UAflyer93

I totally echo Dyce's post. This will likely be my last year as a GS member, which is sad as I've really wanted to give UA my business. However, the cuts to the companion benefits have made it impossible for me to justify buying UA (outside of transcons and select domestic routes).

Since COVID, a large portion of my travel has shifted from business to leisure. Just as Dyce, I am quite fortunate to be able to buy international business or first class (although I still care about getting good value). If I could buy UA roundtrip in business and and open roundtrip business saver or clear upgrades for my partner in business, I would be buying United 100% of the time. Alas, that ratio is closer to 0%. As I'm not willing to play the upgrade lottery for my partner -- does United seriously think *anyone* would ever let their partner/spouse sit in coach?!! -- I have repeatedly bought business or first class on other airlines that were substantially cheaper than UA. Our last trip to Europe was in BA First, which was nearly 40% cheaper than UA business!

I would be lying if I said that was the only reason I've been avoiding flying United long haul. The food on UA has degraded to a point where I'm embarrassed to bring anyone else onboard with me. When I am traveling internationally -- either with my partner or friends and family -- having a nice meal and receiving good service sets the mood for the trip. At risk of sounding pretentious, the food in United business *pre-covid* was just good enough that I was satisfied and did not feel the need to pay extra to fly first class on some other airline. Now, unless I am flying domestic (where I'll simply skip whatever food is served), I'm happy to pay a little extra to fly a different airline that has retained a degree of dignity to its premium class service.

manstein58

"Business Saver" is a true unicorn these days. Is there still a "BUNCO" squad? How UA markets this benefit would be right up their alley

greenpau

I think they will keep that benefit ... it is one of the few that is actually "published" ... but what will happen is that PN will become increasingly scarce. I haven't been able to find PN at booking for months, and they would rather sell anyone an upgrade for $250 than process PP.

As said upthread by a few, the value per dollar of incremental spend for GS has significantly diminished - as a combination of intentional restrictions / takeaways, and as a result of things such as the GS Lobbies, Meal Choice, and Pre-boarding becoming irrelevant given CLEAR, pre-ordering, etc.

The phone agents are now obsessed with the one sector rule, whereby a call takes 30 minutes as they read and re-read the rules, complete their "investigations" then spend forever entering remarks into the PNR. For leisure travel, as UAflyer93 points out, there are dramatically cheaper fares available on other Star Alliance carriers. I am also seeing BA First come in cheaper for West Coast-Europe trips across the Summer than UA Polaris by a significant margin.

bmwe92fan

Yes PN has been unusually scarce -- since my wife and I regularly fly to Japan and the EU there's been a definite elimination of space -- and the new "one way" thing really still rubs me the wrong way. This is exactly why I left AA -- for those of you that remember USAirways I was "Chairmans "Preferred" (I think that was the name) for as long as they had the program -- but then after AA took over I watched them gradually destroy all of the perks and benefits -- just like we are seeing now. The Borg have arrived -- and resistance is futile... The race to the bottom is underway....

greenpau

I’m consistently getting 10-15 minute wait time announcements now in the contact center line, no matter the time of day or operational conditions. Same with others?

One of this thread’s very favorite GS Agents, C******, told me this evening that she’s moving to a new corporate travel desk and leaving the GS desk after 23 years. She was part of the original Dearborn team. I told her we’d miss her terribly and appreciated her so much. She reminisced about how “absolutely everything” has changed with the GS program - both the rules and procedures on the company side, but also the friendliness and expectations of the customer.

manstein58

WE can control the friendliness bit and try to manage the expectations part

bagelstan

I know a bit off-topic from the current discussion, but has anyone heard of or had success with a mid-year promotion to GS in recent years (or a suggestion for how to trigger a review)? Just passed $60k in ua metal spend (flown) for the year and an inquiry to the UA Mileage Plus support team netted nothing more than a generic response about GS being invite only.

limey1K

I flew HUB1-HUB2-HUB3 yesterday. Delayed from HUB1-2 due to the fact that it takes UA 55 minutes to load a 738 for some reason, ran between terminals to get to my HUB2-3 flight to find its gone on an MX delay but the app hasn't updated Fix the MX issue after an hour, we all board and then sit and wait for paperwork which the Captain explains isn't coming because the maintenance computer network "is down". Plane is taken out of service, we deplane and they begin the search for a replacement, I'm now 3 hours delayed and slightly fed up so I call the GS line, wait 20 minutes and am told by an agent that she cant re-book me on one of the other flights between HUB2-3 because they are all sold out and that only applies if the flight is canceled. I asked about the guarantee and she said that only applies if seats are available. Got home 6 hours late, never saw a GS agent at the gate, never had a call and the only thing the Club agent said was "good luck finding a seat back there". Its pretty sad at this point.

