grenouille

Here is some news I got in the mail this morning. (taken from "Europe Mileage Plus Update"):
Purchase a roundtrip United Economy ticket to the U.S. for just 20.000 Mileage Plus miles - instead of the 50.000 miles normally required - and a special low fare (from $200 to $550 according to your destination). Simply chose a destination then call United Reservations to book..
MONEY & MILES TERMS AND CONDITIONS: This offer is valid only for Mileage Plus members for round trip travel between Europe and the US. On United Economy. Tickets must be purchased between 1 December 1999 and l5 April 2000 for travel between 5 January and 31 May 2000. Saturday night stay required. Maximum stay is 30 days. Return transatlantic flight must be completed by 31 May 2000. Travel must originate and terminate at the same point. Return date may be changed (US$75 fee applies) provided minimum/maximum stay requirements are met and booking class V is available. Routing changes only possible within the same zone; service charge applies. All ticket changes must be made before travel commences. Upgrades are not allowed. Only flights operated by United, United Shuttle and United Express are valid. Code share flights are not valid. Protection for flight irregularities will be on United, United Shuttle and United Express only. Reservations must be made by contacting United, and tickets must be issued by United Airlines. Tickets are not refundable or exchangeable and may not be bartered or sold. Award travel may be used for up to two companions. Tickets must be purchased in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands or the U.K. Applies to new purchases only. Seats are capacity controlled and must be available in the required booking class at the time reservations are confirmed. Taxes, customs, immigration and other fees (up to US$95) are not included in the prices above, with the exception of tares from Belgium, and are the responsibility of the customer. Additional taxes may also be collected by the local government. TRAVEL IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR MILEAGE PLUS CREDIT. This offer may not be combined with any other coupon, certificate or discount offer and may be subject to other restrictions. Offer valid only in markets where United publishes tares.

When readind carefully the whole add, some elements can be pointed out:
- TRAVEL IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR MILEAGE PLUS CREDIT => this means that very few FF will be interested in this offer
- the price to add to the 20.000 miles for a flight from Paris to the East coast is F.Fr 1250, that is to say roughly $200 (taxes are NOT included, so you must add F.Fr 450 =$75). When you know that a Lufthansa ticket from Paris to NYC costs FFr 1900=$340, is it really worth to spend 20.000 miles in order to spare 340-200-75= $65?????
I don't know what to think about these "great getaways, great prices" to quote UAL's add.....

Rudi

just received today the same European update letter. This is the same offer as last year. It is not worth it. You not only spend 20'000 miles - in add you loose your earning mileage rights - so the difference is (as a Premex with 100% mileage bonus) somewhere between 35'000 and 40'000 miles (spent and not earned) which I value at least at 2 cents per mile = $ 700! And you also miss these miles for heading towards better STATUS! And you can't upgrade on these tarifs - not even the inner-N-American-part of your trip!

grenouille

As Rudy puts it, you lose your mileage and status... So what is UAL's strategy with this point?

RichG

Have our European confrères heard of the great American impressario P.T. Barnum?

grenouille

Barnum sounds familiar to me, but as far as circus is concerned... I must confess that there is a subtility I can't get, and need some explaination!

Rudi

le cirque - c'est tous pour moi aussi que je connais! alors?

hsilbiger

PT Barnum: There's a sucker born every minute.

RichG

Actually, he was asked about, or referred to, "suckers", and said, "There's one born every minute." So, close enough.

(It's usually misquoted the way hsilbiger posted, but at least the meaning is unchanged.)

The airlines have billions of dollars of travel value in FF miles being carried on their books as a liability. Bad-value deals like this one will continue to get floated on the public because a few people always misfigure the value, or have so many miles they don't care. Any time the airlines can get you to dump miles for less than their true value, it helps the bottom line. Fortunately, we have FlyerTalk, and shrewd analysts like Rudi, to help us determine relative value.

johna

While I agree this is a bad deal for us elites, it may be a good deal for the less frequent traveler. For example, my parents use their miles primarily for Denver-Spokane or Denver-Houston (visit my sisters); they're plain-vanilla non-elites. So the 20,000 miles are only "worth" about ~$250 to them (even though they're worth more to me, who typically flies coast-to-coast). And the foregone miles to Europe wouldn't have been doubled (non-elite) and status miles don't matter (no hope of becomming elite).

So for them, this would be a pretty good deal: Denver to Europe for ~$500 or so.

Looked at another way, somebody who was going to cash in 50,000 miles for Europe anyway could do this and have enough miles left over for a free domestic ticket plus 5,000 miles remaining, all for a relatively low dollar amount.

Rudi

... and who is 'he' (PT Barnum)?

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 01-13-2000).]

Counsellor

Phineas Taylor ("P.T.") Barnum (1810 - 1891)was a true [American] showman. He took a traveling show around (even to London to see the Queen, as I recall) and had the biggest, the tallest, the smallest, the shortest, etc. As examples, Jumbo the elephant and Tom Thumb the midget. Many are the tales about Barnum, but the "one born every minute" is probably the most famous.

Rudi

thank you - so the circus is related to his name (he was probably the founder then).

Rudi

... reminds me of what I read last week about a Swiss vote on the most famous swiss personalities of the last centuries (a similar vote probably happened all over the world). Our swiss National Clown 'GROCK' (died in the late 50ies) was ranked #15 (#1 was Einstein). Anybody outside Switzerland knows/remembers/has-ever-heard of 'Grock'? A still famous nostalgic song 'Oh mein Papa' (an english version exists) is honoring him and is still played by swiss radio stations from time to time.