Were they all tailored to one's status though, including specific program changes for GS members?


BTW, we should really somehow standardize our use of abbreviations on this forum, now that United added even MORE "P"s.

P+
PP
+P

Which is what?
Especially the difference between Premium Plus (seating), and PlusPoints (upgrade system) should be standardized, as they are both "PP".

I'm not sure exactly what to make of these changes. On the one hand this will clarify how you upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy or Business. However, I suspect this is just the first step before they go to dynamic upgrade pricing. It's a fixed amount of points for now but easy to convert to dynamic upgrade pricing just like they are doing with MileagePlus.

required same PNR or same flight with a call in? Often my wife and I are same flight different PNRs.

also as a GS I can upgrade rewards flights. Will that still be allowed?

I did not receive an e-mail that is relevant to GS. It says the same intro "we have heard from GS members like you" but then articulates the benefits for 1K, basically. How this impacts both published and non-published benefits for GS is going to be interesting to feel out.

Perhaps don't use abbreviations? 🤯

Here's the thing... even in the "old" system it could have been devaluated at anytime by cutting the number of certificates we earned (what was really stopping them from cutting our earnings to 4 GPU per year?)

What this PlusPoints system does is really set up for dynamic RPU/GPU pricing in the future. Which in a way it already is doing with the 2x points system to ug any fare or what will probably be a pretty steep cost to jump the waitlist.

Plats (and even those without any status at all) have always been able to waitlist for long-haul. Not sure why so many people think this is new.
+Points?

Each year I end up throwing away many of my RPU and usually a handful of GPU. I'm intrigued by the skip the waitlist option.... Most of my travel is business, where I can buy up front on anything longer than 2 hrs domestically. So my instruments are saved for that "one TATL" or cross-country flight I take with the family. I suspect the STW will only be available on the types of flights that GPUs used to be confirmed at booking, and everything else will be a waitlist. If that's the case, this is a significant downgrade. If, by chance, the SWL legitimately allows us to push through upgrades on fairly desirable flights (I'm not talking EWR-HNL over Christmas...more like EWR-FCO/NAP/BCN late June), then this is a boon for people like me. I'd blow all of my points on one of two of those trips and be thrilled with my status. It also would push me to keep 1K in the future....

"Premium Plus" should really just be PE (as in the cabin) barring the industry actually picking a consistent rbd - we say J for "Polaris" without any difficulty.

Marketing. Can't spin directly cutting the number of GPU earned annually. You can absolutely spin a devaluation.

My guess is UA will eventually switch to a bid-upgrade system using these PlusPoints. It's only a matter of time before 120 points is required to upgrade LHR > LAX.

Hopefully I'm wrong but something to think of as we move away from certificated with fixed-value.

Safe Travels,

James

Upgrades
 

I have not received any communication on this. In fact I rarely get any United communications.
Nothing..
I have heard from a high position person, that they had too many people wanting upgrades. I don't see how this improves that situation.

At least for Premium Plus, you can generically abbreviate it as PE, which removes the confusion. (EDIT: Oops, findark has already said the same thing upthread.)

But adding to the confusion, the logo for "PlusPoints" is "PlusPoints+"...

Either bid upgrade or tied to some dynamic cash upgrade/buy-up fare.

Given that current GPUs are "valued" at ~$200-400, then 1GPU = 40 points = $5-10/point, so they can tie the points to a theoretical dollar amount. And nothing to stop UA from further devaluing this point system; as others pointed out above, UA can give them out to credit card spenders, used on UA Club, etc.

Can I cancel a confirmed upgrade request?

You will not be able to cancel PlusPoints requests that have received upgrades.

Yikes, so if I'm flying EWR-IAD-FRA, I'd better make sure I'm not requesting an upgrade for EWR-IAD, otherwise I'd be wasting 20 PlusPoints on that upgrade


Overall, I like the flexibility, but we lose the benefit of getting free domestic upgrades when not getting an international upgrade