greenpau

Unfortunately my experiences outside of my last trip have been similar - agent at the gate, late boarding due to MX issue. Agent said goodbye as she had to move on to her next assignment for another flight, turned into rolling delay for 2.5 hours, no one returned during that time. Knew we were going to misconnect, called the contact center and waited 15 minutes for a pickup. Agent kept saying she couldn't do anything until we "officially were notified by Operations of a final departure time and that we were certainly going to misconnect". I did a HUACA, 10 minute wait, and second agent saw the delay and instantly rebooked us on the later departure (as seats were available). Definitely requires being on your toes recently - even though my recent experience at HNL was good, I had to be proactive and solve the issue. In prior times, an agent would have protected us on the delayed earlier flight and called.

One thing I did hear is that there are too many GS to handle with the reduced staffing levels - rolled over 2020 qualifiers, plus those added on who qualified for 2021 and 2022. Normally there is some churn each year, but that didn't happen last two years, and now it seems everyone is traveling.

bmwe92fan

That's how I got it -- after the CO acquisition by UA -- I became 1K instantly -- but wrote in to get GS review and they said no -- but by next trip I was GS -- This happened in May or June -- but that was so many years ago I hesitate to give you hope -- but reading this forum there have been others that got mid-year invites -- since you are 1k -- keep trying -- I'm guessing they are watching -- and remember -- only UA metal counts for GS...

benewr

Yes, but what triggered what ?

I’m guessing there is a clear link with the friendliness and expectations of the customer and the fact that incompetent agents aren’t doing their jobs and that UA forces you to become a begger to get 10% of what you use to get before.

n8-the-gr8

That's a huge shame and definitely yet another indicator of the direction of the program. I recently had been getting that agent quite regularly (oddly it always seemed to be late evening ~11pm or 12am Central) and she was always such a pro at handling GS requests - no nuanced knowledge of the program required on the customer's part.

Not a recent example but I received a mid-year qualification in 2019. I emailed 1K Voice at ~$55k in United metal revenue (excluding taxes) in April, received a response thanking me for my inquiry but that upon review I didn't meet the requirements for GS.
Two months later (early June) I received an email out of the blue from United that they had noticed a high level of activity and initiated a proactive review to grant me GS. It was like the two reviews were completely disconnected so part of me wonders if they just have a set date mid-year where they start evaluating high spenders or a set threshold that triggers a review, and therefor they don't really respond to requests for review because those other systems would catch anyone who should qualify.

greenpau

Indeed. I think they are put under new pressures now than they were before - fewer agents, taking more of the brunt of things now that there is reduced Ground Service / IRROPS agent support on the ground. Customers are irritated and I think that dynamic isn't isolated to air travel. I've seen a lot of bad entitled behavior in hotels as well - wears front line employees down.

PanAmWT

I think the single most important GS benefit is the IRROP handling, more important than PN for award ticket, upgrading companion when flying J, GS lobby, and anything else. For more than a couple times I sited in a delayed plane waiting for extended time, when a call came in to advise me to step out the plane quietly, meeting an agent on the gate and told that I should go to this other gate to board another flight, where a seat has been protected for me. Usually I observed a couple other passengers stood up and exit as well, but never a crow who would jam the aisle and exit way. Once this happened at IAD near midnight, after we waited more than two hours and even allowed to deplane, then called back for takeoff which turned out to be another false start because something else was wrong. Eventually I was asked to deplane by a GS agent who came onboard but not saying much. Other passengers watched me, not knowing what was happening. I got home at 2 am instead of the next day.

EWRFlyerAL

I have to give the SFO GS lobby agents kudos. I was going to miss my flight due to a meeting running late. I did a change through the app but only economy was available (I was on a Z fare). I accepted the economy fare but when I went through the lobby I asked about the one open seat in F. They made a call and got the fare bucket opened (only J was available). With the change to economy, I was #1 on the upgrade standby list but happy I didn't have to deal with that since I had originally purchased a first class fare. This was great service. They were friendly and happy to help. It's been a while but nice when it happens.