EsquireFlyer

(underline added)

Not the first time you've made this claim, but this time it's especially inaccurate, in that clearly CO is not selling upgrades to anyone for "tens of dollars." Instead, CO is selling upfares to people who bought economy fares, for the fare difference, and if some specific passengers bought high-yield economy fares that are only "tens of dollars" from discounted F fares, then their fare difference is only "tens of dollars."

Making this sort of claim on the UA board, where members are less likely to be familiar with CO's upfare system (and may not spend as much time as I did trying to figure out what the heck "selling upgrades for tens of dollars" means) does more harm than good as far as sharing useful information with the community goes.

aCavalierInCoach

Let's wait and see what happens with E+... granted, I was never spoiled with CR1s and evidently won't be next year to any great extent, but aside from the big impact to segment fliers, this seems like a bit of an overreaction -- each is entitled to his own opinion, I suppose.

TechnoPagan

Or simply, "BOHICA"

(Bend Over, Here It Comes Again)

Always Flyin

"Sponsor"!

I actually have to fly a few PS flights a year, but far less than 40K a year. I deliberately flew more UA flights to make the 40K. I don't have to any more.

sjlin0121

Why would you do that? I would combine 75k and 25k to make "1K" if I were you.

tomwht

"What a revoltin' development this is!"--William Bendix, The Life of Riley.

So, my weekly SEA-SFO-BUR flights may get diverted to Alaska Airlines.

Thunderroad

to both the deterioration of MP and to the dishonesty in packaging these changes as a benefit. That sucking sound you hear is a lot of good will going down the drain, Mr. Smisek.

Note this change in the new SWU policy: You get the SWUs when you hit 100K, but they expire a year from when they're issued. True, that could work out to benefit some folks, but it certainly will hurt many others. A more generous policy would have been to extend them through the duration of one's 1K status, but that does not seem to be the direction the new UA is going. Here's the link with that bit of small print (under "How to get them"):

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,53018,00.html

Another problem with this new CR-1 accrual policy is that, in addition to pushing some customers toward the competition by fueling a sense that MP is heading downhill and effectively cutting back on the CR-1s they will accrue, it might even be counterproductive in another way. Accruing sufficient miles on a quarterly basis was an additional incentive to fly UA in a given quarter. Now that incentive is gone.

In addition, this deterioration in CR-1 and SWU policies comes on top of the cutbacks in award and upgrade availability under the old management. It looks like the new team is set to accelerate that trend.

^ Excellent advice.

Oh, and not just for NYC-based folks--also for folks based near SFO and LAX who fly to NYC, as well as others who might connect through those airports in flying across the continent.

AA certainly has its issues and challenges, but on balance the airline and its FP program has been looking better in recent months, not least due to it finally being possible to accrue and redeem AA miles on BA's USA-LHR flights. For those who fly J internationally, BA certainly beats UA, CO or LH. And while no picnic, LHR these days is a breeze for connections compared to FRA.

I hope you're wrong but I'm pretty sure you're right.

Every year I have to decide whether, if I can't fly enough on both UA and AA to make 1K and EXP, which program I'll drop or at least reduce my flights on. I don't want to jump to conclusions. But these moves, with the likelihood of more to come, could tip the scales in AA's favor.

EsquireFlyer

Since it's about aligning M+ and NonePass benefits, the header

Benefits In the Air Combined Here
(BIACH)

would be more appropriate.

channa

That, too, is inaccurate, as they're not upfaring you to discounted F fares, rather they're usually upfaring to higher economy fares.

They're aggressively marketing fee-waived upfares at checkin to people who bought economy fares to upfare to higher economy fares that they could instant-upgrade immediately.

In other words, the upgrade space is there if you have a certain type of economy fare, but the upgrade space is not there if you have another type of economy fare.

So, to put it into UA's terms, as this is the UA board, it would be like having various tiers of NF buckets, and depending on which fare you have, would dictate which upgrade bucket you could upgrade into. So if the base NF bucket is not available, but a higher NF bucket is, then you could upfare into a higher fare class that would allow that higher upgrade space to confirm immediately, possibly for "tens of dollars," as opposed to waiting around for them to release it into the lower NF bucket and processing the upgrade.

