If the new UA keeps the CO policy intact, those people who fly 50 short flights on Y/B fares will be getting instant upgrades to first class, out-trumping those vying for an upgrade on a discounted fare using a CR-1 or SWU.

I'll add my unhappiness from a 1Ps perspective - not excited about this 75k level that gets higher upgrade priority (as I don't fly enough to hit that level).:td: Guess I should be happy I did pretty well with UDU this year...

I use them on every transcon or mid-con.

Did they create a 1P+ or did they simply give out a few crumbs to those on CO who were at the top earned level at 75k while there?

It's surprising to me that, in the *A world, there's relative standardization of *S & *G (AC apparently being an exception, allowing *G at a lower threshold if I recall correctly?), but nothing for *U ("Ultimate" for lack of a better term at the moment). The 50k+ EQM flyer is out there in a sea of uncertainty compared to their lesser cousins.

Another possibility here is that they're just floating stuff out there, really early (a full year ahead of time, when have they done that before?), to see what flies and what doesn't.

Oh, one thing I did choke on in that announcement- 120EQS for 1K. To my way of thinking, the threshold for miles should be higher and the threshold for EQS lower, if you wanted to make it an equivalent "accomplishment" for paid flying. What are they afraid of? The cheapest way to get 1K on the EQS plan is not only painful, but costly. 60 round trips on a cheap corridor, figuring the cheapest possible flights... let's say SFO-LAX because I'm familiar with that... 60 round trips at $120 each for $7200. And that's terribly unrealistic; more likely half of the flights are going to be in the $170-$220 range. You can achieve 1K at 100k EQMs considerably cheaper than that.

I thought about that too but I think it depends where you are flying to. If you live in SFO/LAX, p.s. is only useful for getting to NY (now that you can't really connect to anywhere from NY).

Whereas if you live in NY, if you are flying anywhere on the west coast or beyond (including Asia), p.s. makes a lot of sense, and you'd be silly to instead fly something like JFK-IAD-SFO, even in domestic F without having to use CR-1s.

Now if UA were to bring back to the auto Y/B (maybe M for 1Ks and 1P+) that would be an enhancement from current UA policy. It rewards the higher fare paying customers.

So, the 75K new level doesn't hit till MID 2012, is that correct? So, I have more than 18 months to finish my 1MM mileage runs and complete the move to AA!

It also erodes F revenue. Who would pay an F fare if they could get an M-Up?

I wonder if they're struggling with this one. I get the sense that UA has more F-paying pax than CO ever did, so using CO's approach with the combined carrier may be significant revenue erosion. UA has always preferred to keep it on a market-by-market basis, so they can dump F inventory in markets where it doesn't sell well.

They created a 1P+ (CO Plat), and CO created a Plat+ (1K).

It's obvious what they're doing next year.

Agree and fair points. UA does seem to have significant F payers especially out of their hubs. Again, just an idea for "enhancements" in the future...

And CO can do a limited version of the same by restricting the ZE inventory on specific segments. When I buy a TPA-ONT H-Up that includes the IAD-LAX/SFO/SAN segment that UA probably would rather sell for more money to someone else. Under CO's system I'd probably stay in Y on that segment - at least until much closer to departure - than with the UA system.

I'm not completely convinced that the CO approach ruins revenue. It mostly covers domestic markets where paid premium levels probably aren't as high. Rather than just getting minimal whY fares CO is driving incrementally higher revenue from some passengers who otherwise wouldn't be able to cover the F fare under their company's travel policies.
Correct.
Agreed.

Did you see this on the website?

Not bad.

I was just looking at this forum and I have to make a comment that a lot of you UA elites don't realize just how *good* you have it on UA compared to AA-especially when it comes to domestic travel.

You don't have to pay for mileage upgrades copay, you don't have to pay for e500s anymore, you get hundreds of dollars of e-certs for the smallest complaints (sorry just how I feel), and have a huge widebody domestic fleet that dramatically increases your chance of an upgrade to C or F.

A few CR-1's may not be earned next year, and a lot of you are acting like the airline has been turned on top of its head. Anyone switching to AA right now would be wonderful, especially since we're continuing to endure capacity cuts in non-hub locations, and I'm sure your business would be appreciated.

But wow-I think that it could have been a lot worse for you guys considering the merger, I am sure more changes to come, but really, this is so minimal. Just my two cents-but you're welcome to switch to AA

Correct. If you want to punish them, you need to switch alliances, like going to the dAArk side. I hear they have cookies (freshly baked chocolate chip). ;)

You mean 1K, I assume.

I read it as they would be shelling out more CR1s to 1Ks, since a bunch of CO folks who would qualify for 1K would be earning them too. Like I said, if a bunch of them are expiring unused thanks to UDU, why mint a ton more of them to go unused?

I also wonder if this is the preface to changing how p.s. fits into the new UA world. Yeah, I know, high RASM flights... but CO seemed to do fine flying people into EWR.

Weeeeelllll...

http://www.centreforaviation.com/new...d-second/page1

UA beats CO on RASM. I would assume CO beats UA on the CASM side, though, given that the profits are comparable in size but CO is a considerably smaller airline.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uni...lts-2010-10-21

As a MM who's halfway to 2MM, have to admit I'm in the ' new benefits' aren't really benefits.

For those who have said you're happy w/ 1P for life due to MM, we have no idea if that's actually going to be the case. We could get dropped to Silver, which would really suck because unlike CO, our 1MM was based on BIS, not BIS, cc spend, etc. And unless you're doing 75K, you're now 1P- for life if by chance they do keep the 1P.

And there's no guarantee that the 2 CR1s MMs receive each Jan will continue in the future. In fact I'd be stunned if they did.

I also feel for the folk who get their 1K on segments. Contrary to popular belief in this forum, not all are doing mileage runs. A # of people do travel short hops for bizness and don't do int'l trips.

Not overly thrilled about the CR1s drop & the way the SWUs are, but others have mentioed the problems w/ those so I won't repeat.

If my MM gets me dropped down to Silver and UA does drop E+, then yup those will be the straws that break the camel's back for me.

Cheers.