Thought about this for some time now and I will most likely switch out of UA MP program and dump the Chase Club Card that I currently carry and transfer to Alaska's program and card. Looking at doing this possibly as early as next year. AK, with the exception of international travel, fits my needs best going forward. I am LT Gold with UA and don't think I will hit the Plat level but that is fine for me.

I could get nonstops to a few of my destinations from PHX with AA. But ABQ's closer and only works with connections. I have grown accustomed to connections and actually prefer to break longer travel into smaller segments (and more PQM/PQS/PQF or whateverthehell they'll be calling it in the future).

It looks like I may be switching to Delta. If I can get the Reserve card, I can easily make the 30K annual spend for the MQD waiver and 15,000 MQM as well as lounge access, Priority boarding, etc.

Staying, for the simple reason 1k is easier for me to achieve and hopefully less 1ks out there but I doubt it for SFO.

I'm currently at 88,000 PQM with 18k spend and 95 segments, good enough for Platinum in the current scheme but would already be 1k in the new one.

I was about ready to jump off the ledge this past weekend but some FT buddies talked me down. I enjoy flying UA and the bennies are still quite useful. The net effect this change will have on my flying, sadly for UA is less flying on UA and more on their partners - $10,000 PQD is just too difficult for me to hit as a lowly student who doesn't have the luxury of OPM. However, if I can snag a long-haul PY on a preferred partner, then continue with buying cheap UA K fares and doing the occasional upgrade to PY or BusinessFirst (passengers last), then I should be okay for status this year.

It's going to suck flying LH/SQ PY to SYD instead of UA. Oh well, they made the business decisions they had to make. Gotta keep their JV partners happy!

Safe Travels,

James

Sorry, but I'd take SQ over UA without hesitation, although of course the disadvantage is that SQ flights don't count for UA MM status.

Why?

I'm still so up in the air. Work travel next year is unclear - I usually log about 200K miles between work and leisure. If work can get me the spend, UA is still a no brainer. Flying an AA int'l J ticket tonight and just think UA is so much better (Polaris > Flagship, upgrades, int'l partners, aircraft). May end up focusing work spend on UA but more of a free agent for personal travel where I pick cheapish F or J when possible.

Much longer flight going through SIN to get to SYD.

Staying with UA in 2020 for status in 2021, though I do not know which status level I'll attain. Being 1MM I'm guaranteed Gold status, so I'd be trying to achieve at least Platinum.

1K is unlikely in my cards unless I can book a good number of flights on Air China, ANA, and EVA ... which might not be too difficult seeing as I live in mainland China. But except for flying on ANA, any perks that come with 1K would mostly be useless to me.

I'm going to take the stance of looking for UA flights first, then *A, then whoever has the best flight times + price for where I'm going. I do not mind paying up for PE seating and sometimes J ... but J is often out of my price range for more than once or twice a year.

I guess in summary my flying for next year is paying to sit in the class of service I want to fly in and not worry about the upgrade game. If someone has a better J or PE price TPAC (where most my flights go) that's who I'll likely wind up flying.

No brainer for me, I'm 6 miles from EWR and really enjoying my status.

restore my status. My wife had a baby girl about the same time I had to quit flying.

DL will give back your status if you fly a certain amount under the correct conditions.

Strategy
 

I usually spend 19k and fly 125k miles and 70 segments. They’re building this thing around folks like me. If I saw less travel coming I’d probably spend a bit on PP international and since I live 1/2 way between MKE and ORD, I’d start my travel out of MKE until I was sure to hit the numbers.

the new program SHOULD cull the ranks of 1K’s to greatly improve my GPU substitute points use. Worries only about Skip the waitlist GS piling on anytime there is a scarcity of seats available in Polaris.

Somehow the world has flopped when anyone who takes a lot of TPAC flights is a silver and finally goes free agent in Chicago! In 2009, you’d have made 1K and now struggle to make silver. Wow.

I think you needed to shout SHOULD a bit louder. You ain't getting nuffink if they can sell it, nuffink I tell you. Good luck. :)

Personally, I'm looking forward to sticking with UA next year. I am going to benefit from this as my spend is usually in excess of $20k, but I only qualify for gold/plat usually on segments. I'll be 1k next year without thinking.