Kacee

Instead they instituted 200% PQM on P fares. So you can make 1K on four international RTs in discount business class.

AAExPlat

Which would still likely be in the vicinity of $16-20k PQD....

BBSHOPSINGER

I know there aren't a lot of Silver members commenting on this forum, but I think many of you who have higher status seem to think that Silver status is worthless. As a Silver who is also a cardholder, I find a huge difference from when I had the card, but no status. The biggest difference is E+. I am almost always able to get an exit-row seat at time of check-in, and I've never failed to get an aisle E+ seat. I get upgraded to first about 20% of the time. I also get great service from the premier line when I call in for help. These benefits don't come with the credit card. I find it worthwhile to do things like booking connections when non-stops are available, and occasionally upgrading to first just to get my number of segments up to 30. I don't always get enough PQD, but I spend enough on the card for the waiver.

Another benefit the card doesn't give is the increased mileage earnings. With the change away from actual mileage, the value here isn't as much as it used to be.

At any rate, I believe there are many Silvers who are similar to me, getting just enough to maintain that status. I don't fly very much for work, so I make up for it in my personal travel. If I'm willing to do it, I'm sure there are many others who are doing what it takes to get to even that minimum elite level.

jsloan

The value of Silver depends very much on your travel patterns (like all status levels, frankly). If you're getting upgraded on 20% of your trips as a Silver, and getting E+ 100% of the time, it's definitely worth it -- but that upgrade percentage seems to be on the high side systemwide. (There are 1Ks who report an upgrade percentage less than 20%). The extra 2 miles per dollar on, say, $2500 PQD is 5K miles. Nothing to scoff at, but it only adds up to an extra domestic saver round-trip every five years. For most people who are considering stretching to get Silver, I'd suggest getting an E+ subscription instead.

You're definitely not alone, though. My boss has done mileage runs each of the last two years to gain UA Silver status. I'm pretty sure his upgrade percentage is 0, or close to it anyway -- but he considers E+ an upgrade and he's never missed that. So, it clearly makes sense for some people. ^

laxmillenial

Almost everyone I talk to who isn't a frequent flyer (and a friend who is United Gold / *G ) deems "E+" as "Premium Economy". They believe it is an upgrade!

BBSHOPSINGER

When I flew Air Canada to Tokyo last year in Y, I would have given a lot to have E+. I decided then that if I ever have to travel in Y TATL or TPAC again, it will be on United, where at least I can get E+.

Kadomony

I made Silver for the first time in September, and since then I've flown 12 segments, with four CPUs, and always a good E+ seat except for a last second standby clearance. Of course the CPUs were not on hub-hub routes, but on ORD-DFW, YYC-ORD, DEN-ELP, and ELP-IAH. Definitely a good experience so far, and much better than simply having a free bag/premier access.

SFOrunner

That's the good life! When I first started flying frequently, I went from General Member to 1K all in one calendar year...I thoroughly enjoyed the perks, from free checked bags, to CPU's and additional customer service support. Back then, most of my flights were ORD-SAN, sometimes with a layover in a hub. I started flying ORD-SJO and got plenty of CPU's as a 1K. Life is much harder now flying SFO-ORD all the time.

Aussienarelle

Does UA provide a breakdown of the number of MP members by status? I would have thought Wall Street would be interested in the stats in terms of the "cost" of the program.

I am actually curious about the number of GS and 1K members.

WineCountryUA

No - not at least publically. It is considered proprietary information by "all" the programs.

But it does not prevent regular speculation on FT.

Mike Jacoubowsky

As a Plat, I was convinced everyone in the world was either 1K or Plat, because BG1 was so big. As a demoted Plat (Gold), my perspective has changed; it doesn't seem to me there are nearly as many 1K & Plats as I thought when I was part of that group.

Point being there may be something going on that causes us to perceive more of "us" in whatever group "us" is in, than there actually are. When we're first part of "our" group, it may seem special, like we have Starz upon thars, but after a while, not so much, seems like everybody has Starz and we're no longer so special.

When the economy and airlines sucked, airlines made it super-easy to be elite. When the economy came back and businesses had significant travel budges again, adding PQD restrictions might have "inconvenienced" some leisure travelers, but that was more than offset by the increase in business flyers. So I'm guessing that the number of elites hasn't changed much as a percentage of air travelers, and with air travel increasing, you'd naturally have more elites. OK, yeah, call me Captain Obvious.

Long Zhiren

Post #92 in the following suggests a couple hundred thousand 1K's... Why not?
2018 Premier Kits are Shipping - Have you received yours?

8MiHi

In 2005 MP had 42 million members with almost exactly 2% (838K) making Premier Elite at some level.
63.8% were Premier (today's Silver), 28.5% were Premier Executive (Gold and Platinum), 5.5% (46K) were 1K and 2.2% (18K) were GS.
With more than double the membership today it would be reasonable to find that these numbers have more than doubled.
There is likely to be around 100K 1Ks and 40K GS members. I do not believe there are a couple of hundred thousand 1Ks. It just seems that way.

WineCountryUA

That was some careless phrasing by me, 100,000+- is the more common estimate for 1K and roughly a doubling for each lower level -- re-phrased the referenced posted. The point there was not all kits could be surface mailed at the same time -- since it is a big number)

Flyingwasabi

How many UA global service members do you think exists? And
how about 1k members?