deniah

seems like extremely petty micro-segregation.

just lump paying premium customers in first, then valued ff'ers, then the rest, like continental. and the whole carpet deal is laughable

Mike Jacoubowsky

3Ps maybe, but not the lowly 2P. No way, no how.

2P is earned not given. I'm not even sure you're comp'd 2P if you come over from another airline. We study the rules, we know our place in line. And yes, it is mildly offensive that we're no longer considered a valued member or whatever. But we recognize that we're not the flyers keeping the airline in the air.

So look around the next time you see people blocking the gate, and I'll bet you'll find they don't even have seating #1 passes in the first place. Probably 3 or 4.

notquiteaff

As a 1P you're probably half as elite as I am so what are you complaining about... that different elite levels get different benefits?

Mike Jacoubowsky

One of the most-important, and difficult-to-measure benefits of being a lowly 2P is that you're much better off during irregular ops. UA has taken pretty good care of me at times when the terminal looked like a re-enactment of the fall of Saigon.

dcsnowwake

oh no i totally agre with that, but it just sux to watch our benefits go down year after year...
im not like alot of you, i rarely travel for business, i average about 35k a year 99% liesure, i could chose any airline, but continue to go on United. when they continue to devalue a non business person who flies, there gg to continue to lose flyers.

yes we should not have as much stuff as a 1p, or a 1k or GS, BUT we should still be considered a VALUED member of the airline.
That is going away and this is just another prrof of that......soon less EQM for fares, soon no more 2ps.

sad sad state of afairs!

mre5765

Always? As I recall before zone boarding was introduced, the announced boarding order was F/C/1K (maybe GS was in the group; I can't remember if GS predated zone boarding) then 1P/*G, then 2P/*S, then by row number.

Regardless, ^ .

boiflyer

Just board 1P on the red carpet. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Inserting 1P before seating area 1 just mucks things up in an already overly complicated boarding scheme anyway, IMO.

ctstan

this was policy was already in play yesterday at LGA and as some have suspected ..... it was a little bit of a mess. As a 1P I havent been much of a gate lice .... but I generally head over to the economy lane when they open the door to start boarding.
So as usual - there were already 6-8 people in the economy lane -- fanning theirselves with their zone 1 (funny it didnt seem that hot, but to each his own) -- so after RC boarding, I was expecting the zone 1 call. Instead I heard *Gold and Prem Exec only, so as confused but obedient cattle - myself and one other person started to move forward ..... and then realized no one else was doing so. That would be fine - but they also didnt move aside ..... so it was kind of funny - the GA looking at me, the other zone 1 looking at me, and nothing moves for a full half minute.

just wondering how it is going to play out - now that zone 1 gate lice technically dont belong at the front of the economy line --- where will they line up and does the 1P risk wrath by trying to move in front of them at boarding time?

Thank goodness I am at 93 segments today and will be 1K by the end of next week

GoingAway

4 boarding zones and a red carpet is complicated? Try some other airlines - I've boarded in zone 9 previously.

Folks will get used to the new order, but it will take time. Just like it took awhile for people to read/get the sign for red carpet use (both passenger & GA) before it settled in and was used with some level of consistency.

ORDnHKG

Correct, basically you only need to fly 2 roundtrips of ORD-NRT a year, it would get you 2P, that is $2000 or less a year.

Polar Bear

I was thinking the same. Why not put the "value customer" in seating one or even better create a new category "Seating 1/2" for all the 1P, 2P and 3P.

This new rule also implies 2P is not "value" customer anymore. hmm...*ponder*

cepheid

Er, well, at least last year, Elite Choice offered the ability to nominate for Premier at the 125K level. That's kinda sorta (read: exactly) how I got my 2P. This year there is no such nomination, but there used to be.

No, that they don't do... they do offer challenges, though, so you can earn 2P for far fewer than 25K miles that way.

Because that isn't a chance. Previously, all the "valued customers" were in Seating 1. Creating a new "Seating 1/2" for 1P/2P/3P is no different than what there was up until now, where Seating 1 was for 1P/2P/3P (since 1K already got the red carpet).

No, it really doesn't. It implies that 2Ps are less valued than 1Ps, not that they are not valued at all. Since 2Ps fly (on average) half as much and therefore (on average) contribute half as much revenue, there's no specific reason they should receive the same perks.

I agree with previous posters that this is a small but relatively insignificant devaluation for 2P, and 2P still receive plenty of perks for the amount of flying required to reach 2P. E+ alone is a huge perk, as are the priority check-in and security lines; the waiver of standard baggage fees is also excellent. IMHO, all the whining is unjustified.

gaobest

My wife will have earned 1P by the end of the year, so her timing is perfect. It's been years since she was 1P. In the meantime, I'm assuming that I can bring her with me in the 1P boarding call for our sole Y upcoming trip, but please tell me if I'm wrong

Michael

Mike Jacoubowsky

Thanks for the concern, but I don't think there's really been anything done to harm the 2P, other than perhaps from an ego standpoint. But at the same time, I don't think there's really been anything done to elevate the 1P, except from an ego standpoint.

Nothing really changes for the 2P. We still get on ahead of the GMs; I assume that boarding group 1 will remain lowest-rung elites. The 1Ps get on board ahead of us, but what's the big deal there? The most-common segment I fly is SFO-ORD, which has to be about as elite-heavy as any in the system. And I have yet to encounter full overhead bins, even boarding at the end of group 1. What's the worst that could happen? I'd have to stow my bag a couple rows back. So what's the gain for the 1P? Probably a near-guarantee that it will be his or her own bag (not somebody else's) that hits him or her on top of the head when somebody's clumsily pulling their stuff out of the overhead bin.

Until there's a change in how they treat me when things go wrong (irregular ops), there are still significant advantages to being even a lowly 2P. But, having said that, we cannot completely ignore the intentional or unintentional issue of putting us in our place, below the "most valued customer" tiers. From that standpoint, I think UA comes out losing. The primary "winner" here is the 1P who feels he/she needs to be separated from those below. Feeding egos, as it were. And if it comes down to visibly separating the wheat from the chaffe for the purpose of ego pandering, I think it's dead wrong.

Mark my words. This is not the end of the lowly 2P. We will rise up from the ashes and bring UA to its knees! meow

Shareholder

I suspect UA was getting much flack from STAR Alliance partners on behalf of their members who expect priority boarding with UA's own top tier elites. A key STARGold benefit is priority boarding, and with UA's change to its current red carpet system, it was in violation of its STAR service pledge. That's very likely the reason for this move. (As a STARGold in AC's program, I always get Zone 1 boarding when I use my AC number, same as when I use my Premier number. After my next UA flight in December, I'll be PremEx as well as AC STARGold...sooner if UA credits those extra EQMs from my under-500 mile flights since July!)