You are right, I need to call. I crossed 100K PQM on 12/25/2019. I thought that was during the chaos period. I had all my previous GPU/RPU etc converted to +Pts in early December without error.
My +Pts account seems frozen. I completed a trip with a confirmed upgrade of 40 +Pts two days ago, but my +Pts account still says I have this 40 points under "requested".

Only if you also have the PQDs I believe.

Good point! I was just below. Half of my flights were on award tickets trying to burn down my multi-million MP miles.

Another data point on 2.5K miles "surcharge" on exchanging award ticket.

I have a SFO-Syd RT ticket of XN (80K miles) upgraded to PN with 80 MileagePlus Points.

7 days before the trip: I changed the outbound flight from SFO-SYD to SFO-MEL; GS representative changed in 2 min. expert knowledge and efficient.
5 days before returning trip: I called in to change the returning flight to the same flight on a day early, website showing XN and PN available. This time, GS help line asked to pull additional 2.5K award miles per ticket, citing that the current system uses dynamic pricing and there is no longer "saver award".

I felt that United has provided great GS benefit already, so I did not hang up and dial again for the extra 2.5K/ticket. But the experience really highlighted new inconsistency in implementing policy when it comes to award ticket changes.

Just got off with the GS desk and the agent said there was 100% a policy change and it's now one saver per PNR on one segment of that PNR only. I asked about booking two one ways to Europe for example, and specifically said that to me it felt like gaming the system, and she replied that it wasn't an issue and that she would help me do so if I wanted to book that travel.

This has gotten very troubling.

I will probably now send an email to Global Services expressing my disappointment in the change.

I did mention to the agent, who was quite nice, to pass my concerns along to the supervisor she put me on hold to speak with but I do feel a separate email to GS is warranted at this point. The best benefit of GS has been changed.

Here is my email to GS:

Hi,


I am writing to express my disappointment in what some agents have told me is a recent policy change. I am receiving an inconsistent message, so it is unclear if true, but if it is, it severely diminishes what is one of the benefits that most drives the value for me as a 4-year Global Services member.


Some agents have told me that I am no longer entitled to roundtrip reduced price award space, or to upgrade a companion in both directions, when I have purchased a premium cabin fare. The ability to place a companion in the same class of service as me has significantly driven my revenue spend with United. I already travel a lot for business (around XXXX per year, mostly international business). But I went from using mostly award points for my personal travel to much more frequently purchasing business or first class travel and then upgrading or opening award space for a companion. If I am only able to do this in one direction then it will no longer make sense for me to do this at all; I'm not willing to travel in a separate cabin than my companion, so I would just travel in economy or not at all.


My business and personal travel is purely driven by loyalty to United. I steer my travel to where United travels and take alternate routing to stay on United metal. I urge you to reconsider this change and restore the benefit that I value a great deal, or clarify that agents have misunderstood and the change is not true.


Thank you,

If true this is a massive devaluation of GS

Agree that this is an extreme devaluation of the benefits... I'm not sure why United decided to do this. Maybe because they're letting in more people into GS (based on the other thread where people below $50k PQD are qualifying for the first time)? Is there no United rep that scrolls through these threads?

One SEGMENT seems ESPECIALLY petty. At least "one direction" would be mildly understandable even if annoying.

Agreed that it could be due to widening the pool for GS but that would seem to be a poor decision on their part. If they keep ratcheting up the requirements for 1K, it would be odd to widen GS. Why not throw some enhancement towards the 1K group that is economical but keep the size of GS relatively flat (or at least not lower the entry requirements). Diminishing benefits for your highest value travelers is a poor strategy.

Anyone get a platinum status challenge from AA today?

Here was the response. I would take this as a confirmation:

villox,

I am very sorry to hear of your disappointment in our recent policy change and I apologize for any convenience our new policies cause you.

I sincerely apologize for the impact this change has on the way you will travel. I will be sure to file your complaint and send your comments on to our Global Services Management team so the understand how our members are feeling.

If you have questions and need clarification, I would recommend that you contact the designated Global Services number at XXX-XXX-XXXX. If the agent is unable to assist or you feel they are advising you incorrectly, please ask to speak to a lead agent. They are the experts and will be able to answer all of your questions.

As a Global Services member we absolutely appreciate your business and loyalty, and we always want to be your airline of choice.

Kind Regards,

Another conflicting datapoint:

Called to book myself round trip in first, had no problem opening up saver biz both ways round trip for my wife. Asked about a change to that program, agent said she had heard that it is not a new policy, rather an artifact of the change that hadn’t been smoothed out yet.