LifetimeGS

In a world where $75K gave me GS consistently, it may not be a lot of money for UA from just me, but if other GS' end up doing the same thing it will bite, and if the economy does head into a recession, all bets are off

+1 here. I'm doing what you're doing

they make their choices and i will make mine

IWontRegretThis

I am decently happy with the improvement of GS over 1k.. but compared to the good old days of CK/GS I can totally see how stuff was gutted. If it was not for the passplus discount and the fact that United is usually cheaper from where I need go from London; I probably would not bother otherwise. Still doing plenty of AA/VS/BA/Finnair/SQ for the rest; UA really needs to get it together on Polaris meals...

manstein58

Still waiting, even sent a gentle reminder...no response, zero...anyone out there??? GS ain't what it used to be

bmwe92fan

Did you check your spam folder -- responses are so rare now it might have been sent there as it couldn't be real!

On a serious note - recently I have noticed a significant uptick in the amount of my messages being sent to spam - even when I mark it as not spam….

LIH

Given that I'm ORD based AA is really the only viable option. Just for my travel patterns I'm mostly just doing my transcon flights on them which in my experience is a superior lounge, food, and on board service experience. The 3 class 774s that they're still operating are my favorite and their Flagship Lounges smoke the UC access I would otherwise have on those transcons.

My real end game is to get CK on AA (which I have some insight into being probable this year based on a proactive outreach from them) which means Flagship Lounge access even on ho-hum domestic routes. Honestly, that's more than enough to make up for anything I will be losing if my GS qualification lapses. I'll probably be both CK and GS next year so I'll have a better apples-to-apples experience to detail then. I'm 99% paid F so my irrops flexibility has remained pretty good on AA (if slightly better occasionally on UA). I never thought a better lounge set up would drag me away from GS but that's basically how little I get out of GS these days.

I should add that, while I do 5-6 INTL RTs a year, I mostly just do 1-2 day weekly trips domestically so having Flagship Lounge access at all the hubs when I'm at an airport 120 times a year is really enticing compared to sitting in a cramped, crowded, and often hot UC.

manstein58

i called the Mileage Plus folks to ask. They said issue was active and being examined at another level…which leads me to conclude this my experience might not be isolated. Still, would have been nice if they informed me of this rather than me chasing

UAflyer93

Tonight, I booked a paid business class ticket and an economy ticket for my partner. After applying PPs to my partner’s reservation I called the GS line and asked if the agent could push through the upgrade. I was told that was not possible since it was not within 72 hours of departure. I then reiterated that I was flying paid business and that the standard policy is to force an upgrade for one companion’s regardless of how far out departure is. The agent’s response was that they “now only do that for full-fare business class” and that a “Z class is not full fare.” 🙄

I HUCAed and the next agent was able to clear the upgrade with no issues.

bmwe92fan

it’s a sad day when we know the UA GS unpublished rules better than UA does…..

wxguy

Time for some good news. The other day I had a superb experience with GS phone agent "Nancy." Two of us on one PNR using miles/PPs on a domestic ticket. I asked her to split the PNR, book me in paid P class, and leave my partner in PN (XN+PPs). Shares (or whatever it is these days) did not cooperate, and long story short, she spent an hour on the phone with me, keeping me informed as she worked with her support and ticketing to get things fixed after a lot went wrong. She was a very experienced agent and even knew in advance what could happen (and it did!). In the end, I had what I needed, my miles and PPs were redeposited, both tickets reissued, and she pushed through my partner's XN/PP => PN after the space disappeared. Kudos to Nancy!

Kleinnaf

SHe's great, I believe Chicago based.
Helped me last year with a complicated changeOffered to have me hang up and she'll return the call when she's done!

AugustusM

Same here. Had her a bunch of times and she's always super helpful, particularly on the recent FCO trip that I booked for myself and 3 companions. She ended up saving me over 200K miles.

PanAmWT

I am adding her name to the GS agent list provided by porciuscato. I also added the name Teresa based at Houston to the list after a recent super good experience. Both are marked with ++.

Weatherboy

Does AA or DL offer matches or challenges specifically to GS? UA consistently underdelivers and underperforms and wondering if I should use next year to try another carrier on for size. Already earned GS through January 2024.

AugustusM

That would be a hard sell for me flying out of EWR. There are just too many reasons for me not to switch so it's imperative that I keep my UA spend up and retain my status.

uanj

Yes, but worse on Sundays for me. Daylight hours Mon-Fri seem to have shorter wait times and more knowledgable agents. Calling in the dead of the night from overseas yields frustration.

This must be true. I recently called the GS number to change date, not routing, on the last legs of an international ticket. The ticket had been modified by United due to IROPS on earlier flown segments. The agent said everything had to be done by her lead because the computer would not let her change anything since the fare basis was not in USD. She spoke to me, put me on hold, spoke to her lead, spoke to me again several times. She often got confused by what I or her lead said to her. One time she said her lead put her on hold for 27 minutes. Towards the end the agent said it looked like the fare would increase by about 25% but she was not sure. After an hour I pulled the plug and tried again the next day. Got a very competent agent who said the ticket was messy but that was not my problem and made the necessary changes. No change in fare.

I cannot believe the first agent was a "GS agent" if she was not authorized to make a change to a ticket issued in a foreign currency as she claimed.

I am finding that some UA gate agents and phone agents are battle weary. A month I was trying to fly from the West Coast to London connecting in LAX. When that flight was canceled 10 minutes before boarding the sole gate agent told everyone to sit down and not approach her. She would take care of rebooking everyone and we could approach the podium when she called our name. It was like being in elementary school again. I did not wait, called GS reservations and was transferred to a same day travel disruption expert who quickly took care of me.

Whatever difficulties we are having with UA, I find it is worse with AA. I am thinking that regardless of airline the leisure destinations are where the employees are being burned out