WineCountryUA

It has been proposed to the UA Moderators, that a thread like AA’s SWU / VIP Expiring 2022 giveaway thread (NO ASK; terms & conditions) should exist in the UA forum for PlusPoints, and maybe other items UA allows to be transferred to a different person such as UC Passes (but not ETCs). This thread is to get the community’s sense of the desirability of doing this. Particularly understand there will be a major expiration of PlusPoints coming in July 2023.

Note the free offering of UA swag is present allowed and therefore not a part of this discussion.

How this might work

An individual would post the availability of such items, for free, without any compensation or consideration. Any attempt to charge for or make other arrangements other than absolutely free for such items should be reported to the Moderators and the offer post will be removed

The poster can place any limitation they desire (within FT rules) on who is eligible.

Someone seeking such items would then PM the OP to check on availability, the open thread would not be used to discuss the offer(s).

Expiration should clearly be stated.

For PlusPoints, it should be stated if from a GS account or not.

There would be no other types of discussion or posts in that thread.

The OP would edit their post once the offer was closed, it would not be proper to PM the OP once the OP has declared the post / offer closed.

Before requesting make sure your flight is eligible for PlusPoints (number of PlusPoints needed for your flight, only for select partners flights, restricted to just LH/NH/CM native flight numbers with significant fare limitations, and awards require GS PlusPoints).
For UC Passes, understand the limitations of UC Passes (UCs only, no partner lounges, potential capacity restrictions, one time use, ...) .


Key considerations

The requester would be responsible for any taxes, including UK’s APD or the equivalents charged by any other countries such as Germany, and France, … How this is handled is up to the two involved parties, including refunds on failed waitlisted requests. The offeror could decline those situations.

In a similar vein, the offeror could decline three-party requests, could you upgrade my “friend”?

A Requester of these items will need to understand they may have to provide certain personal data on their trip for PlusPoints application. Not an issue for UC passes.

While UA does not prohibit such transfers, if challenged by UA, both parties should agree upon an explanation or UA may conclude this is an infringement of the rules.

Realize the offer is being made publicly, and there is no way to prevent the offer from being visible to anyone including non-FT members (or UA). There should be no public discussion of the recipient or their travel details in the public forum.

The Moderators will take no role, endorsement or responsibility for these transactions. Your offering or accepting participating is 100% at your own risk. The Moderators only role will be to make sure there are not inappropriate posts.

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What does the UA community think of this proposal?
What does the UA community think of the above conditions?
For now the focus is just on PlusPoints or UC passes, should other things be involved?
This thread's poll is to capture general sentiment but post in the thread if you have additional thoughts.

This is not a thread to bemoan the issues you have had using these items, we have other threads for that.

UA Moderator Team

boat stuck

Great idea. But the privacy issues are serious, and worthy of careful deliberation.

I've been offered PlusPoints in the past from generous FT users, but always declined them due to privacy concerns.

chavala

I voted for “This is a great idea” because I’m fine if it benefits someone.
However I would never do it as it seems a bit risky.

jsloan

I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other. However, the more that people allow total strangers to use their upgrade certificates, the sooner the day that UA will require that the certificate owner be on the same flight, or at least flying the same day, or will allow a set of designated companions, or whatever. The mess with the PVG flight (upgrade list being hidden; rumors of brokers selling GS PlusPoints) suggests that day may already be on its way.

narvik

Pretty much my sentiments.
It's not an inherently bad idea, but I can't see this benefiting any/all of us in the long run.

dmurphynj

I concur.

While the intent is noble, I think the end result here would be unpleasant for all of us and lead to more restrictions about the usage of PlusPoints and/or UC passes.

iapetus

I was unsure of this myself. And the posts upthread are definitely pushing me in one direction.

So I went to the referenced thread to get a sense of how it's working for our AA colleagues. It seems like a handful of members have benefited, but the last post is from the end of October. There also appears to be no analogous thread for this year (too soon for expirations to be happening?). It's hard for me to get a sense of how much good it might be doing over there.

Are there reasons to believe that UA would take a more critical eye to this than AA? I also find it interesting that AA FTers are willing to do this despite how much more difficult doing this on AA seems.

thejaredhuang

Isn't this what Coupon Connection is for? I also like how Coupon Connection is restricted to actual members of FT, not just bots browsing the internet.

narvik

Yes. UA857/858 as mentioned by jsloan.
UA is already having trouble with PlusPoints.
See separate thread SFO-PVG for details...

iapetus

I have no problem believing that UA would take a critical eye. But the question was relative. Is AA OK with this sort of thing? That's what I have no insight into.

ani90

Agree. The question that needs to be ask is not whether such use is within United rules but whether those instruments are being used in a manner in which United intended. If the answer to the latter is No, then be sure United will realign the rules to correct that 'loophole' net result is it will make it an even more restrictive and unusable program for many.

And of course whatever the FT thread may instruct, there is no way for UA, or indeed FT, to know that money did not change hands as a result of the post of 'expiring' PPs, or that those posting and those responding are doing so for altruistic reason as opposed to illicit financial gain.

chavala

After reading the other posts I would like to change my vote. This is a horrible idea.

FlytheTail

I voted for: This a great idea but for UC passes only.
Justification: The potential value of PPs would make misuse much more likely than UC passes. Also, giving away PPs could potentially lower the value of PPs for those who earned them, since there could be more competition for redemption. In contrast, having one or a few more guests in a UC would not negatively impact another's experience.

canadiancow

I recently got a UC pass for a friend through Coupon Connection, after giving away my two passes to a friend's mom and a "random internet stranger".

But if you compare CC to something like Air Canada gifting MLL pass thread (2017 onwards), CC just doesn't get the same traction as a dedicated thread in the airline forum.

One thing that has been considered on the AC side of these threads (there's a separate thread for MLL pass and eUpgrades, though the latter have much stronger restrictions than PlusPoints) is something like a CC-esque restriction that would prevent lurkers/low-post members.

As long as someone can say "you must have 10/100/1000 posts" or "I must recognize your username from the UA forum" if they want to impose those restrictions, I think it's fine. I wouldn't want to be required to give something away to the first 2 day old account with 0 posts that PMs me.

SPN Lifer

This proposal is for purely voluntary gifts. No one would be forced to do anything by merely listing an offering.