Will/should UA do further status extensions/promos?With limited international travel?
 

Now that Canada is becoming a prison like Australia - I wonder if United will do anything for either.

Or its goodbye United, hello status match .....

Given the entire population of Canada is less than California - and you have a national airline, I don't think so.

And you are still in prison...

You underestimate the amount of OPM elites in Canada who despise flying AC.

Or really any interntional United elites - is United willing to fire them all when intl eventually flying returns?
If so, so be it, there are options.

To where?

David

Both DL and AA fly to Canada, and now AA is including Canada for lounge access too, and DL is a far superior product to begin with.
Both offer status challenges.

If flying ever returns, especially OPM flying, there will be options.

This isnt like flying from EWR, IAH or SFO where one is stuck flying United.

Then perhaps, in Canada, UA is hosed?

David

Sometimes it's better to leave than to be left.

When you put it like that why would United try to retain you? Why bother if everyone is so superior?

Anyway, wouldn’t shock me if Canada locked down all of 2021 so another reason to not offer anything

Will/should UA do further status extensions? Such as for Intl elites unable to travel
 

G'day,

A few days ago I received an email from the 'hound congratulating me on my extended Premier Gold status for 2021 due to COVID, which made me wonder when will UA announce status extensions for 2022 due to COVID? My estimate is somewhere towards the end of Q2 (e.g. July 4, 2021), since they likely want to keep up the illusion that elites need to get back on the elite qualification treadmill for as long as they can collect fares from passengers.

There is no question in my mind that status extensions, at least for international Premier members will be essential this year, given the current travel restrictions. For instance, at present it is highly illegal for us Australians to fly Star Alliance due to international flights being barred with New Zealand even conceding that it is unlikely there will be international flights taking place this year. Similarly for Premier members in Europe, it is similarly illegal to fly UA given the present travel ban for EU passengers. Even if they could fly Lufthansa or Swiss to accumulate PQP, they would still miss the 4 segments on UA requirement. I suspect similar travel restrictions apply to other countries meaning that a good chunk of their international Premier members simply won't be able to make any cutoff, regardless of how generous United makes it.

Given this, the only question will be when United announces the status extension and which regions are impacted. Whilst one could reasonably expect a US based traveller to fly UA domestic a fair amount to re-qualify, such requirements for Premiers based outside of the 'States may be infeasible. Perhaps they'll make it like the good ol' days and exempt us international members from any status earning requirements for this year.

In any event, I look forward to flying QF domestically in the coming months on a status match challenge - it's always good to have choices, especially in these times of uncertainty.

Your Friendly,
-'Roo Flyer

I will not worry that too much for now.

FWIW - when we hope the situation would be improving, the reality is far from our imagination. So since the first extension, I believe all airlines have thought about further extension. Because we are still in the early 2021, so it is immature to say so.

I would say, if there will be news, it should come out some times around June-September.

I just checked my email. It was April 5 last year I got the "Good news: Your 2020 Premier Status will be extended to January 31, 2022." Less than a month from severe lockdowns starting. They'll wait significantly longer this year since we know a good bit about what needs to happen before business travel picks up again, which it will. But not for a while. I think the biggest recent risk is the new Covid variants. If they prove to be evasive of the vaccines, there is zero chance any meaningful return to the skies with other peoples' money will happen anytime this year, hence automatic extensions no questions asked. Best case scenario is vaccine adoption happens as fast as possible, they're proven relatively effective at the mutations and half the US population is vaccinated by July. As we know, that's still not enough for herd immunity. Even if businesses ask their employees to start traveling again, there will likely be some resistance. Perhaps by Aug and Sept 10% of normal biz travel returns? (pulling these out my arse of course lol). Worst case where the new mutations start evading the vaccines, we're back to the business mentality of 2020. We'll probably have a sense of where on the spectrum we are by July. So your timing is probably close. My guess is further huge PQD bonuses in 2Q followed by across-the-board extensions Aug 1. Maybe some extra Plus Points thrown to those who actually spent a little $.....?

I was wondering about this. Having unintentionally made Premier 1K after a hellacious amount of flying (mostly for work) in 2019, it was something of a letdown to not be able to take advantage of any of the perks in 2020 as the virus took hold, everything shut down and my firm banned all travel for the foreseeable future. Now it's looking as though it will be fall before the firm authorizes travel again and before I will risk getting on a plane again. I agree that vaccines are key but judging by what's going on in NJ it will be a long while before we get anywhere near even half our population vaccinated, and if the variants out there prove resistant to the vaccine it's almost as though we'll be back where we started. While the airlines make the decisions I like to think that we hold at least some leverage. I know UA follows this forum - how about it, Scott Kirby?

I doubt that carriers will do anything early on. Current projections are that business travel will not hit its stride again until 2024 and, even then, a good chunk may never return. This means rethinking the old business model and that may mean rethinking the entire status / FFP approach.

For this year, it was just a question of survival. Going forward, it can't just be about extensions but about creating an environment in which people who can fly do fly.

Shouldnt United try to retain any elite for 2022 - when hopefully OPM is fully back?