LarkSFO

I know there is a thanksgiving thread on UA out there, but this pertains to their announcement today.

Background: I am a newly minted 1K. I am wearing rose tinted glasses. I am not an elitist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

The downsides to today's announcement:

1) No clear communication on plans for E+ (since this is not MP, maybe should not have expected anything)
2) If they had offered rollover EQM, they would have gotten more money from me in 2010 (I booked thanksgiving travel on Southwest, and Christmas to SAN on Virgin. I had no incentive to stick with UA after making 1K - 125K or 150K is not going to happen - so I booked the least expensive flight available and saved myself $600+ over both trips, family of 4.)

The upsides:

1) Immediate granting of SWU's is good! Currently, SWU's all expire at the same time, so there is a big end of year rush to use them. Leading to a complete lack of availability. Leading to people complaining about buying a more expensive upgradable fare but never getting the SWU. By evening out the expiration dates over the entire calendar year, availability will increase.

2) 120 EQS to qualify 1K: Bravo! Great move UA! You had diluted 1K, and are now trying to make it more of an elite / exclusive club. Thank you.

3) 75K is better than 50K and worse than 100K - This is also a good thing for 1K's - people who actually travel BIS 100K plus miles per year. You are clearly identified as the top rung for any upgrade benefits.

4) Corollary to # 3 - This is also good for 75K BIS fliers (which is probably what I will shoot for if today's announcement is permanent). You only have GS and 1K ahead of you, and are clearly identified as 'above' a 50K flier.

5) CR 1's: Again, for the passenger that adds to UA's bottom line, this change is OK. For those who achieve 1K by spending $3412 and sleeping in airports: Sorry!

6) Thank you UA for NOT offering DEQM in 2010! I do believe (without anything but anecdotal evidence) that there will be fewer 1K's next year, and that we will truly feel like UA appreciates us due to our loyalty to them.

7) Adios - Goodbye to all of you former UA loyalists who now claim to investigate allegiance to Delta or AA (or Southwest). I wish you luck, and I am glad you will no longer be competing for my benefits. If you love it over there, please let us know because we are not closing the door on any options.


I anticipate these changes being truly, really beneficial to UA's real elites: the people that spend money and add to UA's bottom line.

I travel out of SFO primarily, so it would be difficult to completely change my allegiance to one new carrier. (I could split it between Southwest, Alaska, American, but what will that get me?)

UA: I am sticking with you. I will likely fly another 75K+ (maybe 100K) UA BIS miles again in 2011.

Treat me well and you will continue to receive my loyalty. (aka profit to your bottom line)

magiciansampras

Yikes.

120 EQS? Ouch. I thought 100 was hard.

CR-1s harder to get? Ouch. There go my ps upgrades I guess.

zabes64

I emailed a few Execs at AA randomly and told them this is the perfect time to offer UA 1Ks a status match based on new program "enhancements" and that all they have to do is look at UA's facebook page to see the displeasure immediately.

CPMaverick

GLASS HALF FULL ON the CR1 UPGRADES

Ok, I'm not saying that everything is good here, but I am not too disspointed on the CR1 change.

- CR1 earning is simpler and you have more options to earn CR1s. The 10k BIS per quarter was way too confusing. By doing 25 EQM, you can easily track when your next CR1s are coming. And you can use credit cards, *A partners, etc to earn them. Not just UA metal. And COS bonus counts as well. If you were a 1K that flew mostly *A partners or went a few months without flying, you could very well not get 8 CR1s in a year. Heck, it was possible, though not likely, to earn ZERO CR1s as a 1K before. Now you will always get 4 CR1s with 8 not too far out of reach.

- There's actually a bonus to get to 75k EQM now. I think they should call it a new tier, but I have been around 60k-70k for a couple years and it is a crummy place to be.

- CR1s still exist! That wasn't a given.

FCO_SFO

Ok, you officially get my vote for the best post on this thread!

nmenaker

could have been just more 1K's, as we get further INTO the year, people become 1K and 1P, and not there are more of them and they will upgrade ahead. It will reset at 1/1/11 when the ones who don't requal fall out. I don't think the change in UDU success has been CO elites.