I've got 3 rpus left which if not used will convert to 60pts
That gets me one upgrade to J plus one to premium plus. Am I able to then use miles to upgrade the pp to J

How about now? :o

:p

No I don't think so.

Great question for all of us who were excited about the new P+.
Some said this is too good to be true and were waiting for the ball to drop.
BANG! Yup. That ball smashed right through the floor.

Well, I’m still planning to vote “satisfied” for 2019. :)

And, as I’ve explained on the other thread, for me, personally, this is a welcome change. Yes, I would have preferred $12K PQD and partner tickets count, or even $15K PQD and partner tickets count, but for my flying patterns, $18K PQD and partner tickets count is going to be less expensive than the system we have now. I’ll get about 80 fewer +Ps then I would under the current system, but I choose to think of that as losing out on RPUs (which I never really cared about) instead of GPUs.

I do concur, though, that this change is one more indication that UA’s goal is not, and never was, to try to take something away from GSes to give it to 1Ks instead.

Now that the other shoe has fallen, my updated math.

100,000 1Ks currently
- 50,000 get kicked out (many int'l Y flyers w/ low segments)
+ 25,000 new 1Ks get added (EWR-BOS-EWR 25x/yr types)
75,000 1Ks for 2021, so 200,000 GPUs exit the eco-system.

The interesting part is the massive hole left by the 50K 1Ks who were using their GPUs on mid-week int'l flights. I'm betting the new 1Ks are more domestic focused and won't be big consumers of mid-week GPUs. In fact, I think many of the new-breed 1Ks will use their +Ps on domestic upgrades. So who's going to fill this int'l hole?

1. Dawn of a new Polaris era for non-revs?
2. Lot more P fares available mid-week ($1800 range for TPAC and $2200 range for TATL) This would of course exclude the collusion routes (Germany/Japan).
3. Cheaper TOD offers ($200-$400 into Polaris)
4. Let them fly empty?

UA is not cutting 25K 1Ks from the system.

This change is going to have much less of an impact in the real world than it does on FlyerTalk.

1. No.
2. Maybe, if it turns out to be necessary, which it likely won’t.
3. Less than zero chance.
4. If push comes to shove, but, again, you’re way overestimating the likelihood of there being any change at all.

Also, 5: more miles + copay upgrades from former 1Ks who still want to fly in J

Yes, some people do use their GPUs to fly midweek (Hi!). I suspect that what will happen is that for every person who was doing that before, and no longer qualifies for 1K, they find some new 1K who is perfectly willing to take that space.

Furthermore, they’re growing in passenger traffic faster than they’re growing in available seat miles, and they’re shrinking the J cabin on the 788 to boot. The natural inflation of the customer base is going to take up the rest.

Despite what some people on this board believe, United is not run by wholly incompetent idiots. (Partially incompetent? Perhaps). They’re not in the business of giving things away, and they wouldn’t be making this change if they thought it was going to have a massive negative effect on sales or would create a ton of upgrade space.

No, but they are making the same mistake airline executives always make, which is to assume that because demand for air travel is currently strong, with a new passenger waiting in line to replace the old one you just pissed off forever, that state of affairs will continue indefinitely.

I do generally agree none of this program tinkering is going to much affect upgrade availability. It will take an economic downturn to do that.

Compare with the Delta program?
 

Just curious to learn if anyone has done any math and compared this new UA program with the current DL program? If yes, please share. Thanks!

Specifically for certificate upgrades? UA is now strictly better than DL for top tier (1K versus DM).

DM is 8 regional or 4 global or 4/2 split (no fare class minimums) with the same cabin logic (Y -> PE -> J with one instrument) as UA but you can't clear into PE on the way to J.

1K is now 16 regional or 10 global (R minimum) + 1 regionalor 8 global (W minimum) or 4 global (no minimum) or 16 global (to PE)... or any combination thereof.


Now of course you need them to clear, but at least on UA you can search for that yourself.

Didn't UA say 1K gets 280 points? That is 7 global with W fares.

Isn't there +40 at Platinum en route to 1K? (That is a total of 320.)

You are right.
I was thinking the days I was lifetime 1K but did not fly 100K PQM. I got 2 RPUs as Platinum and 6 GPUs as 1K. For people who qualified for 1K the normal way (annual basis), they do get 6 GPUs and 4 RPUs total.

Agree totally!

Life will find its way!

I have 3 RPUs and 5 GPUs expiring 1/31/2020. But they convent to points plus by then right? On dec 4th?

so do the points then expire on the original expiration date of the instrument?

Yes to all.

Currently no indication that any extensions will be given. If it happens, it might be up to 80 points extended to April.