kpete

Hi all -
long time lurker and almost 10 year GS. I retired earlier this year and will certainly not make GS in 2024 as business travel has zeroed out. With the hour glass running down, I'd appreciate (1) suggestions for GS perks/tricks that I should take advantage of before the end and (2) thoughts on life in the air after GS. UA did take care of my simple needs as an east coast GS with upgrades, rebookings, preboarding, pilot recognition notes, etc. No complaints, even on those rare disaster days inside and outside the USA.

Amazingly, or not, I'm not particularly nuanced in award travel or PP upgrades or partner upgrades because I either didn't need to with about 10 international round trips/year (all UA metal in paid polaris) plus domestic, or didn't have the time. I let over 400 plus points go on July 31, and am working down the 600+ I have left, and with 2M award miles in the pot. I have a couple of europe trips set in the next two months. I did score a nice immediate economy to polaris upgrade into Geneva for 40K miles and pluspoints in late september. An upcoming FRA trip looks promising with 50% polaris waitlist availability.

So, beyond travel travel travel, I'd welcome any use or or lose it suggestions (for this year into next) while I still have GS options, or just your experiences for those who transitioned from a life in J to Y!

Kpete

jhayes_1780

what MM tier are you at, and how close to the next one?

UA_Flyer

Congratulations on retirement! Find something you enjoy doing and explore things you have not done before.
GS is only good if you fly. Since you still have PP+ to burn, if you can afford it ($ or miles), I would encourage you to take advantage of going to places you have not been or have wanted to visit but never had a chance or time to do so.

Not sure your coverage around the world, but United has the best international network amongst all the US airlines + *A network.
I would not let the GS status to go away without planning "trips of a lifetime".

eng3

Load up on snack boxes since you won't be getting anymore for free

ContinentalFan

First off, heartiest congratulations on your retirement!

I’m just curious, had you to do it all over again, is there anything you’d have done differently?

In my case, when I was much younger, I’d likely have been much more aggressive about generating miles, but we live and learn.

Today, quite frankly, I wouldn’t recommend being loyal to any US carrier, as it’s not reciprocated : everything is now up for sale.

It’s too late for me; I got hooked on status. 😞

marks88

Re: PP, they cannot be used for flights post-dating the expiry date. I figured I could save and use them up to the expiry date, for flights after that. Not true.

LH and NH seem to have best likelihood of clearing, or close-in UA. As you are retiring, perhaps try later.

kpete

Thanks all.....

@jhayes - I'm just under 850K UA lifetime miles. with the way i was racking up miles to DEL, PEK, and MEL, and MUC, thought 1M would be no problem. then covid... oy. At least I don't wear masks overnight now.
@eng3 - I did snag a tapas and stella on my outbound to the Indian Market in Santa Fe this past weekend! Thought I would double down on the return, but a post-boarding upgrade led me to the Thai meatballs in first!
@UA_Flyer - Thanks for the well wishes! I have been very very blessed with opportunities. As Im sure many FTers would understand, when you've been so many places the mega definative trip I wanted to do are a little hard - maybe Namibia, seriously. I am already filling in Prague, Split, Athens and Lisbon before the end.
@ContinentalFan - yeah I thought about how I could have targeted at least one or two airlines earlier, but that just wasnt the nature of my least cost flying jobs at the time. woulda shoulda.
@marks88 - I just started to look at an ANA flight to burn some. Been there, but didnt finish tokyo or get to other major cities.

tick tock

overall, I tend to agree with the other thread on when do you fly or pay for business. Well, when and as often as I can - outbound TATL and inbound AP.

Kmxu

Job 1 is to fly the UA metals to achieve the 1MM status if you plan to have a lot of international trips in retirements. The lounge access and E+ seats are the huge benefits for you and your partner with the lifetime Premier Gold status. Pluspoints will make your MM runs more tolerable. Some routes are easy for upgrade, especially, for PN space.
Good luck.

azepine00

Out of curiosity does soft landing continue to plat/gold after GS to 1K?

Btw in the absence of frequent flying the biggest impact was from lost ability to upgrade award tix - that saved us lots of $ during gs years..

benewr

I would book plenty of saver awards international flights and apply plus points to them.

jpezaris

Definitely true. The OP should maximize flights on UA metal (meaning, including TATL and TPAC) until hitting 1MM, whether it's this year or not, in order to achieve lifetime Star Gold status. After 1MM, that criterion can be relaxed.

halls120

This. When I was sitting around 875K BIS, I took every opportunity to fly UA metal because I knew I only had a few years of frequent business travel on the horizon. Don’t regret that decision at all.

JimInOhio

kpete -- Congratulations! It's a great feeling to wake up in the morning and not start thinking right away about all you feel (or others feel) you have to accomplish that day. Enjoy it to the fullest.

You may also find that you don't need to travel as much as you think. When I retired, travel had been such a way of life that I had forgotten how nice it is to not do it all the time. Actually it was more Covid that made me realize that which helped make the decision to retire all the easier. If you want to get these last trips in, go for it. Just don't make it a "job".

AirbusFan2B

Million Miler status is based on cumulative distance flown. GS aren’t known for flying a lot, nor for being into the UA experience, just for generating high in-year spend on a few round trips on pricey routes.

uanj

OP, do you expect to travel much after retirement and if so, will UA or or Star Alliance be convenient for you? I second all the suggestions to get to one million lifetime miles to get lifetime Star Gold if you wil be travelling. May take you some time to get there though.

Remember that only paid tickets on United credited to MP count towards lifetime status. Award or partner operated flights don't count.