mraju99

Background:
Last year I moved to NYC from SF, and fly ~1/month back and forth for work. Normally, that's supplemented by leisure flying and other trips, although not all on United.
I've been a United MP member for many years, although usually I just qualify for Silver. In 2020, due to my flying between EWR/SFO and the reduced requirements, I qualified for Platinum status.
I feel that I've gotten decent value from my Platinum status this year, due to the massively reduced flying of elites, I've been able to use my PlusPoints to upgrade a couple of flights, and when I've had to take 1-stops (e.g. via IAD or ORD), my CPUs have cleared ~90%. Not to mention, I've occasionally sprung for paid J-class fares, which, at $500 one-way in Polaris for a 6hr flight, is a pretty awesome value compared to other airlines' seats :-)

Mapping out my flying for the year, assuming no leisure travel, with most of my flying on United, I should be able to make Platinum again this year. But if I go all out, e.g. put some spend on the United CC's, don't use any other airline for my transcons, and maybe pay for a few business class fares, I might be able to make 1K for next year.

My question is: would it be worth it? I'm normally a kayaker. It just so happens that, for all of last year and this year, United has the most flights to SFO (a measly 2-3 a day), and reasonable fares, so I would be flying them most of the time regardless. The question is, should I go all out to try to make 1K, and would it be much different compared to Platinum? The biggest difference I see is the massive number of PlusPoints I'd get, which I would use to upgrade my transcon flights next year. If I could actually upgrade a dozen transcons, that would be well worth the extra effort to make 1K. But I've heard plenty of elites grouse that PPs are hard to use and many end up expiring because they never clear. Are there other benefits I'm missing? Or overall is it not worth it, and I should plan to make it to Platinum or even Gold, and leave it at that? Since I've never been 1K before, I have no pre-covid experience to rely on, but OTOH, things probably won't be fully back to normal in 2022. So I'm a little lost when deciding whether to make the push...

ani90

I doubt anyone can give you an even strongly speculative opinion. Personally I would just fly when, where and how I have to and ignore the next year for time being.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

With that type of flying and current Platinum status, you might have a better chance of hitting 1K than staying at Plat without stretching. Hopefully you've seen the promo discussed in this thread:

UA - Pick a Personalized Premier Bonus Offer, "Pick Your Path" - 3 options - FlyerTalk Forums

To me, the top benefits are the Plus Points (I can use them for friends), free food and drink if in coach (when it returns), pre-boarding (occasionally), and pretty darn good 1K phone agents. Business travel might be suppressed through early next year, so the PPs might be valuable on the transcons.

jsloan

This is specifically why PlusPoints don't always clear. UA would much rather sell the seat as an upgrade than give it away in exchange for their own, expiring coupons.

The key to successful use of PlusPoints is flexibility. On a transcon, flying for work (M-Th?), if things even approach normal next year, I would expect virtually no chance for a 1K to clear that route regularly. Most days they'll go out with no upgrades cleared at all.

On the other hand, PlusPoints are very useful for travel where you can be flexible. If you have the ability and willingness to travel on a less-than-ideal day, via a circuitous routing, or if you're willing to travel to whatever destination has upgrade space, PlusPoints can save you quite a bit of money. But if you're really planning to use them to upgrade work trans-con flights, personally, I wouldn't bother stretching for higher status on UA. I expect you'll find it underwhelming.

A word of warning: you may find yourself taking extra trips just to use the PlusPoints, so this savings may be somewhat illusory.

A Little Cow

Assuming normal-ish year (big assumption) stretching solely for plus-points for the transcon upgrades might leave you feeling disappointed unless you are very flexible. If you will likely take international flights that would otherwise be in eco, that is probably the "sweet-spot" in terms of high value for plus points that is worth "stretching" for.

zombietooth

I agree with jsloan. There is very little chance that this strategy will pay off.

I flew over 150K on UA last year, mostly coast-to-coast. For every flight that I took out of EWR, I tried to use PlusPoints on routes e.g. EWR-LAX, EWR-SNA, etc. and was unable to secure even one UG seat. In fact, PlusPoints were totally useless to me last year. I did UG some family friends into various destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean, so I was able to use some points, but I am sitting on well over 800 that I try to use every week on my transcons and realistically don't expect to have any success. The above being said, I don't have the luxury of waitlisting, so perhaps that path would net you some UG seats, but you are also gambling on sitting in Y for 5 to 6 hours.

DEN

I have already made 1K for next year and passed 2MM. I’ve also just made my move to Delta on a status match and made several bookings already. We will see if things are any better there over time.

I have always thought 1K status was worth it, during good times and bad. Over the last 15 years, United has only stranded me twice, both times due to weather coming in from Europe and only for a day each time. (I also am very flexible and proactive with rerouting to get home).

Plus Points for me have never really worked out. I tried to use them for family members from Denver to Cozumel & return earlier this year with 30% success. Just like SWU’s and GPU’s, it’s a crap shoot unless you can get them at booking. If you want a Business Class or First Class seat, buy it..... that’s what I do now and I’m never in back. Airline upgrades are much like Casinos......the house always wins in the end.

DEN

TomMM

Some want to think $666.66.

Artpen100

When I first made 1K, it was not easy to us GPUs, but you could use them if you looked hard at your options, and UA let Expertflyer search for upgrade space and send alerts when it came up. That was the main reason I wanted 1K, and it dried up.

mraju99

Thanks for all your advice. It all seems in line with what I expected. I do make several int'l trips during normal years. Not sure about next year, just yet. But I generally don't fly United for them, especially not to Asia. My flying is relatively flexible, and frankly, using miles for business/first class on a variety of Asian carriers seems a much better deal than spending a bunch of money chasing 1K status which limits you to a single airline's schedule, routing, etc.

I guess I'll just continue with what I'm doing right now, looking for fares and schedule that line up with my needs (schedule is much bigger issue now, given the vastly reduced number of flights; I had status on Alaska last year and booked SFO-EWR on their single daily flight. They cancelled it the day before I was to fly home and I had to scramble for a new ticket or wait for their next flight two days later... I've since learned to book with an airline that has multiple flights a day!). With United's new promotions, I might make 1K or might not but it sounds like it probably won't make as much difference as I hoped, especially on the routes I'm expecting to fly.

FWIW, I still think UA's lower tiers, Silver and Gold, are pretty decent value: I almost always was able to get E+ regardless of flight, even as a Silver, and I appreciated the free bag when I needed it. It's ironic that the upper tiers seem to be diminishing returns for the amount of money and flying they require...

trmbn65

Getting the award mileage boost is really nice. I fly a lot of high cost routes for work and getting the 120% boost on miles makes it advantageous to fly United most times. It is tough to turn to Delta or American when you can get so many more miles.

Repooc17

I don't know what this 120% you are referring to, but American, Delta, and United all award same multipliers.

With AA, you can get miles by just having money in the bank (not spending on co-branded credit cards), and sit at home. I have already earned few hundred thousand miles, and I don't even fly AA that much (nor do I have any status) other than redeem free flights from those miles earned from putting some money in a bank account.

Kmxu

I guess that 120% is the comparison between 1 K and GM; (11-5)/5=1.20.

Repooc17

Ok. Thanks for the clarification.

Same with other rivals, namely American and Delta.

Air Houston

In the past few years, 1K has been much better than Platinum in several respects. Whether it will make as much of a difference next year no one really knows. My suspicion is that the difference will be even greater than in previous years, because there won't be as many high level elites flying as previously.