Amen, brother. Please also see: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...e-anymore.html

BOO 120EQS. Apparently, people who fly 100 EQS aren't as valuable as those who fly 100K BIS miles. That's hurts my feelings United. Also, makes me think I should only fly 75 EQS on UA and my other 30 on the dAArkside and atleast have status on two airlines.

Only if you are elite. For non-elites - and the claim was that anyone could do it so non-elites must be considered, right?? - the up-fare is to a discounted (or full) F fare.

Or possibly for hundreds. And it is tens or hundreds of EXTRA dollars, with the number varying based on the original fare purchased, not a static number across the board.

It is more fun to say that CO is selling the upgrades "to anyone for tens of dollars" but that simply is not true. Rhetoric makes for fun posts but does a VERY bad job of actually explaining the situation in a clear manner or aiding in a rational and objective evaluation of the topic in question.

Yes, and if you look at this from that perspective, UA is trying to grow the ranks of people who fly 75-99K and shrink the ranks of people who fly 100-149k. Doesn't make much sense.

At least I have a sole friend on this thread.

Let me understand something.

I am sitting at 65k on the year. 1k was a dream, and won't be happening. Is there any benefit to flying 75k this year, or do those benefits begin after jan 1, 2011?

Now Im worried they will get rid of the MM club for 1M miles, I'm about 80K away, had been planning on getting it this year, but life got in the way. I could TOTALLY imagine that at some point soon, they say "we've had this for 30 years, we should now cap it and do away with new qualifiers"

Yeah I would say so far on the merger, not so good.

Gotta wonder if this is the reaction UA expected. You would think for a debacle like this they would release it on a Friday afternoon, like most bad news is released.

No, UA has indeed taken another giant step in the wrong direction. Makes me feel better about bailing on them for all my international travel this year. I'll just keep my lifetime 1P and be happy.

And grow the 150K+ folks, too.

Maybe they have some data that suggests the folks who are in the 100-150K range are mostly 75-100K folks who are doing a mileage run or two and aren't really as profitable as they'd like to believe they are. Or maybe they're willing to risk a bit of alienation (the stick, if you will) for the carrot that is the benefits above 150K. Not everyone in the 100-150K pool is simply going to walk away. Folks here on FT often ask what the purpose is of flying more than the minimum qualification levels. The new UA/CO program seems to have answered that question quite resoundingly.

They actually will begin in the 2012 program, not even in 2011, based on the details in the release:
You also won't receive the CR1s this year for making 75K like you wil next year.

I wouldn't do anything today.

what about Smisek's video welcoming everyone to the new united. There are many great changes in store and I think you'll like them.

Yeah Right!!!!!! once e+ goes (and i am sure it will) I am on to AA. Oh the joy of MD-80's

Exactly my sentiment. I'm one of the EQS 1Ks (mostly domestic with a couple of TATL/TPAC a year). Even with E+ in place, if I don't hit 1K under new rules, benefits for Intl travel look better on AA (EXP). If anything happens to E+ it's a non-brainer. Even with it, I started comparing routes (but guessing it won't be hard at all from ORD).

Actually, it might make sense, depending on the number of people in each pool. There might be many flyers, like myself in recent years, who can reach 1P but will not reach 1K. I have no incentive to fly for status beyond 50,000 miles. Now, with a 75,000 mile threshold, I have something worth shooting for.

I think this change is great for 75,000-99,999 flyers.

It hurts most for 1Ks who actually use their CR-1s, which I think FT has a disproportionately high number of. Also bad for EQS 1Ks, of course.

This may actually HELP 1Ks who tend not to use their CR-1s, because now they'll presumably have a better shot at UDU (buy-ups aside).

Funny on the way to work this morning ( before reading email) I was thinking about asking AA for a match.

Definately thinking more now

119.5 EQS this year. I guess I would be the most disappointed 1K in 2011...

That said I cannot understand why a few long-haul RTs are more valuable than more than 50 short flights on Y/B fares.

Seems like a disconnect in the program to me???