Here's what happened. Last year I flew United a few times up until April. In April they cancelled a flight I was on (United Express), tried to me take a bus that would take 3 hours, and were just not very good about it. This was on a full fare first ticket. (Economy was sold out as it was a trip to Florida during the spring break season) Well over the summer they upgraded me to Premier because I was "on track" or something like that. I still didn't fly them because of the way they treated me in April. Well come October, after they gave out 6 comp upgrades I ended up using them at the last minute for a trip I had to take since they had a decent 1-day advance fare and I could get first on the upgrades. It seemed like they had made a big improvement in the past 6 months. So I started booking on United since then. Since October I have flown close to 30 segments, with about half of those so far this year. I think I had 23 total segments last year. Is there any way to get them to give me back the Premier status this year? I will definitely make the 30 segments this year if I continue to fly United, but if I can't get back Premier I am not going to sit in E- all those flights. I also have bought a fair number of their upgrades, which work pretty well, but $325 for non-Premier is just a bit much for 4 of them. I typically fly around 40 to 50 segments a year, mostly on 500 to 1000 mile flights, and most of the time I purchase high fares on short notice as I run a company with about 500 employees. Continental has said they will comp me elite status, but United�s flight schedules out of my airport are a lot more convenient for me. If anyone knows of a way to get them to give me back Premier status I would appreciate any help. Doing any mileage runs or anything like that would be out of the question since it would not be worth my time. Thanks.

How many segments have you already flown this year? You may already be near Premier Status.

I would be surprised if they gave it to you again without your flying the miles.

I am curious... if you did not like the way they treated you last April, why would you turn around and start concentrating your flying on them again? Are you setting yourself up for disappointment again?

William

I have 14 segments so far this year. It is 30 for Premier, which I probably will not make till sometime in the second half of the year. The reson why I have started flying them again is because on the trip I took in October I actually had the exact same flight cancelled that I had problems with last April. They went out of their way to accomodate me, and actually opened the door on another flight that was late to let me on standby. In December they also let me take an American flight out of Chicago when mine was running 2 hours late and I would have been late for a meeting otherwise. So I think they actually have been a a bit better lately than they were a year ago. United also has the most frequent flights out of my airport. I might talk to the people at the airport next week and see what they say since most the agents there know me.

If you were on UX, it was the UX carrier not UA that caused your bus discomfort. Perhaps a one strike policy is to strict?? Anyway fly the segments or just call UA and see.

This is kind of roundabout, but if UA won't comp you status after you tell them what you said above, then get CO to comp you first.

Then, using your CO status, ask UA to match your status, and they probably will (though they will require some documentation of your CO status).

Doing this would waste kind of your CO comp status though (if you fly UA instead of CO), and it might not be easy to get CO to comp you a 2nd time if you need it in the future.

[This message has been edited by CollegeFlyer (edited Mar 04, 2004).]

if you already have your 30 segments booked, send your itineraries (or confirmation #s) to United. That proves to them that you are going to fly them and they will most likely comp you. You have to CONTINUE flying them each year to retain the status - comp status is a ONE TIME only thing.

However; we all have bad flights - it's part of the way things go these days.