If there's already a thread about this, please direct me to it...

That being said, I am seriously thinking about getting United PassPlus Secure. Most of my travel is West of the Mississippi. Being based in AZ, this basically means I can buy an F class anywhere in the Western US for $1000 last minute. This seems like a pretty good deal to me but would love others feedback (especially I they are already a Pass Plus holder)...

You have to do analysis of the fares you've been paying on average for your trips so far to see whether you will come out ahead. Additionally, there's a $15k minimum purchase. If you plan on making at least 15 RT/year in F, then go for it. Otherwise, it will take at least 30 RTs to spend $15k you paid for the membership. The best part about PassPlus, IMHO(in addition to fare predictability), is the fact that you always earn the EQM bonus domestically... Also, important thing to note that with UDUs, you'll be ahead of many 1Ks on the upgrade list because PassPlus Economy books in Y, and upgrades clear by fare class within the same elite category.

This also looks like it may be attractive to me. As far as I can tell (the web site is a bit sketchy, and seems to require you to "request information" in order to find out the details, which I don't really want to do unless I'm reasonably sure I want to do this), this program might save me money and annoyance.

From what I can figure out, Passplus Secure gives you last minute $800/rt domestic transcons, booked into full Y class, correct? And 4000 mile international trips (e.g., IAD-LHR) are $1400 booked into M? They note that the international fares aren't eligible for upgrades, but is that just because of the M fare (which should otherwise be upgradable with an SWU)?

The $15k "investment" is valid for, I assume, 1 year? And at the end of the year if there's a balance, is it 100% forfeited?

Any other 'gotchas'?

Thanks

The balance isn't necessarily forfeitted. There is a fee, but I'm not sure what it is.

I've talked to the PassPlus team before. They aren't salesmen in the traditional sense, and they don't hound you. It's a UA travel coordinator who you talk to, and I felt like they were generally trying to see if the program was a good fit for me and my travels (which it was not). I wouldn't be afraid to ask for more information.

On a different note, I have it on good authority that the PassPlus Secure threshold for GS invitation is $50K. If that works for you, I'd suggest you go for it.

Also, 2 GS invitations can be had on a Secure Individual account for $50K (first), and $15K (second). If you can find someone else (i.e. GS with a $50K PassPlus Secure Individual, you may be able to "add-on" for the $15K if you can convince someone that you're in the same business. YMMV.

Domestically, $15K/yr is easy to hit, $50K is hard. I bet the numbers of domestic-only GS travelers (excluding HI), who make the GS threshold are few and far between, except for those SAG folks who commute NYC-SFO/LAX in p.s. F.

P.s. PassPlus use doesn't allow for use of a PerksPlus travel code. You can only use one program at a time.

This exactly what I was looking for. Also, good to know that I can only use 1 program at a time. I figure I would do at least 3 "reloads" in the next 12 months, so if $50K is the GS #, then it well could be in my shot pattern (-;

A GS nomination requires a PassPlus Exec contract (which gives you 25% off F/J/Y/B fares) with at least $50K. Unless this was changed in the past week or so, PassPlus Secure and Flex contracts aren't eligible for GS nominations.

Just got off the phone with them... this is actually a great program, depending on your travel patterns. For example, I live in SFO and SFO-ASE is $500+ RT for a last minute Y fare, SFO-HNL/OGG/KOA (but not LIH) are $650+ RT for last-minute Y, SFO-ORD in 3-class F is $1400+ RT. With UDU's coming, the Y fare has a lot more value to me.

The bad thing about this program is that you can't apply the funds to companion travel... though you can apply them to any ticket you want. For example, instead of booking the non-upgradeable M international fares they give you, you can book a normal W fare with your pass-plus dollars at the normal W rate and apply SWU's. So... as long as you plan on spending $15k on United in a given year, for me it is a no-brainer.

