Hillhouse

I am Delta Diamond flier.. that is their highest flier category. The perks are nice, as I'm sure they are on United's top tier program.

Here is my question, with Delta I get a hotel room compensated if the flight cancels INCLUDING weather cancellations. Does United offer this for the top tier fliers? I would be connecting a lot in CLE, which has a lot of weather issues (as does my Detroit hub for Delta). This is a huge perk with Delta so I'd really need to know if UA offers this.

Thanks all, Merry Christmas.

AZjohns

Well, Global Service is the highest tier at UA and you need to spend a lot $ to be invited. The next highest is called 1K which you get by flying 100K miles or 120 segments per year.
I can answer on the 1K part, and the answer WAS yes, I got hotel rooms if I had to spend a night for what ever reason. But I bolded was because with this new merger some things are changing, this is not a known yet for next year.

mherdeg

Free hotels for overnight stays caused by wx on domestic flights are usually offered as an unpublished benefit for United 1K members and are usually not offered to Continental Platinum members. If this perk is going to tip the scales for DL vs. UA loyalty, you should maybe wait and see.

Note that if the new airline is anything like the existing UA, no one will ever officially confirm that free hotels are guaranteed for 1K passengers stranded due to weather.

See discussion at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...isconnect.html where misinformed or grumpy agents did not provide this benefit and passengers who complained on FlyerTalk were told "this is not a published benefit; any documentation of anything like this is internal and is not available for you to see".

In practice, you will always / almost always get a free hotel room after wx. But you shouldn't switch to United unless you can handle the ambiguity: "yes, of course we'll do whatever we can for our best customers" and also simultaneously "we won't promise anything".

Joshua

(1) United MileagePlus Explorer card offers up to $300 in hotels/transportation for weather misconnects per ticket bought with the card (although the benefit can be a little slow to get paid claims for).

(2) CLE weather delays are not bad--not nearly as severe as DTW. CLE has plenty of capacity, but a light flight schedule. Delays for me from CLE usually involve problems at the airport to which I'm flying. Flights to CLE often pull into the gate 10-20 minutes before scheduled arrival time.

mahasamatman

Ah yes, another case of a credit card holder holding higher status than the (supposed) top-tier elite.

snod08

LOL! that does seem weird..and a kick to the 1K's.

rjque

It's not a status perk; it's an insurance benefit of having the card. Not a bad idea.

mahasamatman

Yet it still outranks a 1K.

Cbmaz

My friend that works CO in EWR tells me that all elites (including silver) get hotels for weather if there are no other alternate flights available and they are stuck overnight.

rjque

In the same way that a 1P who chooses to buy a UC membership gets access whereas a 1K who does not buy a membership is denied access.

That is one of the funniest things I have ever read on Flyertalk. In EWR, no less!

mahasamatman

Not the same way in the least.

JeffS

How exactly? A 1K would get a hotel in the same exact circumstances.

mahasamatman

Maybe yes, maybe no. As has been pointed out numerous times, it's not an official perk, and we have no way of knowing what will happen to the unofficial perk with the post-merger penny-pinching.

N1120A

Its an official perk insomuch as its coded in UA's system. Who knows what happens when COdbaUa switches to SHARES.

mre5765

As a 1K, I've never been denied a hotel due to WX. I've even received it once as a 1P.

This year, when UA's IT systems crashed preventing me from going to Canada as scheduled, I did not receive a hotel (because I was not willing to wait in line 3 hours for a hotel voucher, or maybe the reason was that UA's systems could not print hotel vouchers) but the post-event compensation more than covered the hotel. You should read http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...perations.html to get an idea of just how bad United can be when there is an irrops. While this was worldwide, and not local as WX would be, it nonetheless represents the worst case scenario. I can tell you that in DEN at least, 1Ks were not afforded special treatment by ground staff.

That said, in 5 years as a 1K, I've had to use the WX hotel benefit maybe twice. Given that the fully merged UA will have a plethora of hubs, I doubt I will need the WX guarantee as often in the future. Instead, as the CO and UA IT systems combine/switch over in what will likely include hacks, kludges, and bandaids, be worried about artificial irrops which you won't be able to take advantage of because the system won't print vouchers.

I would consider waiting a year, or if the routes work, go to AA, which is a better program for the top mileage tier than 1K. AA has a DEQM going so now is the time.

There are lots of at the airports perks (upgrades, UC access) that the new UA and PMCO credit cards are supposed to give one, but are reported here as hit or miss. With respect to a hotel, especially in hub (except CLE and DEN) where the rates are expensive, this benefit is going to more miss than hit. But hey, it's another data point that a Chase card gives one hobo elite status. I can't believe more 1Ks on the coasts or ORD aren't considering a switch. In Colorado we are owned of course.