zombietooth

But it's pretty easy to get a close estimate of how many GS/1Ks aren't. Just count how many GS/1Ks board early and then see how many are in F when you board. It's easier for me as a WFBF 1K but, what continually intrigues me, is how many GSs end up in Y on any give flight. I would say that 75% of the GSs on my, primarily transcon, flights end up back in Y.

Kacee

Probably last-minute purchases.

tryathlete

my experiences over the last month or so, is that plus points are kind of pointless. I’ve died at #1 on 3/5 flights and have had last second drop-INS of GS (or disconnects) drop me to 5 or 6 at check in. UA is selling the F cabin with little regard or consideration of status.

My wife who is also a 1K says she doesn’t think being a 1K is worth what I go through to get it. I’m already 1MM and requalified 1K and am seriously considering trying to qualify on AA or DL just to see how they’re handling elite status. My boss who is a Diamond on DL says he’s always getting upgraded. Who knows.

I do know this. If this trend doesn’t abate by Fall, I won’t continue to pursue 2MM status. UA wants incremental revenue, and I want an ROI from my BIS time. Something has to give.

tryathlete

yup. Too many 1K’s. Bring back the old thresholds and let’s weed them out.

8MiHi

Got the message this morning that the two of us have been upgraded from O to Polaris EWR-LHR next week.
Plus Points worked so far. Now let's see if the LHR overcapacity issue affects this in any way. Maybe they will work for the return flight as well.

zombietooth

I am flying every week and always buy F, and what I have found in casual discussions with my cabin-mates is that few of them are elites in any program. They just no longer want to fly in the back and obviously have the disposable income to do it. There has been a paradigm shift, I believe, in travel, where even folks who only fly a few times a year now see value in paying for F. I don't know if it's a desire to be as far away from other pax as possible or just a new fatalism along the lines of, "Hey, I could die tomorrow from COVID or something else, so I might as well spend my money now.".

The upshot of my philosophizing; fewer 1Ks probably won't make much of a difference in your UG rate. Higher F prices certainly would.

Dyce

Possibly, although in my experience it's more ppl buying up when checking in, thus my GS PP leaves me in economy while the upgrade waitlist goes from 6+ open FC seats down to sold out...
I have hundreds of PP so I try to apply them to every economy flight I book (I get 100 PP per $10K ticket...). I'm less than 50% upgrades on mainline... UAX is probably 75+%

United have done a good job at generating incremental income from leisure travelers who splurge on their 1-2 trips a year. The consequences are that there is less reason for heavy spend flyers to spend all their $ on United if the net result is haphazard success in upgrades.

The last 12 months I have started flying other airlines for the first time in 15+ years and United is consistently poor in comparison. I'll still qualify as GS for 2023, but there is negligible benefit/service difference as a GS compared to as a no status international business class ticket on other airlines. If my domestic upgrade success is low when booking economy then what is my incentive?

Clemson

Assuming you're only talking about taking your big ticket international business trips to other carriers, I guess the incentive for you if already re-qualifying for GS is lifetime BIS mileage and (theoretically) better protection in the event of IROPs and other snafus. If a better experience on another carrier is more worth it for you than this then I guess go for it.

Dyce

I had a Thursday flight to STT cancel in February due to weather... the next available flight option on United was on the following Sunday. No other options offered, refused to look for other airline routing. I'm MM, and to be honest, Platinum over Gold lifetime is not enough incentive for me to continue to book 100% of my travel on United as I was doing up until last year. They're cutting the GS (and other level) benefits so much that at least for me they're losing (some of) my business. I now book on routing, schedule, and price. And as I said above, when on international business the experience on other carriers is simply better, despite the UA status. I'd put up with the dismal food service in flying exclusively United international business if the additional benefits were (IMO) commensurate, but when I literally can't give away PP and need to pay for (domestic) first to get it, then what's the point?

tryathlete

theres only one thing left keeping me on board UA. I fly internationally 4 times per year. If my PP don’t move me up to at least PRemium Plus from Y or C from PP, on 1/2 of the trip, the divorce papers will be served.

zombietooth

I've said it here many times before but it bears repeating:

Paid J or F on any carrier as a nobody is equal to paid J or F on UA as a GS/1K. I am only getting so many miles on UA because their F cabin is consistently cheaper than the other majors on my routes. I have no loyalty to them whatsoever. The sad truth is that the post-COVID UA has cut benefits and services for its highest elites so much that what used to be good (and sometimes exceptional) service is now only marginal. It's like everyone in their organization is doing the absolute minimum they can get away with. I used to hear things like, "Let's see what we can do for you, Mr. Zombietooth, to try and get you to your destination today." This would often involve putting me on other carriers during IRROPS, and having staff meet me at gates to escort me to my international flight on a late connection, etc. Now, they refuse requests to put me on other carriers, typically only offering a much later UA flight, sometimes days later. So I usually just cancel the MX/cancelled flight ticket for a cash refund and book on another carrier and, the truth is, they don't really care because their planes are always full.

findark

Are there any carriers that offer priority phone service, connecting to reasonably competent agents, as a benefit of a premium cabin ticket? (Not counting 3-cabin F like LH.)

Until that's commonplace, status still carries a significant benefit. Often, I can fix my own IRROPS with a phone before other people are even told where to line up.

zombietooth

I took a chance and booked December flights to TYO, paying for P+, and waitlisting for UG to Polaris. I've been doing this December trip every year for 30+ years (except, of course, '20 and '21) and have never previously been unable to find any PZ on the 10 daily flights available to TYO, across a 2 week window, this far out. If, in fact, we don't catch the UG, I will probably just cancel for credit and use miles because they are devaluing faster than Zimbabwean dollars, and I don't like P+ at all.

You are having good luck with UA, then. Lately, they have only offered me bad solutions for their cancellations and, like I said above, I usually just cancel my ticket for refund and book on another carrier. Once I hear about a possible cancellation, I proactively prepare for a bad outcome and will have researched all available flights, including the other carriers, before I talk to the 1K desk, so I know what my options are when they offer me a poor resolution.

findark

Perhaps I'm lucky; I've personally never failed to get my preferred solution to IRROPS (within reason, e.g. nobody is forcing me onto a sold-out flight, or holding a connection for me). I don't fly UA as much in recent years, but even as a Gold I was able to get protected SFO-HNL-OGG when pending a misconnect to SFO-OGG.. and ended up making the connection after all (it took an mx delay), so protect versus rebook was important. More often it's doing SDCs or other changes that just wouldn't be worth the hassle if I had to wait 3 hours on hold every time. But I also use all the tools available to have the option prepared, and HUCA if needed. My understanding is that non-status members with UA wait a long time and invariably get routed to overseas call centers staffed by clueless agents.

zombietooth

Yeah, I no longer do SDCs because I am always paying for F. I just want to get to my destination on the same day, and I believe that the 1K agents have lost the ability to put you on another carrier when staying with UA flights requires an overnight. And I never ask for anything unreasonable, I just want to get on the nonstop DL flight that will get me home when UA says that my flight through ORD is cancelled until the next day due to a ground stop.