Bonehead

Yup...just booked an AA flight instead of UA. In past years I would have booked the UA flight even though it was about $50 more. The incentive is just not there anymore.

SF_DUKE

Based on my first trip of 2020, the PFP was so dismal definitely will not make 1K next year. May just look at the best flight options now.

Hard to be a UA loyalist when it is only a one-way relationship.

Aussienarelle

Since status is all about the spend I have been surprized to realize that change fees do not qualify for PQP.

It is somewhat irrelevant to me as I rarely change my flights, and with the new PQP system know I will not make 1K for 2021 so no real incentive to buy a ticket months in advance (when I would see a good price on United and play the GPU lottery) when there are bargains to be had on all airlines for when I travel so change fees which were a rare event for me will become a nonevent. I plan to use my 1K benefits in 2020 but short term thinking of 1K benefits.

kevflyer

Sorry if this has been asked but I can't find the info. I know PQF is now counted based on 1 take off and landing, but say if you have 2 consecutive flights sharing the same flight number, would that count as 2 PQF? I'm not sure if UA will say that is still 1 flight with a stop thus one PQF.

glbltvlr

Change of gauge? I didn't think UA had any of those these days.

WineCountryUA

UA most certain does Direct flights -- Why? What about Mileage Credit? -_ with or without change of gauge

As for PQF credit for "direct flights" , no definitive reports yet but many believe you will provide the separate segment credit based on written text.

glbltvlr

Thought the OP might have been referring to flights where you physically get off the plane, then back onto the same flight number. Change of Gauge was the most common, but in the past I've done flights that have cleared immigration in one city, then continued on with the same flight number on the domestic leg.

STS-134

I am about to book tickets for my 2020 trip to China. Just for the heck of it, I decided to see what UA was offering on SFO-PEK R/T which is around $800 per person. UA's advantage is that it has R space available on PEK-SFO so I would be able to confirm an upgrade immediately.

But I won't be booking on UA. BR has SFO-TPE-PEK available in Y/B (which is SAUA eligible) for around $1200 per person. Yes, that's $400 per person, R/T, more than UA. But UA has a $500 per one way trip copay, or $1000 per person for upgrading both segments, which means it's actually $600 more per person than BR. And I also found out that BR flies directly into and out of CGO, so I'd be able to leave China via CGO, which is more convenient for me than taking United. If I could still get status via UA MP under the 2019 rules, I'd be booking UA and flying Polaris, and still chasing lifetime UA status. But I can't. And so the booking away from UA begins...

jsloan

Huh? Do you mean PZ space? R is a Premium Economy fare class now.

SFO-TPE-CGO is a total of 7256 miles. BR B class accrues miles at 100% and is a non-preferred partner. For this flight, which will cost you $1200, if you credit to UA, you will earn 2418 PQP and 4 PQF. If we assume that you will not get to 24 PQF for the year, and that you will not use a UA credit card to reduce your PQP requirements, you need 10K PQP for Gold status. In other words, this one, $1200 flight gets you 24% of the way to Gold status. If you will get to 24 PQF, then you’d only need 8K PQP. If you will also charge 24K to a United Explorer card, then you only need 7K PQP. And you’d be nearly 35% of the way there.

Under the old system, BR B class earned at 100% PQM, so, assuming you would qualify for the PQD waiver, you would have gotten about 28% of the way to Gold by taking this flight.

For international travelers who are willing to shop around and fly connecting flights, the MileagePlus program may remain tractable. (Low-spend domestic-only travelers have fewer options).

STS-134

Huh okay. PZ=0 on both inbound and outbound. If they're going to change fare classes, why didn't they just retire R for a while instead of making it something else?

Yeah but why would I do that? SFO-TPE-CGO is 7256 miles. BR Y/B fares earn 100% on OZ. That gets me 36% of the way to Gold and I have a full 2 years to get the rest of the way. In addition, once I qualify, that same flight would get me 48% of the way to requalifying, and I'd have a full 2 years to requalify. If I'm not gonna be flying UA most of the time, what's the point in getting Gold through UA? None of the UA specific benefits (E+, CPUs, etc) matter unless you are actually on UA metal. And in the event I do fly UA domestically, OZ*G gets me into the UC lounges, which UA*G does not. And there's also the appeal of not having to actually mileage run to keep my *G anymore.

jsloan

Why does UA do anything that they do? They didn’t want to re-use F, which meant that they only freed up two fare classes by retiring first class (O and A), so they grabbed a third that wasn’t being used for economy fares. If you really pushed them on it, they probably don’t need as many economy fare classes as they have, but...

