Mike Jacoubowsky

Let's see... no more e500s, no CR1s for the 1P & below, just an unlikely shot at UDU and, for now, the opportunity to sit in E+. Not too likely we'll see a DEQM promo either.

So here's the question. Has UA eliminated a few good reasons to avoid *A carriers and stick with UA metal? A lower-level elite is still going to get treated a bit better when things go south, but it doesn't seem like there's nearly as much reason to try and book strictly on UA metal like there used to be.

For the 1K, sure, you're still earning CR1s, you're going to get a lot of UDUs, and you're going to be treated much better during irrops on UA metal than otherwise. You guys should stick to UA metal wherever possible. Just not sure it's nearly as important for the rest of us as it used to be. (Aside from those who might make it to MM status, as pointed out by jetsfan92588)

What do others think?

jetsfan92588

Going to be 1P next year and not counting on much. Lifetime miles may be a reason to stick to ua metal, but I'm under 200,000 so by the time I get up to a million, the program likely will have changed. But if you're above 800K, it may be worth it to get the 1P for life.

PTravel

The primary attraction of UA for me, a 1P, is E+. That's reason to stick with UA metal. I've always felt that 1P was, essentially, of nominal value (I buy an RCC membership every year, so club access for *G is no big deal). The day UA eliminates my access to E+ is probably the last day I'd set foot on a UA aircraft. Actually, let me amend that: the day that I can't get an E+ seat, either because of UA pushing up-sells, allowing 1Ks to bring up 100 friends and relatives, or whatever, is the day I'll stop flying UA metal.

Frequent Freak

Exit rows, I guess.

Mike Jacoubowsky

That day is surely coming though, at least to some extent. This coming year you're likely going to be seeing formerly CO aircraft on routes you may need to take, and those will not, at least for a while, have E+. And aircraft may be substituted from time to time as well.

If UA were to make a statement that E+ was going to stay, that would be a significant reason to stick with UA metal. But without that statement, it seems like not such a bad idea to test the survivability of a seat on another carrier.

Time to start studying up on *G benefits on other *A carriers... maybe that's already a possibility for a *G on some *A carriers? Time to find out!

Ouch.

Agreed, 1P still carries more weight than 2P. But will it matter that much what metal one flies on? It won't likely matter at all for requalification, whereas in the past, if you thought DEQM could be introduced, that was only relevant on UA metal. Regarding the 90k 1P+, who kinda reminds me of "First loser" rather than 2nd from the top (because it's so close and yet loses so much), does the 1P+ also get to earn additional CR1s?

IainC

The fact that UA offered 1P nomination as an Elite bonus reward option at 175,000 miles says to me that UA does not see 1P carrying much value these days-perhaps it is the new Premier Associate?

WineCountryUA

75K 1Ps will get 2 CR1 -- not an overwhemming amount but not zero either.

eponymous_coward

As a 1P- (CO Gold), got 3/4 upgrades for segments on a recent trip:

SEA-SFO miss
SFO-LAS hit
LAS-DEN hit
DEN-SEA hit

Both of the last two upgrades were gate upgrades.

So I don't quite get the doom and gloom myself...

Frequent Freak

I'm old and set in my ways. I don't want to have to re-learn things like where to sit on what kind of plane, how to get around and waste time at hub airports I'm not familiar with, what I can do with a ticket once I've bought it and how I go about doing it, how to complain and what's worth complaining about when things go wrong, and a million billion other little things I'm very familiar with on UA but not at all familiar with on other airlines.

And USAir sucks. I don't think Smisek could screw up UA/CO so much that US starts to look attractive. But I guess it's possible.

AlanInDC

I've been a 1P for each of the past ten (or so) years. Overall, I see UDU as a pretty small negative. For short flights such as DCA-ORD, I would have generally not used e500s; with UDU, I have been upgraded a few times on short routes, so a net plus. On transcons, I have consistently used miles to upgrade the westbound flight, so no change. On eastbound transcons, or midcons, I would often request upgrades with e500s so now with UDU, maybe there is a net minus, though I only had a few such flights. I have upgraded a couple of eastbound transcons with miles in 2010.

For me, the worse development was the temporary imposition of the $50 fee to upgrade domestically when using miles as I could not get that reimbursed.

SAN 1K

175 EQM is not an easy milestone to hit, especially with no DEQM, so I'm not sure I agree with this point. How many people get that far in a year? Here on FT it is probably less than 100. Then in the general population there are likely people who never even signed up for elite choice. In my case (which may/may not be typical) both of my nominations went to family members who don't actually travel that much, so the impact is minimal anyway. (After all people who travel a lot don't need nominations, do they?).

rbcar3

Personally, I fly UA metal mainly for the 100% RDM bonus.

andrewwm

Available now on the key *A partners: AC, LH, US (probably will add NH too once the TPAC ATI goes through).

nascar9900

This is exactly what I am facing for 2011. After 10 years as Exp Plat on American, my company insisted I switch to a "preferred airline". UA comped me Premier Executive - but refused twice to give me 1K for the year or as a short term challenge. I have spent most of my holiday mornings reading *A posts to better understand the rules and optimization tactics.

I will be UA 1P and CO Platinum for 2011. I am planning on funneling all my miles into the UA account in order to achieve 1K faster. (I am based out of Austin, Texas.)

Here a few quick questions some of you should have answers:

1. Should I book an 11 hour coach class European flight on CO (for newer equipment, better FA's, and better connections); or 2 UA flights for the sole benefit of E+ seating?

2. Once a plane takes off, can passengers change seats - i.e move to Economy+ seats? (An empty seat next to me is more valuable than 5 extra inches of leg room.)

3. I have a trip to SIN in Business Class to schedule.
- Should I book SQ direct from LAX or EWR or is there a hidden benefit to fly UA via HKG, NRT? (I have zero miles or SWUs with UA.)

weero

Hahahaha.

UDU is a GS only perk, not offered to lowly 1Ks ... at least this is how it feels to me ever since its inception.

The remaining reasons are nearly the same for 1Ks and 1Ps - E+ and double RDM, boarding ahead of the baby owners.Generally not anymore. The FAs got a whole lot more vigilant these days and fiercely protect the E+ section. At least on Asian routes.
UA operated flights count towards lifetime miles and give elite benefit miles. If you are not after them and someone is paying for the outrageous SQ fares, then by all means go for their product. The A340 configuration has the new seats.