As for extending your credits, I asked, and a 2-month extension is $500 or a 4-month extension costs $750. Alternatively, if you renew your plan (another $15k/year), they extend your credits forward for another year without penalty.

It looks like my last minute travel is really going to pick up in the next few months and I was thinking I'd look at this program. Does anyone know how the flight miles are calculated? I'll be doing a bunch of traveling to SAV and CAE, and with no non-stop from DEN, am I charged the DEN-IAD-CAE ~1800 miles or the DEN-CAE 1350 miles? Obviously that makes a big difference to my folks in terms of cost.

They told me actual flight miles when I called... so in your case, 1800, unfortunately.

I am a current PassPlus Assured member. This was the program that Secure appears to be replacing. In the Assured program the cost was directly based on mileage flown - it wasn't tiered or "bucketized". I can completely understand why they would want to change it to the current Secure format: it's easier to figure out which fare to apply. But for the life of me, I cannot understand why that first tier is all the way up to 1,700 miles! A lot of my trips were 250 miles or less (one-way) - regional flights where I was in and out the same day. The Assured program was GREAT for such flights, as I could buy last-minute short-haul tickets for reasonable prices.

The OP appears to be in a similar situation, except that, due to their location, their flights will be longer. In such a case, my experience has been that the Assured program (now the Secure program) was a great fit (and since the OP would be flying the longer flights, the size of that first bucket is just fine). My advice would be to go for it.

But for me, United has just priced me right back out of PassPlus.

Does anyone have any information about whether the Assured program will be continued (such as for existing members) or if there is any talk of changing the Secure program to insert a smaller first tier (for example, 0-500 miles for $125 each way in Economy)?

Welcome to FT, Vladie!

That doesn't seem like it would make financial sense for United. Those short flights are the bread and butter in some places, like here in California.

I agree that Assured was a great program for short-haul flights, and I was considering it at one point, but then I realized that it would take a LOT of those flights to spend $15k - like 60 or so - and I certainly wasn't doing that many regional flights. I have to say that the price of those flights has gone down dramatically in the last year or so, unless traveling all of them last minute.

So sad to see Assured go . . . ours expires at the end of May and I don't know what I'm going to do now.

If Secure offered upgrades on international fares, but with upgrades on Z fares now, it isn't worth it.

Thank you for the welcome (I've been lurking for almost a decade, but other than PassPlus I have little experience I can share that hasn't already been shared by those far more knowledgeable and experienced than I).

The pricing example I gave was just an anally-derived figure. My basic point was that, when you look at all of the domestic flights that United flies (since international would obviously be mostly longer flights), especially when you take into account that the ORD and IAD hubs have a lot of destinations "near" them, my guess would be that 80% of United's domestic routes are less than 1,700 miles one way.

So why lump 80% of all domestic flights into one single bucket? It makes the new Secure program a good deal for one class of flier (those with a lot of flights between, say 750-1700 miles one way) but a really bad deal for another class of flier (those with a lot of short haul flights). A smaller first bucket (0-250?, 0-350?, etc) would have allowed them to continue to entice all of the former class of flier without loosing the latter. Which seems important given that the former Assured program was useful to BOTH classes.

When I called to ask about a smaller mileage bucket, the response was, "Those flights are almost operated exclusively by a UX partner, and they cost more money to the operating carrier. UA cannot provide the service." I asked if they would do a 0-750 mile, UA only (non-UX) program, and the sales rep said she would talk to WHQ about it, and let me know if they agreed-- since I never heard back, I assume that it's not an option.

When I called, they were offering GS for $50K on an Individual Secure program. They indicated that WHQ would approve GS at that level. I was about October 2009, so they may have slightly changed their offering.

The Exec program made no sense for me.

With all that said...

I'd make sure if the OP was buying into the Secure program at $15K intervals, that they would still give him his GS as $50K beforehand. It would be pretty upsetting to end up spending $60K on PassPlus to find out that you have to make a minimum deposit of $50K to get it.