exp

Check international P fares.

Also see that business class fares to Hawaii are about 50% higher than they were in early May.

uastarflyer

Plenty of folks put $30k annually to SIN, HKG, LHR, TYO which are simply not realistic options the past 18 months for Biz travel.

Saying to add insult to injury they should then be 2nd tier to someone who spent $5-$6k this year to Hawaii, Vegas, Mexico and Florida and scraped out 1K, is short sighted and frankly ridiculous. Hopefully UA doesn’t follow DL on this point

Kacee

Failure to make airline status during a pandemic is neither an insult nor an injury. Perspective, folks.

jsloan

That's what the person you quoted was suggesting.

I suspect that the effect of this potential change is being greatly overestimated by the people who are pushing for it. Fare class is the very last tiebreaker. now behind several that are generally invisible (have a Club card? Employer participates in United's preferred client program?).

Pre-COVID, my CPU percentage was north of 50% as a 1K, and I generally travel on G/K/L/T/S fares -- i.e., the lowest possible. I wasn't getting upgraded because of my fare class; I was getting upgraded because I travel at off-peak times and rarely, if ever, hub-to-hub.

Assuming UA IT could even get that policy right -- they can't; the upgrade list is a mess now, and has been since they introduced Premium Plus more than two years ago -- it's extremely rare that it would make a meaningful difference. UA is selling their F seats. Who cares if you're 20th or 10th on the upgrade list when nobody clears?

EpsilonZer0

News today is that the business travel is still not where it needs to be.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/airlines-hold-to-a-business-travel-rebound-this-fall-11628069400?mod=hp_lead_pos7

Year to Date 8/4/2021 - Domestic Business Travel - 40% of 2019 level
International business travel is completely in the dumps and will be subdued for many more months.
Airlines are now putting hopes on October for domestic business corridors to start a full recovery. However this rebound could be pushed out further as major companies delay calling back employees.

In my opinion UA will be forced to run another PQP bonus program or partially extend status again.

uastarflyer

Being unable to grow the business (or even worse. visit family elders) is injurious. Which is what I was referring to.

Setting the adjective aside, parsing UGs as DL wants to do (their newly announced policies borne of desperation mind you) is not smart. Thankfully UA IT is likely incapable.

scubadu

And of course neither of those items have anything to do, whatsoever, with achieving/maintaining frequent flier status.

Regards

emcampbe

is anyone really surprised to hear this?

I know there are a lot of people who say biz. Travel is back, I am traveling so everyone must be, etc. I don’t even think it will be back next year to the full extent it was before. At some point it probably will be, but who knows if it will be 2023, 2025, 2030+? Im pretty sure that if UA
Wants to keep a similar number of premiers in the medium term or beyond, they’ll really need to adjust the thresholds [downward, obviously]. It was the wrong time to move to a pretty fully $-based system (but who knew it, at the time).

they’ll have to do something for the rest of the year, what that os, we’ll have to see.

kampret

So do we still think UA will do something to help us keep our status? I'd love another year of extension, or even half a year.

I got Premier Platinum for the first time in 2019 (after 10 years or so having Premier) but haven't been able to use the benefit since everything went to hell in 2020. Forgot to redeem my 3200 FPQP earlier this year, and also missed out on the guaranteed PQP promotion. Feeling so bummed right now. Want to at least get Gold for next year, but don't know how I can get 3500 PQP before end of year (flying segment should be fine)

bigshooter

My travel is domestic and primarily west coast. I do cover Hawaii but not allowed to book business for that duration, and I am definitely not doing any international work travel right now.

What countries are you going to for work on a regular basis in paid business/first right now? I may have a paid ticket once i pick a vacation destination that isn't central america, but with entry requirements still a mess that's going to take some homework.

Either way it's still difficult for me to qualify for anything higher than gold with current restrictions. If there is a big promotion I might become one of those Plat/1K's that everyone hates because I snuck in instead of earning it the hard way. I'll take it though since I used to qualify for 1k on segments back in the good old days.

uastarflyer

Having travel destinations closed to visitors has plenty to do with travel. Which is a component of maintaining status.

Something all US3 airlines figured out back in April 2020. Or else why would they have done anything wrt changing the premier metrics or extending status?

They have already indicated more premier promotions to follow (in email) and MatthewLAX was told the next promo would be announced last week (which came and went, sadly)

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Well, plenty of companies do. Far fewer "folks" do.

kampret

Was it an email by United rep? Or something more official? I'm intrigued now.

Repooc17

I will say it again, these are not loyalty programs; they are marketing schemes. The message is simple - you spend $ with us, and we will provide you with the opportunity to enjoy certain perks - don't confuse this as loyalty, it's called business transactions. Airlines prioritizing status qualifier over status extender is a good example of putting those who contributed into the company ahead of the line.

For most, you'd have the free will to fly the airline of your choosing, instead being tied down with one airline. The choice is yours.

kampret

The only 'loyalty' I can think of is when you get 1 million miles, where you get Premier status for life. Other than that, yes, definitely sounds more like promotional/marketing.