Yea, I got a killer Z fare leaving Thanksgiving night and coming back the following Saturday. Routing was LGA-ORD-LHR. Something like $1100 or $1200 all in. They also had good fares to Paris on UA and some great Z fares on LH to Munich and Frankfort as well as to there and connecting onward for the same days.

I thought AA did 'challenges' to get to elite status? I know I spent some time w/ some FTers on their In-n-Out run to LAX last weekend, and one called AA from the car, signed up for it & w/ 3 more trips is mid-tier I think. Not sure if they offer a top-tier challenge. One of the AA flyers who also flies UA can probably come along & explain the particulars.

Last year & this year I needed the DEQM program. Last year UA ran it, & got a few thousand extra $$ out of me w/ the LHR runs & the fee. This year especially w/ loss of some big contracts I need it, as I've not been traveling as much (so not really diluting anyone else's status ;) ). Since they're not running it I'll save the $$ & just drop to 1P (thanks to MM status).

FWIW, I had/have no problem taking advantage of the DEQM program. UA offered it for a reason - it needed the revenue. And also since I earned my MM status w/ ALL domestic flights (that's a LOT of BIS time), and have also earned 1K the 'hard' way, the few times I needed/might have needed 1K 'Lite' didn't cause me to lose any sleep.

And unlike other FTers (whether they're in the UA forum or other airline forums or hotel forums), I've never agreed w/ there are too many top/mid tiers, I'm losing my bennies, the sky is falling rants, etc. For every rabid FTer there are tons of frequent flyers & hotel ff#s who don't take advantage of DEQMs & other promos, don't know they exist, know they exist & don't think it really applies to them, or don't even care. My guess is there are a heck of a lot more of them than there are FTers.

What I WILL miss of course are the SWUs, CR1s, US call center (do you get USCC w/ 1P?), & the no fees for award changes. I tremble inside when I think of that. But unless some MR FTer can come along & help me figure out how to get 75K miles cheap (even w/ the upcoming FLL Do I'll only be at 23K this year - it was a BIG hit mileage-wise w/ bizness being down) btwn now & end of year, 1P I'll stay.

And if there are some MR FTers who can do that, please feel free to PM me! You need to know I'm lousy at sorting all that out - my idea of a multiple connection is 1-stop. Even when people post MRs in that forum for 2cents, when I try the flights come out $2K, so obviously I'm doing something wrong!

But that started me thinking - ie, the loss of 1K status & suddenly flying in E int'ly (which hasn't happened in 10 years) or even E domestically since I won't have CR1s & I doubt e500s will clear that often - and here's where UA might be a tad more in trouble w/ regards to revenue - especially if others start wondering like I do and then act on it.

To date it would never have occurred to me to fly AA or another airline because I've been locked into UA for so long & am 1/2-way to my 2nd MM. But seeing that one only gets 1K status for life at the 3MM mark, & basically 2MM gets me free RCC for life with a couple of extra 1-time SWUs tossed in, and odds are I won't make 3MM for LT1K, and because I'm now going to be experiencing E for the first time in a long time - and since I have 1P for Life, maybe I should look at AA & their challenge (or see if they'll comp me) & try for top tier on them.

Not going to say for certain I will jump ship over to AA, but I am going to chat w/ some AAers (who of course will try to convince me it's totally better than UA) & look at UA & decide then how it will work for next year. But if I do switch, as the saying goes it's harder to get one to come back.

I don't fault UA for choosing not to do the DEQM. It was a bizness decision for them. But that decision also started me thinking non-UA thoughts which wouldn't have happened before.

Edited to add: BTW - I'm not 'bitter' or 'venomous' towards UA. It's a biz decision by them. And I've never (since they started the DEQM promo) booked my flight patterns 'hoping or counting on' for the DEQM. I booked flights because I needed to be somewhere for bizness or leisure, or was going to an FT Do, etc. Last year & this year bizness was down & thus I needed the DEQM to qualify; simple as that. But it wouldn't occur to me at the beginning of the year to say I'll just fly a bit & then topload Q4. For one reason, that isn't the best way to earn CR1s amongst other things.

I do get a little cranky when other FTers question my 'loyalty' etc. I've flown UA for 20years, have 1.5MM BIS w/ them (as well as about the same on other airlines, btw), and so don't appreciate the 'well if you really want it fly you lowlife scumbag', which seems to be the message that some of the 1KHards seem to get across in this thread and others. FWIW - even when I did it the hard way I had no problem w/ the 1KLites.

Also, my thinking about AA possibly for next year is not 'Teddy out of the Pram' (ie, temper-tamtrum) thinking, but just that w/o the getting of 1K & hearing about the elite challenges & how in certain areas AA folk are treated better, it has me at least investigating it.

Cheers.

