MIKEM

I am in the same boat - reached 1K for all of 2009. Why not reach out try someone else. Certainly UA has enough 1K's now and can afford to lose a few.

emcampbe

Actually, for US Citizens, they are testing a program similar to NEXUS called Global Entry which is available now at JFK, IAD and IAH. See here: http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/trave...iscription.xml. It's probably quite useful for anyone who travels regularly overseas, just as NEXUS has been invaluable to me as a regular traveller between the US and Canada (though if you're already enrolled in NEXUS, you might want to wait, as rumor has it they are looking at how they may integrate NEXUS members into Global Entry).

iceman77_7

But the OP explicitly states that the priority line is for FC and GS. It seems like an exception was made before, and now they're enforcing the established guideline.

mduell

A special line for the highest paying pax (F/GS) is pretty reasonable... why should mistakes in policy enforcement from the past continue?

MIKEM

If flying 100,000+ miles a year in paid seats is not enough to get in a priority security line then the heck with UA.

nzpilot

You might have a point if all 1Ks actually did that, but with programs like DEQM, the 1K ranks are growing. If I were GS or flying intl F regularly, I would love a line set apart for me. You gotta make the "special" cut somewhere & regardless of where you make it someone will be unhappy....

Chapel Hill Guy

BUAY-BYE!

Seriously, I fly 100K paid miles a year on UA and I get priority security in most places, some not. Big deal.

You've already made up your mind. Move on and report back to us in a year on how life is on whatever carrier you've moved to.

Safe travels.

GadgetFreak

Yea I might have misinterpreted what he was saying. I thought he was saying that the line used to include 1Ks but was now labeled first class and GS only. But you are right, I probably misinterpreted the OP.


Im really not sure what the evidence of the growing ranks are. But in any case, I think the point is that most other carriers include their equivalent of 1Ks in the special group and UA doesnt.

MIKEM

No no no - I have already requalified and made 1K for 2009. I'll do what I want and remain among the 1K ranks.

droopydog

While I fully support what you have said, and I have not been in the dregs of Terminal C since the new "FC/GS" line was set up, but I think the line in question is for the TSA security check at the end of the process, right before you are dumped in Terminal C, not immigration.

There are actually 4 lines down there you get hung up at, immigration, then customs, then luggage recheck, then TSA security. My experience has been that the TSA security security line and the luggage recheck backing up through the customs line are longer waits than immigration.

I have said for a long time that the Terminal C dungeon disaster is no better than taking everyone back to the main terminal building.

why fly

the grass is NOT always greener when you get to the other side of the fence.

Trulyblues

United wants the 1K ranks to grow. They have supported that through the sales of MP miles, the (awful) DEQM program, freebie 1K status to people working for select companies, etc., etc. By allowing people to reach 1K without flying the miles, now they're leaving themselves with a dilemma where there are a lot of 1K's that aren't profitable enough to merit GS but who feel like they are more 1K than the rest because they flew the miles to earn it.

Personally I don't care how someone accumulated 100,000 miles in a calendar year - that is loyalty at a level that deserves to be recognized as "special" even if you still want to have a separate recognition for your most profitable customers. There is a place for GS recognition IMO, but there is no good reason to risk your most frequent flying passengers feeling dissed just because they don't pay the big bucks for their seats.

I don't have years worth of experience to compare to...but maybe it speaks volumes that my biggest 1K benefit is not having to speak to the ICC on a regular basis any more. I completely understand how the numerous "little things" stack up to make a person think that maybe trying another airline is the way to go. Sometimes a change is as good as a rest; I just haven't been able to bring myself to part with E+ yet, though I am hoping to fly AA before the end of the month for the first time in a decade.

Grace B

Well, as I try not to fly in the economy cabin, E+ is only of limited interest to me. Thus, as we are shortly to be be bombarded with a huge influx of 1K ultra-Ultralites clogging up the system and competing for our rightful benefits, it really is time to move on, to such as AA or CO.

Also, these airlines don't discriminate so heavily against foreigners.

Chapel Hill Guy

No one on this board has any concrete evidence to back up this claim. It's all speculation.

tom911

UA matched the AA promo, and AA matched the original DL promo. I don't know if CO fell into step. You may see just as many new elite members at AA as we do have several threads on the promotion.

Tom homeward bound at DFW