STS-134

I know right? It's gone from $10K to $24K in what, 3 or 4 years? I was perfectly happy to pay $5K in base fares for Gold status but $10K? No thanks. In Argentina, I could understand this type of inflation. But in the US? That's ridiculous.

transportprof

+1

Among my circle, I am known as the person to ask about travel planning. I'll bet that this is a common trait among FTers.

Over the years, I can't count the number of times that I've been asked, "Is United really that bad?" Then I would often encourage the person to give them a try, under the right circumstances and with the right approach to get a satisfactory outcome.

I have a feeling that I'll be encouraging people to try Alaska, Icelandair, Fiji Airways, etc., after 2021. In fact, a friend emailed yesterday after getting the email on the premier qualification enhancements and is now re-activating his Alaska Mileage Plan account.

I wonder whether United accounts for any value in customer promotion among it's soon to be ex-most frequent fliers. Does that show up on their spreadsheets?

ekwang

Thanks! And no, no basic economy fares. Might be discounted fare class, but not basic economy.

Yes, PDX-SFO, SFO-LHR, LHR-ORD, ORD-PDX will each have their own separate flight numbers.

Well, if this holds up, I might be able to make it work and retain 1k going into 2021. Will be tricky but doable with a big heaping serving of luck.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

I can guarantee UA is monitoring this thread and the partner qualification shortcut we're discussing so much will be something they'll be evaluating further. Whether anything changes remains to be seen.

If something does change relative to this, I can guarantee which way it will go...

IAH-OIL-TRASH

So, if I buy a ticket from AC (non-016) to London from Honolulu, all AC flights except one UA flight with UA flight #, do I get the preferred partner PQP for the whole thing or will the UA flight be broken out in the calculation and earn UA's PQP?

Repooc17

The bolded. Same as the case now.

zoned_post_meridiem

I think the calculation there is that for low/mid-frequency fliers, actually flying/investing time is more difficult than putting money into status tiers. If I have 6 primarily domestic flights/year, it'd be challenging to get to Silver based on PQM, and family/other obligations may prevent me from taking additional flights to get to 25k. Conversely, it's easier if I can strategically upgrade some flights, spend some extra cash on a domestic first ticket, do refundable Y over cheapest option, etc. to get to 4k spend.

[This probably applies more for people in silver shooting for gold, as there's no real benefit to spend anything extra to get to silver -- but just for illustration's sake, the example works.]

STS-134

But is this a "bug" of the new program, or is it a "feature"? If someone does all of his/her flying off of UA metal, sure, he/she can earn status with UA, but UA also won't have to give him/her any benefits. And the RDM that he/she accumulates in his/her UA account basically amount to an interest-free loan until he/she redeems the miles. And UA can make sure they come out ahead with periodic devaluations.

TomMM

Pretty sure this thread isn't disclosing anything they don't already know. Probably the biggest unknown is how many people will take advantage of it .

chavala

That's me as well. And one of the "United apologists" on this forum. One who stuck up for them during the Dr. Dao fiasco, one who defends them on facebook...
Not only that, but when I moved to Fort Worth 8 years ago, AA offered me a match to Exec Plat, but I still stuck with UA! (What an idiot, right?)

I'll make 1K next month. I'll immediately use up my P+ on Skip the Waitlists for next year. After that, I'm buying business class on the most convenient flights - which means AA will be getting all my money.
The hell with status. The hell with United. I am so DONE.

Repooc17

Vast majority of the flying public has no emotional attachment to any one airline. As much as people talk about their favorites or airlines they want to avoid, price and schedule rule at the end of the day. Most people don't care about status; the criteria is to get them from A to B in the most direct route, and spending the least amount of time in a tube.

AS, FI, FJ? Interesting you are picking these three airlines with (largely) limited amount of market network.

UA_Flyer

I am surprised to see Air China on this list. All other airlines are either JV partners, LH Group or UA has equity investments in them. Does this may indicate UA will follow AA (CZ) and DL (MU) in making investments in Air China in the near future?

STS-134

This song just about sums up how I feel about my relationship with UA right now. "We're through, no doubt. <expletives deleted>, I'm out." NOTE: video itself is completely SFW and doesn't have any audible expletives in it.

You should have seen the look on my wife's face when I told her about the UA updates. First, she asks me (half joking), "Are you gonna spend $8K?" Then I said "Nope. And the next time we go to China, we can fly CA or NH." And she looks at me and says NH! I flew them the first time I ever came to the US! Let's do it! So she's already a fan of the fact that I'll be a free agent next year.

Aussienarelle

👍

I suspect the FT community is more likely to utilize the information. I must admit I did not understand the nuances until it was explained very well in this thread. If I were not on FT I would have been moving to a new FF program who I perceived valued my bargain spend.

Like most things in life you need to evaluate the program for your fact pattern. For example I always compared K fare + points + copay for upgrade vs W + GPU for the upgrade. That analysis will change under the PlusPoints program and now there will still be an analysis now that copays count for PQP. Complex but I will work it out as I fly on my own nickel not OPM.

United, I suspect, knew their US members complained about the foreign address waiver (I personally suspect there were very few false claims) and I was one of those people who was planning to make use of it when my fact pattern became that in 2021. So the move to *A carriers was very much planned - United wants people to choose the MP program but wants to ensure it makes business sense for United. These rules are quite complicated so for the average Joe/Joanne they think they need to spend $24,000 to make 1K and for many on OPM they will do this (or at least United thinks they will do this). It was explained to me on this thread that United makes money from the joint ventures with some of the *A carriers without incurring the cost of actually transporting people - what a great way to make money!

So if the United MP members are making status by flying on *A carriers United does not have to actually fly them anywhere, provide upgrades including CPUs so little cost to United. I read United will have to pay for the lounge access for Gold and above - and presumably United has factored that into their calculations.

I am not thrilled by the changes as I need to adjust my brain to planning my travel in a different way, but change is always a challenge. In a way United is helping me to live longer (and get more use from my 1 MM status) as using your brain in different ways is supposed to help with longevity (offset by being in the higher atmospheric conditions).

Planning the rest of my summer travel is going to be part of my holiday activities working through the various permutations of the new United FF program.

skidooman

Oh, I missed this. Thanks.

Alright. 4 domestic flights will do the trick then. Like: coming back with ANA and transferring onto United.

Don't get me wrong. If Polaris is available at a reasonable price, I may opt into it. But where before I went out of my way to fly United to at least hit $15K, now I will solely fly on pricing and service. I will likely get my 1K in the end nonetheless.

As I said, I get it. From United`s point of view, they get $$$ when I fly AC or others to Asia. OK, fair enough. So, perhaps they have become more of a flying marketing organization than an airline - flying airplane is a side business now. Not sure how it makes me feel, but this is a business, so hey, they are happy, I guess I am too. Hitting 54 flights/$18K on 016 would be impossible.

Lifetime status? Well, I am not sure if it really matters at this point. 1.7M, so I have my Gold lifetime status - doesn`t seem there is anything valuable at Platinum. Pre-boarding? Yes, it is nice - but then I get something very similar on pretty much all *A. And since my company pays J at this point, upgrades are not as valuable as they previously were.

It leaves one thing: redeeming miles. And so far, I was happy with United. I am not sure if I am going to be as happy with dynamic pricing. I guess I will have to see.