Some good points, Sharon. It's important to keep in mind that AA only does Challenges to mid-tier at most, and while you could certainly do that, what would you ultimately be accomplishing? Upgrades are a bit cheaper to buy at AA ($30 for a 500'er as an elite), but ultimately you would be treated better as a 1P MM at UA, IMO. You would basically just be starting over somewhere else, and I doubt there's all that much benefit to that, personally. JMO.:)

I was just in lovely Tsukuba Science City for 2 and a half days (arg). But the beer machine cheered me up. Just got into ORD.

In terms of FF programs, I would say at this point that AA is superior to UA in just about every way. I dont see what UA gains by widening the gap.

My hunch is very much the opposite. While I like 1P, the difference between 1P and 2P is not worth $600, especially if you fly less than 50K a year. SWUs, on the other hand...

UA should announce they will NOT do it, and see how many people cancel. That'll give them one measure of the effect of DEQM for future years.

In general, I agree with the speculation that they are wanting to thin the ranks because of the new premium cabins. Perhaps we'll see COS bonuses go up next year.

PVDProf
50K real BIS when UA stranded me in ANC

Again, in my experience you are treated significantly better as an AA Platinum than as a UA 1K. It isnt even close in my experience.

After reading this thread and especially in the last few days, regarding the the hope, anticipation, and finally realization that things are different this year (no DEQM) -- even though I have not yet had to use the DEQM offer -- I thought I would be more proactive in planning for next year and keeping 1K for 2010.

I am no where near the expertise as are most of you, but I am learning to be clever in my routings (and getting around the limitations of ual.com) in order to get the EQM's I need.

As of 2/5 I will have just under 43,000 EQM's^, with a total of 80,000 by mid July.^^:p. I did this by squeezing out every mile possible on the trips that I am scheduled to take. I guess it's true, once you hit 1K, it's very hard to go back;)

I have seen simlar people ask this .... I don't get it? Kind of like a local car dealer who always has a Presidents/Valentines/Spring Sales event and for one year, they decide not to do it..... do they need to advertise.... "hey were not having a sale/promotion this year"? :confused:

Cancel what? If people already booked thier tickets for a MR or a leisure trip... then most likely they were on NR/discount type fares.... ;)

I am in the middle on this one... IMO I think they only want to thin the 1K ranks.... as elite choice has inflated the 3P/2P ranks far more then DEQM did.

For exact reasons you just stated. Being out of the tri-state area, UA does not have the most convenient schedule and usually not the cheapest fares. I do value the fact that I get Economy Plus and 100% mileage bonus, and have been a long time loyalist to UA. However, with upgrades clearing cliffhangers, indifferent attitude of airport agents, and really recent positive experience on VX, CO, and WN, as well as my matched status on AA, i'm willing to forgo some UA miles and try out some other experiences and see what the grass is like on the other side of the fence. Like I said, it's only through end of the year - i'll be back in no time!

From the 1k site:

"Have you already requalified for 2008 1K status? If so, you can receive an early deposit of four of your six 2008 Systemwide Upgrades."

It appears that they will not be scaling down in 2008.

As someone who must buy economy tickets and flies just enough for 1P, I have wondered if UA is the best for me. I have come to the conclusion that 1P is the level at which UA is a clear choice. At that level, you're not flying enough to be upgraded most of the time on any airline (unless you fly routes with few elites). A 1P on UA gets US call centers, pretty good shot at desirable upgrades (because UA's system doesn't automatically upgrade all you 1Ks ahead of us), and E+. E+ is why I fly UA. It means most of my flying, which will be in Y, is more comfortable than other airlines.

I'll see you in an exit row near me. Say hello and I'll buy you a $5 drink. :)

And Lucky wasn't even comparing to 1K but rather to 1P. Customer service at any level is much better with AA than at United.

IMHO PLT at AA is better than 1P at United. Anyway SkiAdcock is 1P for life so there is some incentive to book UA flights to get RDM's.

The word 'treatment' is variable to different people. Just re-check the published benefits for these two tiers and a more reasonable statement would argue that they're not even comparable. There's a reason the elite qualification miles are higher for 1Ks.

At some point, any promotion has got to end. As evident from some of the posts here, continuing otherwise would simply perpetuate an unsustainable sense of expectation and entitlement.

Well, not to rain on the Naysayers' parade, but 3 out of the past 4 years the DEQM announcement has been made on a Thursday. While tomorrow would be the latest ever it is not out of reasonable range. Last year was announced 12 days earlier than the earliest previous announcement. See what tomorrow brings.

2003 Thurs Oct 9
2004 Mon Oct 11
2005 Thurs Oct 13
2006 Thurs Sep 28

Even a base member with AA (as I was before doing the Plat ChAAlenge) was treated better on the AA lines than a 1k on the telephone...It's like night and day! (hard to say this, but it is true...)

During the ChAAlenge, I had some misinformation on a HIP-check, and just planned a reward with UA on AC to get out, just in case (luckily I did this) and I encountered the rudest UA agent I had ever experienced when I had to ticket it...not very reassuring, actually! :rolleyes: