A Real Elite
 

MikeORD: my inital post was somewhat tongue in cheek. My apologies if it offended. And welcome to FT. :) Sorry to start off on the wrong foot with you.

In my eyes, you are more than an elite. 100 EQS on UX puddle jumpers? I can not even imagine. explus F does not even really do it for me, much less the smaller planes... Yes, I am lucky to be SFO based and have the majority of my travel be longer flights and larger aircraft.

However, my measurement of elite and UACO's are obviously not the same. At the end of the day, a road warrior like you must not be bringing in the profitable revenue on UX segments that other FF'ers are on mainline / UA metal runs (no matter what entropy says!).

In reviewing how next years MP program is shaping up, here is what I am leaning towards today (I just achieved 1K on EQM, so I've got this through 1/31/12):

1) Achieve 1P+ (75,001 BIS) on UA - in 2011 for 2012
2) Apply for a status match to Plat on AA in Q1 2011. I'll get immediate Gold benefits (hopefully) and AAPlat after I reach 10K EQP (points, not miles) in 3 months. No Problem.

Then I'll have the rest of 2011 as a 1K and Plat to determine which airline / FF amenities are providing me with the most value... If one is clearly the winner, I'll move as much travel as possible to that airline.

(With Virgin growing out of SFO, I may give them a call too to see what they might offer...)

Everybody needs to evaluate their personal flying patterns and preferences against what the airlines offer! What is important to you is what really matters, and you need to choose the airline that best meets your requirements! (From this perspective, I am glad UA has done what they did. Give everyone a kick in the pants to go out and review all their options and find something better if it is out there.)

Check out UDUstats.com. Your HNL and Connection Point segment is probably good to go for UDU. Don't know about your Origin-Connection Point.

There are a multitude of factors that contribute to the state of the US industry. Labor, Fuel, and Regulatory requirements as examples. I'm not suggesting that you can't complain about your consumer choices, but most of the complaining here is about a perceived reduction in benefits as a frequent flier. No doubt these changes hurt some travelers but United is not taking away benefits for the sake of hurting their loyal customers.

Not true. And never has been true. The only metric that counts is RASM. There is no way for the airlines to price their product differently based on passenger loyalty. It is all governed by tariffs. As far as they're concerned, passenger A and B are equal at time of ticketing. They do value loyalty but passenger loyalty is waning, price now is the most important decision factor for most passengers. As clearly shown by many comments above, people are willing to jump ship to AA because they "might" take away two CR-1s. I think what UA/CO have realized that you shell out all the benefits to people and they don't reciprocate. Loyalty is a 2 way street. But if you stay loyal, they are prepared to reward you.

You're insinuating that Joe Nobody got the seat ahead of an elite. That's not true of the process (as far as CO is concerned). Every Elite is accommodated FIRST before they offer an upsell to non Elites, as this is only offered at check in. Keep in mind this is different from the fare upsell to a higher fare class which qualifies for an automatic upgrade which can happen anytime prior to departure. Is it fair that they highlight that "if you only pay $150 more you can confirm in first?" Sure. If I paid a low fare and someone is willing to pay a higher revenue value and sit in first, tough on me.

Just not true.

I just wanna clarify, in my post on page 40(!! wow people are pissed) you say you just aren't buying it. Better bring your wallet, this is EXACTLY what CO does, and is starting to happen on UA. I have seen it, others have seen it, and it is making upgrading as an elite harder. I'm not upset, I'm not blaming them for making money or attempting to. I am saying if legacy UA elites don't think upgrades under Smisek aren't going to be tougher and sold out from under you- I think thats what we shouldn't be buying.

All I know anecdotally is that my RTs from SBA-SFO are $1200 for a measly 1000 EQMs. That's far more $/EQM or EQS than any other flight I take transcontinental/domestic. International are a little more $/EQS, but not substantially more.

very few people are paying that - not saying you don't but it's a small number; most pax are onward connections to SBA who generate lower yields. I say this with total and complete... speculation.

PERFECT AIRLINE THINK!!!

This is exactly what is wrong with the airlines, they try to maximize revenue per flight and assume that this has no impact on future passenger behavior or future traffic. IMHO this is completely wrong. I don't know about anyone else but the hassles and insults and wasted time have a big impact on my travel. If travel and booking was easier and predictable, I would fly at least 50% more .... maybe double.

120 segments Come On
 

I made 1K again yesterday with 101 segments. Now I have to fly 120 to keep the same staus but it is devalued. You have got to be kidding me. I can only take so many CRJ flights, loking elsewhere

Actually that is not true.

Let's use an example of a 16 seat F plane. CO sells 8 Revenue seats prior to the 120h mark, so there are 8 seats left.

They then choose to designate how many of those seats are upgrade seats, so if they decide that the flight has 2 upgrade seats, then they will book to 10 and 6 seats will be open day of the flight for revenue. They will then try and upsell those seats usually before finally upgrading again.

As for UA, UA will upsell those 6 remaining seats until the 4 hour mark before the flight and then finish most of the upgrades.

But to say that if there are 8 Revenue seats left that CO will automatically upgrade 8 people is not true, they base it on how many revenue they think they will sell last minute and also if they don't sell those, I am sure they try and pull upsell revenue on those too, hence the upgrade waitlist during the check-in process.

I agree with that. They are doing it because they believe as an oligopolist in a group with fewer and fewer members, their customers will have no choice but to take it.

And of course most of the complaining here is about frequent flier benefits! First of all, who would you expect to be on a website like flyertalk? And second, since frequent fliers keep an airline in business, they are more important than infrequent fliers -- even the ones that game the system probably spend way more money on air tickets than the once-a-year visitors to mom.

Rollover EQM's?
 

I know this is mentioned in this thread earlier - Include rollover EQM's (with MM status and E+) to the things we need to hear about United PR!

We're waiting with bated breath!

OK, thanks COSPILOT....for putting me abit in the spotlight. :p

Folks, without getting into detail about where (what flight) and from whom I heard what I heard, let me just say that I had an opportunity earlier today to sit by and talk some with a more-than-just-a-worker- bee UA HQ staffer. As stated, he is not a flight crew or airport staff person.

I mentioned to him several of the upcoming Mileage Plus "enhancements" that had surfaced just yesterday morning, and how they understandably were not sitting well with many of UA's higher elites, based on posts to this thread. I also mentioned to him that one very important operational feature many elites were anxiously waiting to hear about was the future of economy plus, and whether the new United planned to retain it. He replied to me that, based on what he had heard, it would be retained.

So, seemingly some unofficial good news, but now we must wait for an official announcement.

I have made 1K on EQS's for the last 13 years. Now I have absolutely ZERO chance of making 1K in the future since all my flying is in and out of ORD and no connecting flights.

UuntedPR - Unless you can figure out how to get 60 weeks into a calendar year, this 1K is going to AA. It may be tough for the 1st year but at least I have something to look forward to.....

It's called United Global Services.

So if I'm reading this correctly, I just qualified for UA 1K, I no longer get my CR-1'a until I do 75K MORE miles next year, and I don't get any SWU's until mid-2011. That's outrageous! Tell me I'm wrong...