Kacee

Not correct. But that's a topic for a different forum.

LinBros

But your "luck" with Marriott is only because their revenue management systems can't replicate the United strategy yet.

Keep in mind that hotel systems have lagged airline systems by several years which implies that this capability will start showing up soon ):.

UAflyer93

jsloan

Kacee is correct, that this is off-topic, so I will try to keep the responses brief and, hopefully, UA-related.

Yes, they do. Starwood didn't; Marriott does. Marriott has said that they "want to" adopt the Starwood model, but they haven't done so yet. I can promise you that the list of available hotels changes dramatically when you change the rate type to points.

Many people would agree with you, based almost entirely upon how many of their upgrade certificates they've been able to use. In an ideal world, we wouldn't have to choose between the two options -- we'd have high levels of earning but easy redemption. The problem is that there's not a lot of business sense in that model in the days of 85%+ load factors and differential-based pricing.

I'm confident that any change that UA makes will be bad for most customers. For example, some kind of "upgrade point" system might make sense; you could use 1 point to go from Y to PP, 2 to go from Y to restricted J, or 3 to go from Y to unrestricted J. That would provide flexibility -- while making it easy for UA to devalue the system later.

halls120

Indeed. I have no status on BA, KL, LH, TK or OS, but I almost always ride up front long haul on those carriers. Why? I either bid (LH or OS) in advance on an upgrade, take the lucrative OLCI upgrade offer (KL), or just purchase it outright at check in (BA or TK).

mr8

ch922455

WineCountryUA

for 2019, GS & 1Ks will get max of 4 RPUs, so there should be far less RPUs in cicrulation in 2020
No RPU earning pass 100K PQMs (and 1 GPU every 25K after 100K)
Updates to MP Premier Program -1K PQD $15K, P fare 150%, fewer RPU, Bag waiver & more

chuck1

As said up thread, you too as a 1K, can access PN for your instant upgrade if you buy Y-B-M.
I have a client that is required to buy refundable tickets. Sometimes these are E class but frequently he pays a small premium to buy up to M as these can be refundable in the IAD-SFO market.
PN is hardly ever available. Sometimes you can get it really close to departure.
As a 1K, you cannot waitlist PN unlike PZ.
I'm not sure if GS can waitlist PN.

lhrsfo

I take issue with the simple calculation up-thread that because GS spends 6x as much as 1K on average, then a GS is 6x more valuable. You have to look at the costs for those different customers, a large proportion of which will be fixed (the marginal cost of transport). It's likely that the average GS is worth more than 6x as much as a 1K.

I also take issue that the above calculation is the correct one. The whole MP program is calibrated not so much for rewards but for incentives. The incentive to spend enough to become a GS has to be great enough to make the marginal cases spend that much. Likewise for 1Ks. As the availability of upgrades diminishes, it becomes increasingly important to focus those on GS customers - if there aren't enough to go round, they'll have to disappoint and lose either GS customers or 1k customers and I have no doubt they'd rather lose the 1k customers.

halls120

And that is exactly what they are doing. I chased - successfully - 1K for many years, because it was worth it. During my last year as 1K, when the monetization of first and business was gathering steam, I saw the handwriting on the wall. Today, I fly front cabin just as often as I used to as a 1K, but it's usually not on UA. Their competition makes it easier to score good deals on J seats without playing the W fare lottery, so I've pretty much abandoned that shell game.

gldwebs

Just my own take on it, but unless you are on an ex SFO or other very high GS flight, having PN7 PZ0 shouldnt be that big of a deal. If there are 7 GS members on a flight, they SHOULD get all the upgrades. If it was PN7 PZ5 and 5 upgrades when to RPUs or GM using miles, the GS members would get pissed. In the end, if you dont have 7 GS members, the remaining upgrades would go to the highest status (1K)...unless UA sells them. I dont see anything unfair here.

What can be unfair (or frustrating) is, as a GS, booking a lot of last min flights to see 12 of 16 seats given to upgrades already and F full. They want me to book last minute, high $$$ flights, and for that I expect them to hold back upgrades.

drewguy

Well, sure, a GS view of the world is that upgrades should always be available for GS before anyone else. And that may well be a good business model for United (and perhaps reflects it).

But there's a reason for some level of frustration from other elites that if revenue management is saying it can give away 7 seats as upgrades (i.e., it doesn't expect to sell those seats anyway) that not a single one is made available to any elite below that level. Yes, United has to balance making other elite levels of some value with making the highest tier more valuable. But it's reasonable to ask whether something's out of balance here.

Miles Ahead

Why?

If there are 7 GS's that want seats, UA's plan worked, right? And if there are fewer than 7, a non-GS will get one eventually.

dkc192

To your last sub-question, not necessarily. If UA manages to sell out the J cabin to revenue pax between the time it opened PN7 and the flight departing, then a non-GS pax who could've gotten an upgrade had there been PZ>1 would've gotten shafted.