Originally Posted by travelinmanS (Post 15403401)

Isn't this one of the main point of mergers to increase size and market share thereby increasing pricing power over your customers? This can be done by actively raising prices or reducing benefits that have a cost to provide. This is what UA will do and it should be a surprise to nobody.

I could never understand the cheerleading for this merger from people here on FT, it was never going to make the MP program better or even UA as an airline better from a customer's perspective. Mergers are about increasing the bottom line by decreasing competition and consumer choice. Has there ever been a merger that truly benefited the consumer long term? My prediction is that in a year's time SWU's will be severely restricted by fare class, there will be fewer SWU's given out, E+ will be history, routes will be rationalized, planes will be jammed, prices will go up, but boy oh boy we can say we fly the world's largest airline and they have a cool new paint job.

We should all be thanking our lucky stars that AA is still managing to operate as a stand alone enterprise. Once they merge with someone and shrink their program UA will have no incentive to compete on the basis of a mileage program and will probably create some Delta like program that everyone will hate.

Originally Posted by UA1K4EVER (Post 15404797)

Thousands agree, thousands disagree, but thousands can also come together to try to stir the ship along a course that they view as more favorable to them, by chanting, "MP + OneP = MP!!", to build a ground swell for E+ and the current SWU, CR1, EQM/EQS 1K qualification rules to stay. In other words, we should request that they keep the better of the two FF programs, which is MP, by far. There is no need to "align" anything, and please spare us the "enhancements". The OneP members have one year to get used to flying more to make top elite in the new UA, but the perks, if they stay as they are under MP, will be much better than those they got as top OneP elites. Seems fair to me.

Originally Posted by unavaca (Post 15443474)

I'm about 5k miles short of 75k this year. To confirm, there is no reason to make a run for 75k because that milestone doesn't appear until 2011, right?

Originally Posted by DCItalianDC (Post 15444644)

When did United change the # of EQSs required 2P, 1P, and 1K. I never paid much attention because I have always qualified with miles. The new requirements are for this year? Thanks.

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA (Post 15444669)

There has been no change yet -- it is 30, 60 & 100 respectively in 2010 for 2011 status. It will change to 30, 60 & 120 in 2011 for 2012 status.

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA (Post 15444669)

There has been no change yet -- it is 30, 60 & 100 respectively in 2010 for 2011 status. It will change to 30, 60 & 120 in 2011 for 2012 status.

Originally Posted by mh3265a (Post 15448129)

I didn't see this posted elsewhere within this thread but since the first announcement about the Mileage Plus program changes I see that UA has compromised and will allow current 1Ks to earn 2 CR-1s for every quarter they hit 10K BIS plus 2 more when you hit 75K. Things will change in 2012 but I think this is a good faith gesture from UA.

I still think allowing SWUs on CO flights would be a huge benefit for 2011...

From: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,53656,00.html

1K members: During 2011, if you are a 1K member based on 2010 activity, you will still be eligible to earn two Regional Upgrades per quarter as you did before. In addition, under the new program changes announced on Nov. 17, you will also receive two more Regional Upgrades when you reach 75,000 EQM/90 EQS and two at every 25,000 EQM/30EQS after that. The quarterly earning process will end on December 31, 2011, and then the new rules will be in effect for 2012.

Originally Posted by pdx1M (Post 15389289)

It seems that a number of recent posts have accused UA of shutting down upgrades as though upgrades are a primary right of some sort. [...] However, I see no evidence that they are or ever were a priority that came above selling the seat for revenue. [...] If UA thought they could sell the seats, they never allocate them for free upgrades - quite honestly that would be poor business for any airline.

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA (Post 15396891)

not yet ...

Originally Posted by ocn2ocn (Post 15451366)

This "compromise" by UA makes no sense. While it is positive to see UA react to all the negative feedback on the new CR1 earning rules by extending the old rules for 1 year, this one year extension is a short term form of appeasement -- rather than a long term solution that addresses the concerns about diluting longstanding 1K benefits.

Originally Posted by travelinmanS (Post 15403401)

Isn't this one of the main point of mergers to increase size and market share thereby increasing pricing power over your customers? This can be done by actively raising prices or reducing benefits that have a cost to provide. This is what UA will do and it should be a surprise to nobody.

I could never understand the cheerleading for this merger from people here on FT, it was never going to make the MP program better or even UA as an airline better from a customer's perspective. Mergers are about increasing the bottom line by decreasing competition and consumer choice. Has there ever been a merger that truly benefited the consumer long term? My prediction is that in a year's time SWU's will be severely restricted by fare class, there will be fewer SWU's given out, E+ will be history, routes will be rationalized, planes will be jammed, prices will go up, but boy oh boy we can say we fly the world's largest airline and they have a cool new paint job.

We should all be thanking our lucky stars that AA is still managing to operate as a stand alone enterprise. Once they merge with someone and shrink their program UA will have no incentive to compete on the basis of a mileage program and will probably create some Delta like program that everyone will hate.

Originally Posted by SouthPoleFlyer (Post 15569906)

mre5765 says: "He is flying in January 2011. Thus the 10K BIS on CO metal credited to UA will count toward earning CR1s; it will count as at least 10K EQM toward the 75K EQM needed to get 2 CR1s under the new system which does start on January 1, 2011, even as the old system is allowed to continue for one year. http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,53656,00.html"

I can't find an explicit statement on .bomb that explicitly says CO BIS count toward quarterly CR1s in 2011 -- any clue where this might be?