usedtobeimportant

Lots of talk about the negatives and details, but what about positives?

If I understand it correctly, those travelling overseas on partners not on 016 stock will get larger PQP than if you bought the same ticket for UA.

1) For example, I often fly to Europe (from SFO) on Turkish, Brussels, etc for $1000-$1200. That will get me 10,000 miles / 5 = 2000 PQP versus 1200 if I purchased a similar fare for UA flights (which I often can't). So I got easily get to Gold after spending just $5-6000

2) I believe that the overall number of 1Ks may drop, but those that are 1K may not use the benefits as much, meaning the rest of us will get more.

Thanks.

Hipplewm

It is actually award miles /5 or 6. So you have to add in the fare class multiplier for the airline using the non 016 chart.


"Preferred" Partners (mostly JV partners): 1/5 of the RDM earned, excluding status bonuses (but including fare class) on AC AD AV CA CM EW LH LX NH NZ OS SN.
Others: 1/6 of the RDM earned, excluding status bonuses (but including fare class) on other airlines with MP earnings available.

travelinmanS

Hopefully the main positive is that many people will no longer feel compelled to fly a crappy airline in order to earn rapidly devaluing benefits. Let freedom reign!

onthesam

I'm positive that those who spend >$24k will not be impacted!

STS-134

With all of the people who were going out of their way to book on UA gone, and the remaining ones being HVFs who just book paid premium cabin tickets, maybe UA will have to actually compete based on service with foreign carriers. So maybe we could see a better soft product now? I can hope, and my fingers are crossed, but I'm not holding my breath. If not, then all of my money will go to foreign carriers, and to HA and WN domestically.

freeagent

This is really only true if you are able to find cheap J/PE fares as it�s based off of the RDMs you would receive based on fare class.

dilanesp

I frequently buy TOD upgrades. I am liking this.

scubadu

This has been a claim with literally every single "enhancement" and yet it absolutely never occurs and I would not count on it this time. There are literally more people flying with every passing year and none of the previous changes have resulted in a decrease in elites, even though FTers believe/hope/deluded themselves that it would.

Regards

findark

As mentioned, it's RDM rate not pure distance, and divide by 6 for a non-preferred partner like TK. TK deep discount Economy earns 8.3% of the distance so 10,000 miles is 834 PQP.

MIDWESTERNFLYER

It seems like this is much more beneficial for those who are in outstations, where it is easy for people to rack up segments.

Almost all of my flying is short-haul, (IND-ORD, IND-LGA, or BDL-ORD) so if I am understanding this correctly, if I were to switch to UA from AA I will easily have enough for Premier 1k given I easily rack up around 60+ segments on AA. Given that most of my travel is last minute, PQPs won't be an issue for me. In the past it would be impossible for me to get 1k status given the 120 PQS or 100,000 PQMs requirement, given hardly any of my travel is long-haul

May have to switch over to UA because of this

fatlasercat

One of saddest things (at least to me) about spending based status is that it takes the gaming aspect out of FF programs.

The two positives about the changes from this perspective are
-the exciting hunt for cheap long-haul *A J fares
-cool one-day domestic segment runs

DENflyer3

Well one of the positives for some is they no longer need that end of the year mileage run. I have not had to do one in years, but I loved my old 1K end of year runs when I held right at 100,000 miles each year. I'll certainly miss my Hong Kong runs to by suits at the end of the year.

ani90

The question is obviously the positives for us but I wonder really what are the positives for United?

What does it matter how many silvers, gold, platinum and 1K there are when the benefits given out are relatively fixed? Will the airline really save money by having less of a tier? The assumption that if people don't get things on a complimentary basis (upgrades, lounge access, baggage benefits, award rebooking, SDC,E+, meals etc) that they will then pay United for those services may be flawed. Expecting a stream of revenue because of reduced payout for elite benefits may be flawed.

On the flip side there is the inevitability that United will lose a lot of business from many Plats and 1Ks who earn status flying international just a few times a year. What would be the reason now to fly United J as opposed to Cathay, Emirates or ANA, for example, when doing so wont get you much closer to Platinum or 1K which is where such people often reside? United will also lose the exaggerated income from people who fly when they don't really need to or buy a more expensive fare to earn those PQMS (if the PQP goals are seen as not attainable).

What really has United to gain by rolling out such a complex system that fails to do what loyalty programs aim to do (get members to fly their airline more) but if anything does the opposite (makes members wonder why bother flying more)?

escapefromphl

You can go fly other airlines for your own leisure travel as you don�t need to make that PQM target?

1120

I hit 1 MM on UA the same month I made Lifetime Titanium with Marriott. There�s been plenty of angst on both forums with respect to significant loss of value in the respective programs.

I�m here to say the grass really is greener when you escape the grip of these programs. I flew UA quite a bit domestically earlier this year and I finally gave up after one flight after another that was delayed. Lately I fly AS, DL, WN, etc. (I do my best to avoid AA) and it�s been a superior experience to UA. I don�t really care about domestic upgrades and lounges. I also don�t care what boarding group I�m in as long it�s not the last one. I care a great deal that my flights are on time.

I use UA for one thing now and that�s as a conduit for Chase UR points for *A J/F TATL/ TPAC redemptions. I think it likely that UA is about to nerf those values. At that point I will still fly UA when it�s the best available option, but I certainly won�t go out of my way to do so.

I�m much happier now that I�m done chasing �status� and I suspect many folks here will ultimately feel the same. In any event, best wishes to all as you make your decisions.