TomMM

After my first trip of the year I am 0/0. Decided to fly DL to ICN.

rankourabu

You'd be surprised. My wife and I are both 1Ks on purely personal travels.

Remember $18k doesnt actually mean $18k spend. I m pretty confident we will be 1Ks again this year for ~USD7000 (tax incl) spend, with maybe a quarter of our flights in economy.
The only think I may come up short on is a few (<10) segments - which may require a frivolous segment run in December - but segments can be had at <$50 each.

And neither of us is anywhere close to retirement (I wish!)

Of course this program is designed for OPM flyers. People who will wait that extra day to book their work ticket, people who will direct spend to United, even though there are cheaper alternatives, because its not their money. Both scenarios are a win for United, whereas with my personal money, I look to spend the least, OPM flyers are looking to spend the most allowed without being questioned to pad their personal PQD.

SuperFlyBoy

Same, still deciding - although I have some UA tickets booked, unfortunately...

Kacee

Zeros on UA

$2914 EQD and 18,419 EQM on AA. I'll clear $24k on AA with my CX travel.

STS-134

How much does everyone want to bet that if PRASM takes a huge dive because of these changes, Kirby is going to blame it on the coronavirus and try to buy himself another year?

Only if you have a disdain for your own company, its management, its shareholders, and the value of your own equity in it.

jsloan

No bet. But, given the scope of the cancellations, plus the knock-on economic effects that people are predicting, I don't know how you'd separate the two factors anyway.

There's an OMNI thread on the ethics as it applies to business travel. You wouldn't believe what some people do.

TomMM

+1
I treat OPM like it's my money.

STS-134

Oh, I can believe it. I've been at a company where most people were bitter about what management was doing (cutting our RSUs and bonuses while spending money lavishly on themselves), and everyone was trying to spend as much as they could and at least get a small % of it back via credit card points. That was in the last year or so before I (and many of my coworkers) quit.

But anyway, my point is, UA can only capture those types of people if they're going to try to incentivize spending more on tickets by getting people to buy higher fare classes, etc. And a substantial portion of those people are probably quitting their jobs in the near future and going somewhere they DO care about their equity in the company. So, it's a temporary thing at best.

findark

In most companies that's simply not possible. I don't have a draconian set of strict rules restricting my own expenditures.

It's hard to be surprised at what can go on when the entire relationship is adversarial rather than cooperative.

VegasGambler

A lot. My leisure travel spend blows that number out of the water, and I can't be the only one (especially around here).

The premium cabins are not 100% business travelers.

Boraxo

This month I will have $6k+ on DL with almost 24k MQM. Which gets me DL Plat status match for rest of year.

zeros on UA. If I see competitive fare and good times on LH I will take it but otherwise not looking back.

SS255

I’m 0/0, too. In the past, I’d be well on my way to 1K requalification by now. But I made a conscious decision to Not take unnecessary trips and halt all travel until early March, when I start up again. It’s very liberating.

Lifetimenotelite

Airlines and hotels count on that consumer behavior.

I have booked tons of W fares over the years only to not win the upgrade lottery. Although it was company policy you could book the upgradeable fair is that the best for investors and the company?
If anything it’s questionable ethos for the airlines to induce paying more money for something you don’t get...

The hotel economics is a bit different as having status and not paying for breakfast and using the lounge for meals (like in Asia) the cost difference often washes out...

jupper

Bingo. I need to justify it to myself and my boss.
(Disclaimer: yes, there are all kinds of Business aspects that are in play; but ultimately often one's time and availability is valued differently by an organization then by oneself on leisure travel)

8MiHi

When PQDs were introduced I argued on another blog that inflation would force adjustments in the future. Well the future is now and I think they intentionally over-adjusted to get ahead in the process, something that can be done during good times, such as now. It is clear to me that every 5 to 10 years they will have to adjust again. If I am right, there will be a drop in the total 1K flight hour time and maybe even in the actual numbers of 1Ks and possibly Platinum members.
$15k or $12k and 36 flights are just not going to happen this year. My personal spend runs around $7k for travel and I don't see that changing. The extra help from my Presidential Plus CC will be a little less simple to use, but will help as I expect to use it to get to Platinum perhaps twice in the next 4 years.

OPM can raise ethical issues, but I think I avoided them through transparency. 20 years ago my travel was 80% business . Now it's 20% business. All travel expenses at my employer come from my Group's bonus pool (this was true 20 years ago as well since I co-owned the company). Everyone knows the trips I went on and what fare was paid. So no J, ever.
There are times when the trip needs to be flexible however, so I get no grief from booking a changeable fare, although some have figured out that SDC can help with that.

I am actually quite grateful to United for how I have been treated over the last 10 years and am looking forward to many future experiences with them, whether I make 2MM or not.