I differ with you here. Of course it is conjecture and speculation as UA will never reveal the algorithm it uses for inventory management. Talking my specific market of ex-DEN to anywhere, and typical transpac flights, I believe in the domestic market they have drastically reduced confirmable upgrade space- even when using a CR it is not clearing at 100hrs. I believe they are squeezing revenue out of these seats through upsells. And I believe the business travel is up a bit and they are selling more F seats. I have no beef with that.

To say that across the board upgrades are as easy as 2 years ago, or easier than the last 2 years, I think you gotta have your head in the sand. ex-DEN no question the musical chairs game is now more players/less chairs. No question on the flights I have been on last few months.

On Transpacs they are selling seats like freaks. Who can blame them.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-airlines.html

hence, stupid as it sounds, upgrades are becoming harder to come by. FREE upgrades that is.

That's one of the reason that I don't want the gambling W fare upgrade and it's not FREE.

Starting to look a lot like CO
 

I think your statement sums it up. I won't be leaving UA for AA, I will be leaving CO for AA. AA send me an elite challenge to Exec. Plat and I will consider it.

Thanks for nothing
 

Thank you so much for giving us all of this news now. Most of us have already strategically positioned ourselves to take advantage of the best possible status position for 2011 (based on what we knew or expected). Personally, I had no idea what would happen with MileagePlus or OnePass because nobody at Continental or United seemed to have any good information (or they were not at will to say) about was going to happen with either program. I did not take any chances - my miles were concentrated with SkyTeam.

CO & Jeffrey are the snakes watching their prey expend their energy on something comparatively small-fry like CR1, before strking the lethal blow while the prey is too exhausted to fight it off.

Beware - real devaluation is on the way.

I see 2011 a transition year not just for the new fake shell of its former self UA, but for me too...transitioning out of UA as my sole preferred carrier.

I believe that is still in effect... for now.

As a perennial 3P/2P, these changes won't really affect me directly. However, my mother is a 1K who usually flies in the 100K-125K range, so she will definitely be earning fewer CR-1s under the new scheme... that's bad news for her, and consequently, bad news for Mrs. cepheid and myself, since it means my mother can't sponsor us as frequently. My dad is a 1P who almost never breaks 75K, so he'll also be losing upgrade priority.

Unfortunately, for people with our flying habits, it's not that much better (if at all) at other airlines, and flying out of either SFO or IAD, UA dominates the market sufficiently that other airlines aren't a great option anyway.

For now, I guess we'll just have to play along and see how this works out... I'm not all that happy about it, but I've got no better alternatives.

I will still be flying UA a lot but I will book more on B6 and VX for domestic now. I have done so this year and love it. I will hit 125k next week so my wife can have 3p again but she prefers VX and B6 for stateside travel and usually sits up front on the overseas flights. I guess I will wait and see but so far I still have not figured out what benefit a 1k gets from these changes. :td::mad:

I think most of that group is CO as 75k got you their highest status.

a wildcard to see how it plays out is the processing of the Waitlist. It appears that the first criteria will be # of EQM's from the previous year. So GS could be below a 1k perhaps. I'm curious how this will operate and will add to the mystery.

Remember UA tried to take CR1's away last spring with the advent of UDU and they relented for 1k's were so up in arms. They are getting smarter and only taking half away but then giving us the same if you hit 150k or more if you go further.

I still think there is much to be decided officially and how better to beta test their customers response in a harmless email announcement that is vague? Changes to this are very possible IMO.

Add me to the disappointed list. (No email yet from UA.) Will be 1K again next year but not sure about 2012, particularly if in that year we don't get SWUs until we cross the 100K EQM mark (120 segments) instead of at the start of each benefit year. That's a long wait. And even without flying PS, I find CR1s very useful to confirm certain high-demand flights (IAD-LAX/SFO/DEN) that are full of GSs and MMs putting me down the upgrade priority list.

Just to clarify, we will still get our SWUs at the start of 2011, but CR1s are now gone until we hit 75K EQMs (or appropriate number of segments). Then in 2012 our initial six 2011 SWUs expire and we don't get any more of them until we hit 100K EQMs or 120 EQSs well into 2012. That's quite a drought! Leaves only miles for upgrading.

The SWUs granted in Jan 2011 will expire Jan 2012. So if you requal 1K in 2011 you'll get another 6 upon hitting 100K EQM. This could mean you're inundated with SWUs in late 2011 with the potential for having none come middle-late 2012.

That's if I'm reading the release correctly.

Did you ask AA for the ex plat challenge? Wondering where I can view this as I'm interested.

Thanks

Well, I'm going to say it.

New UA: Thank you. You've saved the unique benefit of CR1's that no other airline has. It was way too generous to keep them at the same levels they were once UDU's kicked in. You found a healthy compromise. In my case, most of these go to friends - something I still cannot do easily at all with my top tiers @ DL or AA. So, THANK YOU for preserving this benefit. (And, FWIW, I'll personally pick up 2-4 more CR1's per year this way.)

I always believe everyone has the right to vent when something impacts them, so let this thread serve as a warning should more impactful elements be on the tinkering table. But since CO is now getting 6 SWU's & CR1's (and incrementable SWU's at 150k, 200k, etc), I'm beginning to get comfortable about where Mileage Plus is going to land. So far, I'm happy.

People who fly segment runs on those short hop sale fares will continue to do so no matter how many segments are required to get 1K. The segment change really hurts Northeast business travelers.

I fly one roundtrip per week for work (~40/year), on nonstop flights, plus ~10 leisure trips to get to 100 segments for the year. 50% of my flying is UA, 50% is Star (mostly AC and US). Nearly all short hops <750 miles. So far this year I have 100.5 EQS and 61k EQM. My average ticket price is easily upwards of $500 per roundtrip, I've probably bought 10 last minute tickets for >$1200. Without adding unnecessary connections (e.g. BOS-IAD-LGA(UA) instead of BOS-LGA(US), or ORD-IAD-LGA instead of ORD-LGA), there's no way I can make 120 EQS.

I think MP is a better program than AA (Star is much more convenient for me, flat-bed on international instead of wedgie seats in J, etc.), and I've enjoyed being a 1K and always gotten great service. I've never threatened to move before, but EXP is obviously more valuable than 1P. There's just no way I can make it to 1K with 120 segments.

@:-)This isn't "you took away 4 CR1s". This is "you took away my ability to reach 1K, but on your competitor I can still reach EXP"@:-)

I will miss E+, but I can't keep flying UA if I don't make it to 1K and get SWUs and 1K1Call. :(

...except that CO fliers are now seeing how good E+ is, so there may be a net inflow to UA metal in the next year

...especially since with all the F UG hawking CO does, their chances to UG on UA might even be better, even below a group of UA fliers they'd be ahead of on CO metal