I might consider moving to Delta in the second half of 2020 and do a status match if things go haywire with UA. I’m currently platinum and will have platinum through the end of January 2021. After that I’ll be *Gold my million miler status. Lots to absorb and who knows if I would move my loyalty away. Lots to consider and I know there’s a lot of upset people there but on the other side of the coin there’s a lot of new happy UA Flyers

I'm not convinced that mid-tier status is worth it for those fliers. For $8K base spend you get 2 checked bags, priority boarding and E+. You get the first two for virtually nothing with SWA, so $8K for extra legroom seats at booking. Yay? International lounge access is great (I love it) but that comes for $150/yr net with the CSR or other CCs.

I think UA is going to lose the "incremental spend" leg of the FF program incentives with this. I'm still not seeing a powerful argument that UA Gold at $8/$10K is remotely worth that kind of spend when there are other options available.

Same here. The changes to MP over the last three years have turned me into a customer who looks for the deepest discount F seats on short haul flights, and on long-haul I purchase PE, where I have is 75% success rate upgrading to J. Almost none of these flights have been on United.

Close friend of mine has remained loyal to United throughout this period. I have unsuccessfully over the last 18 months try to get him to come over to the Dark side. He called me on Saturday, and said “hey can you go over again how it is that you are getting upgraded 75% of the time on long hauls?”

How is it that you get upgraded 75% of the time with no status? I want to know too :P

I dropped mine a year ago as AMEX Platinum gives 5 points per $$ on the tickets and even the Costco visa card provides 3% back on travel. As Lifetime United (Red Carpet) Club member- the passes were given away.

I'm a pseudo EWR prisoner as well. But have recently started using LGA and JFK more, even though its sometimes a hassle to get there, but there's simply more competition at those airports, lower ticket prices, and sometimes, way more flights.

Hence my recent free agency and finally giving up on the dream of caring about FFPs in general. Million miler/Lifetime Plat on AA, and they slowly but surely pulled out of EWR over the years, so I switched to UA (CO), and that's become so painfully annoying, I just don't care anymore.

We all became so addicted to the so called "Benefits" that we've lost our ability to actually realize the point of the flight, which is to get where you are going, not to experience some fake "Higher level" of in flight customer service or some such marketing nonsense.

I've flown probably 100 different airlines on thousands of flights on 4 continents in my life, and candidly, the differences are so tiny, I finally realized that the entire FFP culture is no longer rational.

Foraging for some "benefit" is a complete waste of time at this point, but the FFP addiction runs deep for most of us. For some reason, I've become enlightened (inside my peabrain at least)

Another one who wants to know how you are getting upgrades 75% of the time without status!

Please let me know too!!

How is TATL / TPAC upgrade AC SE100k VS UA 1K using instruments in terms of fare class restriction, instant clear vs waitlist and any other considerations?

I’m eyeing SE100K should I leave UA in 2021.

On LH Group and SK, I bid for upgrades well in advance of the flight. I've had enough experience by now to figure out what bids are accepted and what are not. I was offered a cash UG on all but one of my KL flights over the past 2 years at OLCI. On BA, AF and TK, I have had > 50% success at airport check in by asking if there were any J seats available for purchase. In every case, the J upgrades for TATL flights have ranged from $600-900 USD.

While I have lifetime Gold on UA/*A, I have no status on any ST or OW airline. You have to be persistent. On my last BA TATL, I was told there were J seats available but they weren't releasing them. I went to the BA lounge, and pointed out to the BA CSR that they could make $$ by letting me buy up to Club World and giving my Y seat to an oversold pax. She called someone and then said to me "come see me at the gate when it opens." I got the J seat.

I will stay with UA and see if I can maintain 1K. YTD I have 67 PQS and >$19K PQD which is enough in the new scheme. My 2018 PQD was $17k+, just short. But, that will depend on 2 TPAC Business Class tickets plus my usual mix of TATL and domestic Economy tickets.

I have value for 1K benefits, especially GPU/+P for TATL upgrade since company will only pay for Economy for all domestic and TATL travel. MM 1K companion benefits are also great for my daughter. Although awards are now much more difficult, I still hope to be able to use UA MP for premium class award travels, so 1K fee free changes are nice. 1K IRROP is also nice.

I used to fly USAir exclusively for over 15 years and switched to UA because of better MM benefits.

Last night I flew AA PHX-OAK on an Avios ticket. 15k for F. Boarding was orderly, there was plenty of overhead space in the first row of the 319 (no crew bags), the FA passed the snack basket twice, we arrived early, and it's a 15 minute Uber home. I see more of this in my future. In fact, just booked my next RT in F for 30k Avios.

Sometimes it takes trying something new to realize how dysfunctional the old relationship was.

So I have three choices:

1. Stay with UA. This seems stupid - its not so much the cost (while that is a factor). I expect the other airlines to catch up. Its the fact that UA is the leader in the race to the bottom. When is the last time they actually provided an additional incentive to travel? I guess clear (which is nice) but that hardly justifys another 3k to UA. With the stupid points for upgrades I suspect it will just get worse. No, UA is dead. I can't see how long term they will engender any loyalty from anyone who isn't spending at GS levels now. While those people are profitable, there simply is not enough to make UA viable.

2. Transfer to DL. I just got my diamond reinstated. The 5k of travel I was going to spend on UA this year to get to 1k will be moved over there and I will be diamond for next year. This is a decent opportunity but it comes with a catch - I am in DEN and it requires changing planes almost everywhere domestically. That was the reason I left DL a few years ago. Well that and the fact UA made it easier on my family to fly (there are 5 of us).

3. Go to AC. I know it sounds crazy, but my wife is canadian and I actually travel there often. It used to be on DL, but AC has direct flights from DEN to YYZ. I just don't know what the drawbacks to going to AC will be. I could use some help here if anyone knows.

What is the best option here? I am looking for opinions if anyone has any.

^
I ended up doing exactly that; fly out of JFK with Hainan.
Booked two trips for this year with them.
Would normally have avoided JFK, but departure and arrival times are at night, so traffic is not a major issue.

So, for the time being, it's "Split alliances": Star Alliance & Fortune Wings Club.

I have changed my travel strategy over the past 18 months, I use UA now only for domestic where status, given weather,MX, etal is important.
Driven by the quality of the Polaris product which I find infinitely variable I moved all my international to travel to the best price/quality available where I find I get treated at least as well as when I am flying UA .
I pushed the points earned by the spend to the credit card which gives me the flexibility of use,Very happy with the way things are working out