Does anyone else find themselves RESENTING UA and how does it affect your actions?
Dec 14, 2019, 4:15 pm
#62
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: USA
Posts: 1,153
Dec 14, 2019, 5:43 pm
#63
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,141
Resentment? No. I appreciate United. Let me count the ways:
Back in the day, Gold would get you a decent good chance of an upgrade. Not now. Or, if I was in Y with my wife, we would have the two seats alone next to the window, No more 2-5-2s or 2-4-2s, and we don't want to share our space with a third.. So now we pay F. This has made me a free agent.
Being a free agent has allowed me to experience the very good international J products of Delta and American. Gee, I never flew them until I price-compared with UA and found UA way more expensive for these international trips. Now I know that their J products are really nice and I can save money too.
Back in the day, I would loyally fly UA, even if it meant taking a connection (when a competitor had a direct flight.) Screw up the FFP, so now I don't find value in UA miles. Why not try that non-stop? I learned that Alaska F is a really great way to get to ANC nonstop, rather than have to deal with a connection in SFO.
So, thank you, UA. You have brought me to your competitors.
.
2019, not a single UA flight aside from mileage redemptions for international J flights.
Back in the day, Gold would get you a decent good chance of an upgrade. Not now. Or, if I was in Y with my wife, we would have the two seats alone next to the window, No more 2-5-2s or 2-4-2s, and we don't want to share our space with a third.. So now we pay F. This has made me a free agent.
Being a free agent has allowed me to experience the very good international J products of Delta and American. Gee, I never flew them until I price-compared with UA and found UA way more expensive for these international trips. Now I know that their J products are really nice and I can save money too.
Back in the day, I would loyally fly UA, even if it meant taking a connection (when a competitor had a direct flight.) Screw up the FFP, so now I don't find value in UA miles. Why not try that non-stop? I learned that Alaska F is a really great way to get to ANC nonstop, rather than have to deal with a connection in SFO.
So, thank you, UA. You have brought me to your competitors.
.
2019, not a single UA flight aside from mileage redemptions for international J flights.
Dec 14, 2019, 6:57 pm
#64
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 261
I can assure you that United, and no business for that matter, cares about what you did in 1989. They only care about what you are going to do going forward. And if the new program doesn’t work for you, then United says you aren’t as important as you thought.
Dec 14, 2019, 7:01 pm
#65
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 261
So your customers only flew to Asia to get status on UA?
Dec 14, 2019, 7:37 pm
#66
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: United Mileage Plus Premier
Posts: 781
i pay for my own flights so i'm disappointed by the change for 2021, but resent? that's for humans not companies. i'll just adapt and find something else. or maybe get a job where the company pays. and honestly i've had some very decent flights on spirit (air crew), and priority pass suffices. sorta liberating, like getting out of a bad relationship then dating people that aren't wet cardboard. i'll probably miss the expedited bag drop but whatever.
ua has been very good to me as a 1k, and i get that with 80% not flying on ua. so i get the changes. and i am a big fan of the new upgrade system so at least they're enhancing-enhancing instead of "enhancing"
you should try to get mm. it sucks that you're 30+ elite and less than a million, i've been united elite 4 years (including 2020) and i'm at .25mm. but i imagine as 30 years elite you're over flying mass transportation.
ua has been very good to me as a 1k, and i get that with 80% not flying on ua. so i get the changes. and i am a big fan of the new upgrade system so at least they're enhancing-enhancing instead of "enhancing"
you should try to get mm. it sucks that you're 30+ elite and less than a million, i've been united elite 4 years (including 2020) and i'm at .25mm. but i imagine as 30 years elite you're over flying mass transportation.
Dec 14, 2019, 10:27 pm
#67
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Independent! But mostly BKK, BCN, SFO, PDX, SEA...
Programs: Lawl COVID
Posts: 1,060
Resent? Hell no. Fly OAL. Everybody mad about the changes, recent or otherwise, oughta try it. I bet if enough people did it the tune would change real quick. But most say they can’t because “reasons.” When you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always got.
Dec 15, 2019, 7:52 am
#68
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 799
I LOVE THIS THREAD.
Its like a support group - some saying "Yeah!!!!! They are abusive and you deserve better!!!" while other say "nothing to see here, move along".
I sent UA an email when this happened - I pointed out that it would change my behavior and that I would switch airlines. I did - I fly DL and SkyTeam now. I of course got back cut and paste gibberish but the goal was to let them know that their actions had an impact. I respected UA enough at one point to at least let them know why I would leave.
Guess what? Based on the changes and my normal flight patterns I can probably do both DL and UA this year at 1k/DM level. Premium Economy fares are really enough for me to get what I need. I have three trips on SkyTeam in Q1 that generate the necessary 15k of MQDS and about 80k of MQMs to retain diamond. That gives me the rest of the year to mess with UA and see what I can get. maybe its time to check out AA and oneworld. I don't know to be honest, but I do thank UA for freeing me from my one dimensional thinking.
Its like a support group - some saying "Yeah!!!!! They are abusive and you deserve better!!!" while other say "nothing to see here, move along".
I sent UA an email when this happened - I pointed out that it would change my behavior and that I would switch airlines. I did - I fly DL and SkyTeam now. I of course got back cut and paste gibberish but the goal was to let them know that their actions had an impact. I respected UA enough at one point to at least let them know why I would leave.
