aero0729

Hello! I just made an award change for my trip back from Asia to realize United has fallen so hard, American is back in the top spot in my opinion.

1. as a 1K I just paid 7,000 miles more because I had to make small changes to my flights. 3500 miles each way. OUCH. 186,000 miles round trip in business class. American would be 140,000 and I for one enjoy CX and JAL about even to BR/ANA.

2. Could not book the awards I wanted. Agents unwilling to piece 2 flights together. Same can happen at AA as well due to married segment crap but the agents can still piece your tip together when it’s possible.

3 Polaris is rough. Outside of the lounge , the onboard experience on my recent AA flights literally shatter UA. This is so sad but true. United onboard catering has reached lower than AA this year. UA is still years behind on refurbishment but I’ll give them credit for their 767s

4. Whats up with 1K service line ? I called just to voice my opinion about the new 3500 mile each way surcharge for 1Ks and was responded to like this : Mr. ——- why not just send an email ? No empathy. They don’t care.

5. 2020 program qualifications and Plus Points or whatever they are called. This is all ridiculous and confusing.

6. Up charging to higher fare classes to use an upgrade. Well atleast United is unique in something !

7. WiFi - Enough said.

8. Polaris lounges are awesome. AA doesn’t really hold a candle here.

Anyone else agree that United has simply gone too far in mileage/ product devaluations to keep your business ? I know we are all different

EWR764

The step surcharge for close-in bookings is a devaluation of 1K/GS, simple as that. PlusPoints system (starting tomorrow) is better than AA, IMO, if you take time to understand it. Your other complaints re: wifi, married segment logic, unconventional new status-earning, and catering are well-taken. I still rank AA firmly last among the US3. American is roughly where United was in 2015 or so.

aero0729

How do you think plus points will really work out ? Seems like they want you to use double the amount of points to maybe confirm an upgrade ?? Yeah. It’s not better.

findark

PlusPoints are a strict improvement over the current system, offering more flexibility than RPU and GPU and also charging fewer points than before in a number of PE-related upgrade scenarios.

Any changes in upgrade inventory were already happening, and going to continue regardless of the introduction of PP. And the fact that it also gives UA a lot more flexibility to charge more for upgrades hasn't happened.. yet. If UA hadn't gone and doubled the qualification requirements I would have said 2020 was a good year for status benefits, even if they are slashing the value of miles.

EWR764

That kind of dismissal leads me to believe you haven't actually taken the time to learn about the program. As currently conceived, I think the general opinion is that it's an improvement over the straight RPU/GPU process. I'd take this any day of the week over competing AA/DL products. But this isn't the thread for that discussion... see here.

ContinentalFan

I like the changes and am pleased United has improved tied elite status closer to revenues.

aero0729

I’m looking to the future. You trust United ? They will simply devalue the points like everything else. An upgrade will cost 45 then 50 then it turns into an auction with people using more points to confirm their upgrade so anyone who wishes to use 40 point upgrades will be out of luck. You’ll see. Maybe year 1 will be ok.

Kacee

Conceptually it's an improvement. But I'm withholding judgment until we see how it actually works in practice.

I did have to call AAdvantage today for an account service issue. As a GM, there was no hold. I got a super helpful, competent agent who was able to quickly accomplish all my requests. It was a surprisingly pleasant experience.

OTOH, given the similarity in management attitude, I'm not ready to call one program materially superior to the other. It truly is a race to the bottom.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

American and Delta would never make changes to their frequent flyer programs that are detrimental to the customer.

Edit: 🙄🙄🙄

Thread title is silly. Can anyone seriously say AA’s program is vastly superior in most respects to UA’s?

aero0729

Oh yeah they do... But All of the sudden Americans small changes over the passed 2 years has left them in the lead.

United First Class award on partners from NRT-BKK 48000 in J, American 30,000. The award charts are no longer even close anywhere

Also in regards to Plus points.. here is my question

Has United EVER launched anything that was not a bait and switch ?

cfischer

Expanded use of GPUs on LH
Introduced GPUs use on NH
Polaris lounges
.... and so on

Repooc17

And at AS, you would only need to spend 100K on CX and 120K on JL.

This year, I have redeemed awards at every single major alliance. I am a firm believer of diversification, as I have found no satisfaction to any one FFP. Each program has its advantages and drawbacks. I choose the one that works best for my situation.

By the way, can you tell AA to stop using bus gates at LAX on INTL widebody (e.g. 77W) arrivals?

EWR764

No, I don't trust them, but why would I act on speculation? I don't think there's a reason to trust any airline more.

Why even bother with frequent flyer programs, if that's the approach? Better off going strictly transactional, in that case.

Sounds to me like you've just got a bone to pick with UA. If that's the case, why even start this thread?

uastarflyer

What is this exactly?

jsloan

UA's initial stab at fully-dynamic pricing has been to increase prices by 2500-3500 miles each way for awards within 30 days of departure. This happened at the same time that they eliminated the $75 fee for close-in award bookings (from which 1Ks and GSes were exempt).

I don't expect the upcharge to stay so small for very long.