|
Originally Posted by PanAmOneTwo
(Post 35905907)
I guess this is the fundamental question now that GS invitation criteria went haywire: what incentive does anyone have to spend more than 24k on UA, get 1K and then become a free agent, if even 130k isn’t enough for GS? If a large chunk of those who spent 40-50k+ on the hope of GS now stop at 24k, that’s a lot of lost revenue and not easily replaceable. What am I missing?
|
While it seems at least in some cases United very well go back and reevaluate dropping some people (esp the 80+ k on UA metal ones - that makes zero sense) what’s the thinking on challenges?
do folks feel it’s likely the rumored challenge will stick “for everyone?” |
Checkout https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/f...adheaders.html
Many were not invited back to GS either! |
Originally Posted by villox
(Post 35905399)
One aspect that hasn’t been explored is how much we use the GS benefits, like companion forced upgrades, force clear of award space, upgrading of mileage tickets, upgrading others with PPs etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if United started to look at the total picture of profitability beyond just the paid travel. I know I try to maximize use of all my benefits. There must be plenty of GS who simply don’t have awareness of the time to bother.
|
Originally Posted by nntman
(Post 35906104)
Checkout https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/f...adheaders.html
Many were not invited back to GS either! |
If United can't figure out how to make a lot of money on someone spending $100k, even if on a corporate discount program, then tinkering with GS qualification criteria isn't going to help. Usually in business you want to have big and predictable contracts with customers that provide reliable business. The guy who spends $40k on two tickets may have been very profitable on those flights, but he also may never fly again if that's the sum total of his travel in a year.
I think I'm leaning towards there being some snafu this year since none of this seems to make any sense to me. I imagine we'll know one way or another by the end of next week, since they can't keep everyone in suspense much longer than that. |
Well I might have someone with the record for most PQP without getting GS!!
151,000 PQP with 90 PQP Nearly all UA metal as well and not based in a hub. Crazy…. |
Just did PM to you on this platform
|
Using AI
We keep trying to guess at a qualification method that is based on historical flight data. The goal for United should be to maximize lifetime customer value ( based on revenue and margin for example) and the best way to do it is to feed historical data into an algorithm and to make decisions based on patterns from similar costumers, plus things like opportunity cost for a given seat, etc. These criteria could include, yes, age, past “promiscuity” - such as mixing carriers on an itinerary, availability of choices at the relevant airport, and many other factors that even United may not be aware of as being used by the algorithm - as long as there is no illegal discrimination. So finding the “rules” may actually be impossible…
|
Originally Posted by Nim556
(Post 35906293)
Well I might have someone with the record for most PQP without getting GS!!
151,000 PQP with 90 PQP Nearly all UA metal as well and not based in a hub. Crazy…. |
Originally Posted by st530
(Post 35906394)
Corporate discount program or no?
|
Originally Posted by landodixie
(Post 35903753)
Just spoke to the GS desk (not the MP desk who I did speak with and which was a waste of time as they said that they don't handle GS issues) and the lady to whom I spoke was very nice (one of the better agents I've spoken to actually) and after looking through my travel, fare classes, etc. she was "very surprised" that I didn't requalify. That and $5 bucks will get me a cup of coffee. She said that she had put in for a "re-review". I'm relatively confident that it won't amount to anything but I figured why not ask per the suggestions above. Btw, if they tell me they will give me a challenge, I literally won't do it. If 70k of PQP on UA metal doesn't make it, how does $18k in 4 months make sense? Annualize it and you get to $54k for the year which is far less than what I spent last year. It simply tells me that they have different qualifications going forward that really don't make logical sense and why stay with an airline that doesn't value my business. I have been loyal to UA as a few of the GS perks were good for the family but now it is not worth staying loyal to them as a 1k. As an aside, I have 800 Plus Points that I'm sure that I'll never get to use in 2024 as a newly minted 1k.
|
Originally Posted by Rock214
(Post 35904949)
...No employee (of several thousand frequent travelers) was granted Global Services status this year regardless of how much PQP they accumulated in 2023...
|
Originally Posted by st530
(Post 35906143)
Are these FedEx deadheading pilots also part of a corporate discount program (if anyone knows)?
This isn’t the first time the clowns over at United have tried these kinds of stunts. I took a Polaris flight in 2021 from ORD-FRA, and noticed afterwards that I received no miles despite it being a J class ticket. I wrote mileage plus an email, and they said the new policy is that we don’t get miles since the ticket is discounted. So myself and several others stopped booking United and used other carriers that appreciate our business. Surprise, surprise, shortly afterwards United said there was an “error” and we were fully compensated with miles. I had over $57k PQP and 47 PQF in 2023 and did not get renewed as a GS. This year (2024) I already have over 10k PQP and was anticipating well over $80k in spend. But I will absolutely not give United my long haul business the rest of this year. I will use them to get me to SFO, and take SIA and ANA from now on. I will fly them just enough to maintain 1K, and not a dollar more unless absolutely necessary. I used to fly for United doing United Express flights before going to FedEx, and was constantly embarrassed at how they treated customers. Post-COVID, they seemed to be sort of improving in that regard, or so I thought. That zebra apparently can’t change its stripes. |
Originally Posted by fumje
(Post 35904207)
Like others, I'm quite surprised by some of the non-renewals.
Reading through, one thing that seems like a pattern is several are high net PQP but <1k PQP per PQS. Pretty much the only way to stay above 1k PQP per PQS average over a whole year is to do only O/D intl / transcon J, with minimal connections. So maybe they are trying to shape GS into that. The other thought that occurred to me was they may be be looking at yoy increase in spend and trying to goad long-time qualifiers into even higher spend, as they're doing more incrementally and subtly with the published MP tiers. Of course, this (saying welcome to 1K with >80k PQP) is the wrong way to do that, and so if that was the aim I would somewhat expect some sort of walk-back in a few days. |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:51 pm. |
This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.