Guess what? Based on the changes and my normal flight patterns I can probably do both DL and UA this year at 1k/DM level. Premium Economy fares are really enough for me to get what I need. I have three trips on SkyTeam in Q1 that generate the necessary 15k of MQDS and about 80k of MQMs to retain diamond. That gives me the rest of the year to mess with UA and see what I can get. maybe its time to check out AA and oneworld. I don't know to be honest, but I do thank UA for freeing me from my one dimensional thinking.
Dec 15, 2019, 9:22 am
#69
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: AA Plat, UA 1K>Plat>moving to Silver
Posts: 2,089
if the purpose of a mileage program is to get people to fly your airline more, I don’t think the MileagePlus changes do that.
Dec 15, 2019, 12:27 pm
#70
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: UA 1K MM, HHonors Diamond,PC, Marriott Rewards Gold
Posts: 1,117
Dec 15, 2019, 12:34 pm
#71
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Boston MA
Programs: UA 1K/1.5 million miler, SU Gold, JL Sapphire
Posts: 529
The closest that I’ve ever come is to take advantage of a company policy that allows a traveler to pay more than the lowest-cost airfare within a small buffer. I doubt it’s ever been more than $100 per flight, and it’s usually $0 to $30. And, I frequently check luggage on business trips, so it’s a net push, at worst.
Now, I might do some extra searches to make sure that I can find a UA fare that’s in the allowable price range, but that’s it.
When frequent flyer programs were instituted, the idea was not to try to get you to spend more money to fly one particular airline — and, for the most part, it’s still not. It was to get you to select one airline out of preference to others, all of whom had similar fares.
Now, for personal travel, when I often have a choice of destinations, I’ll often let UA decide where I’m going — I search for the lowest UA fare, and either go or not. I know the Austin market well enough that I sometimes don’t bother checking the competition, as I know when a price point is likely to be beaten and when it’s not.
The things you’re describing — spending thousands of dollars extra to try to chase GS — would never occur to me even if I frequently flew internationally for business (I don’t).
Now, I might do some extra searches to make sure that I can find a UA fare that’s in the allowable price range, but that’s it.
When frequent flyer programs were instituted, the idea was not to try to get you to spend more money to fly one particular airline — and, for the most part, it’s still not. It was to get you to select one airline out of preference to others, all of whom had similar fares.
Now, for personal travel, when I often have a choice of destinations, I’ll often let UA decide where I’m going — I search for the lowest UA fare, and either go or not. I know the Austin market well enough that I sometimes don’t bother checking the competition, as I know when a price point is likely to be beaten and when it’s not.
The things you’re describing — spending thousands of dollars extra to try to chase GS — would never occur to me even if I frequently flew internationally for business (I don’t).
When my company told me "you can travel business international, but be reasonable", I took this last part to heart. Sometimes when I see fares TPAC all above 5K out of BOS, I swing by JFK where fares are usually less pricier (I avoid doing this during the winter for obvious reasons). It may require some inventive routing, but usually I always get 3-4k.
Did I invest more to get UA? When I was traveling int in Y, absolutely. Not a whole lot more but some, and the company let me do it so I could get a slightly better flight in E+. I traveled a lot TPAC so for me it was a real issue, and my company understood this.
In business? Very seldom, and usually mostly for routing reasons. Indeed, just getting the lowest fare makes no sense when it means, for TPAC, going through IST with a 8 hours layover in Turkey - I arrive later so I have less time for business.
But it takes some personal integrity and mutual respect. I saw others abuse the system and get reprimanded too.
Dec 15, 2019, 3:11 pm
#72
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,141
Resentment? No. I appreciate United. Let me count the ways:
Back in the day, Gold would get you a decent good chance of an upgrade. Not now. Or, if I was in Y with my wife, we would have the two seats alone next to the window, No more 2-5-2s or 2-4-2s, and we don't want to share our space with a third.. So now we pay F. This has made me a free agent.
Being a free agent has allowed me to experience the very good international J products of Delta and American. Gee, I never flew them until I price-compared with UA and found UA way more expensive for these international trips. Now I know that their J products are really nice and I can save money too.
Back in the day, I would loyally fly UA, even if it meant taking a connection (when a competitor had a direct flight.) Screw up the FFP, so now I don't find value in UA miles. Why not try that non-stop? I learned that Alaska F is a really great way to get to ANC nonstop, rather than have to deal with a connection in SFO.
So, thank you, UA. You have brought me to your competitors.
.
2019, not a single UA flight aside from mileage redemptions for international J flights.
Back in the day, Gold would get you a decent good chance of an upgrade. Not now. Or, if I was in Y with my wife, we would have the two seats alone next to the window, No more 2-5-2s or 2-4-2s, and we don't want to share our space with a third.. So now we pay F. This has made me a free agent.
Being a free agent has allowed me to experience the very good international J products of Delta and American. Gee, I never flew them until I price-compared with UA and found UA way more expensive for these international trips. Now I know that their J products are really nice and I can save money too.
Back in the day, I would loyally fly UA, even if it meant taking a connection (when a competitor had a direct flight.) Screw up the FFP, so now I don't find value in UA miles. Why not try that non-stop? I learned that Alaska F is a really great way to get to ANC nonstop, rather than have to deal with a connection in SFO.
So, thank you, UA. You have brought me to your competitors.
.
2019, not a single UA flight aside from mileage redemptions for international J flights.
Dec 15, 2019, 5:12 pm
#73
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: SFO
Posts: 3,941
Dec 16, 2019, 7:04 am
#74
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: fwp blood diamond, dykwia uranium
Posts: 7,251
yes. this is exactly what will happen. look at one world and the change in lounge access policy
Dec 16, 2019, 7:31 am
#75
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 200