Fair enough, although I’m personally expecting the OZ program to be gutted very soon. OZ has been in terrible financial shape, and while they just got a big cash infusion from Hyundai (IIRC), those generally come with strings attached.

If you’re tall enough to care about E+, it’s worth a lot more than lounge access: you can get a one-time lounge pass for $59 retail ($20 or so on eBay, I’m told). E+ is frequently more expensive than that.

^ It sounds like you’ve done your research and found that OZ works for you, so more power to you. I hope everyone will do the same. For some, they may find that the UA program is better than they thought; for others, they may find that the grass really is greener elsewhere.

STS-134

Sure, but for what it's worth, I'm expecting UA to gut MP even further and to eventually close this *A partner "loophole". Unless of course there's a severe recession soon, which there may well be. That would at least delay things by 2 or 3 more years. Would they ever make the free E+ benefit for UA*Gs not apply to companions, only give discounts to UA*G instead of giving E+ away for free, or do away with E+ entirely now that they have PP seats? I don't think anything can be ruled out with how Scott Kirby's been running things.

Yeah, I actually do care about E+ and more legroom in general, but I'm actually not too tall, and I'm taller than my wife. Y- seats feel rather cramped because I've been sitting in E+ for almost a decade, but I won't die if I sit back there.

But the real question is whether I will continue flying UA to Hawaii after this summer, when I will do so both because I need to use up a flight credit as well as an Amex Platinum airline credit (on a change fee) and because I have the possibility of getting a CPU. In 2021, I might just fly HA and buy up to Extra Comfort.

Sure, and I always have the option of coming back to MP if OZ guts the program or otherwise makes it no longer desirable to me. But this stuff changes every year and since we don't know what the landscape will look like in 2022 and beyond, why not just go for the easiest option? UA's simply taught me to view my relationship with any specific FFP as a transactional one. OZ seems to work better for me with things as they are right now.

kevflyer

I have a SQ award ticket. All (2) segments on UA metal booked into X. Should have 0 PQF and 0 PQP. However the trip manage page shows I'll get 2 PQF. That's wrong, right?

Silver Fox

I did this as I posted some way back in this thread. I took my AA flight, main cabin extra, LHR-RDU, I did not notice any major difference between E+ and MCE. I liked that the bulkhead is slightly raised so you can stretch your feet out underneath the divider. Same issues with carry-on as every other airline, the IFE which I don't really watch on United was interesting. I was able to watch two Premier League matches live and I don't think that United offers that (I will check next time) but from a quick look at the options the choice suited me more. The AA app is OK, the United app is better imho. One thing was interesting was that I looked at the upgrade list and there was no-one on it. I only started looking at T-24 and there was never anyone on it. I decided to check for my usual UA flight to SFO and there were 19 on the upgrade list and 1 processed. I just thought it strange, not saying it is better or worse, but just an observation and something I was not expecting to see. Perhaps that is normal, I just don't know. FAs were slightly friendlier (yeah yeah, sample sixe of 1 flight, I know) but I will say that they did not seem to run out of Dasani Lime like they always seem to on UA (this is important to me!!! ) or anything that I or others around me asked for. I think they have more toilets in economy per passenger than UA on the 777, and a better layout for it/them. Could be wrong, but I did not feel like the "occupied" light was on. Mind you perhaps AA passengers have better bladder cointrol cannot be discounted.

It was no worse/better than I expected and would fly them again. And, again, I chose this based on schedule and the fact it was a direct flight, not as some sort of protest. It felt quite liberating. What I will not come to terms with easily is not having the UC in LHR T2 for flights like this!

Kacee

If you book a "direct" flight that's exactly what happens.
Pay no attention to the pre-flight display. If it actually credits, yes that would be an error.