.

PBIFLL

If this change is real policy than I will likely switch to Delta in 2020.

saccoNY

I agree with the higher enforcement (rules that don’t exist? Care to explain?) but I disagree with the conclusion. . The GS companion benefits within the strictly enforced rules are by far the most generous in the business. I highly value them. Also by nominating my wife to GS allows us very generous Intl and domestic upgrades for our kids and my family. Delta offers nothing close to it at any level. Bottom line know your benefits and argue or ask the agent to speak to a supervisor or just call back if you’re getting an uninformed agent. I’d like clarity on the one segment IN issue. Make zero sense to me too.

in terms of soft cutbacks. I really don’t notice so many tangible ones. The carts and the one course is a little lame. The food is honestly on par w any other domestic and LH and many other Intl. Carriers. Maybe the rate of cranky flight attendants is higher on UA vs others. Idk. That’s a hard one. . But the lounges are the best business class product out there. Including LH and NH. Comparing Intl F products to UA J really isn’t fair. And the prices usually aren’t close. I agree LH, NH SQ AF F products smoke Polaris. But it’s apples and oranges. And doesn’t exist for domestic travel. So not sure it’s a fair comparison.

villox

I’m still not convinced we have a conclusive answer on this companion benefit. To make it only valid in one direction doesn’t make much sense (I’d be curious if you could split up the award into two one ways to get around it) so I feel like we still need some more answers.

UAflyer93

I’d agree with everything you said. GS is still more generous than what other programs offer. That said, I’m just not convinced it’s generous enough anymore to really strive attaining (at least in my case). This could largely be a function of how easy it’s become to rack up Amex / Citi points with the 5 points / $ spent on flights and restaurants. (And I’m fortunate enough to be in the position where I’m able to put lots of spend on my credit cards.)

I’d also agree that UA J is at least on par with LH J. That said, I used to think UA J was marginally better than LH J when it came to food, and far better when it came to hard product, so I’m kind of disappointed that UA has cut back staffing in J - which has noticeably led to crankier FAs - and gone to casserole dishes and significantly shrunk entrée portions. Perhaps it’s an issue of expectation vs. reality, but it feels as though UA is now barely better than LH J, if at all. And I say this as someone who would never fly LH before, unless it was in F. Maybe I’m spoiled from being able to easily upgrade LH J to LH F using GPUs? ... but with the right planning (and enough points, it’s really not that hard to fly F on better airlines).

Finally, I don’t want to get into it too much, but I’ve recently had some really unpleasant interactions with GS phone agents. Just the other day, I called to open IN for a companion, when I had bought a paid business ticket for myself. They were flying from another city to connect onto the flight we were both flying on. That flight had award space, so I didn’t think it would be a problem for them to connect to our flight. But the agent went on about how that would be taking advantage of multiple exceptions. She finally agreed to process the ticket, but then (and only then) said that she was forwarding it to corporate to verify that it was okay. She even said that if it wasn’t, they would take a closer look at my account. I found the entire exchange really weird, and kind of disturbing, but at that point didn’t want to ask her to cancel the whole thing.

getagb

It’s weird how some agents treat their most valuable customers with suspicion.

I don’t understand why UA doesn’t just document the GS benefits on the GS site. It would be way less confusing for everyone.

ctownflyer

Because UA views them as exceptions, not benefits.