Comments on: United’s half-assed policy changes: Not quite a bill of rights, and not quite an upgrade policy fix

By: Short hops — June 12, 2007 — Airline food, resort fees, no-fly lists, and more » Upgrade: Travel Better

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:03:52 +0000

[…] attendants pan United’s “bill of rights” United Airlines’ pathetic attempt at warding off the passengers’ bill of rights was slammed last week by its own flight […]

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 23:03:14 +0000

These cheap moves won’t help.

Hear, hear.

By: The Global Traveller

The Global Traveller — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 05:04:31 +0000

By requiring registration, with a limited period in which to do so, United’s change of heart is a token appeasement.

How many Mileage Plus members that are eligible (ie have sufficient status) will not sign up and thus lose out? An opt in basis to retain an existing benefit is ugly.

Further, anyone who doesn’t yet have sufficient status also loses out. The biggest losers are good future international customers who often can’t use the 500-miles (since only valid on domestic flights).

United needs all the help it can get luring valuable customers away from better airlines like Singapore, Qantas and Air New Zealand. These cheap moves won’t help.

By: John Berkheimer

John Berkheimer — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 04:49:17 +0000

Unfortunately blaming the airline for many of these delays isn’t going to get us anywhere - they affect airlines across the board because of problems with traffic congestion. Airlines are loosing TONS of money with airplanes sitting on the ground burning fuel for hours at a time waiting for a flight slot to open… yet they have to push away from the gate because you have inbounds that need to let passengers off. We won’t see much real relief until the FAA and gov’t decides to properly fund upgrades. Too bad we’re too busy in Iraq to take care of our own issues.

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:53:11 +0000

Bring back the bankruptcy days. At least I got decent customer service then.

Unfortunately, I agree with you, Rob. I like bankrupt United better.

But I’m repeating myself :
http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/05/10/delta-and-northwest-leaving-bankruptcy-bad-for-passengers/

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:50:50 +0000

Matt, it depends on how high your status is, if you ask me.

You mentioned Economy Plus. That’s the biggest selling point for low-level elites on UA, I think. Once you hit mid-level (Premier Executive), you get lounge access on international flights and double miles, and you’re higher on the upgrade waitlist, which is noticeable on domestic flights. Unless you’re a top-level (1K) member, your international upgrade options stink on UA.

UA’s lower elites at least have the fallback of Economy Plus, which is especially valuable on long flights. Unfortunately, that logic is exactly what the executives are banking on. They’re assuming that their Premiers will take all the abuse the airline can muster as long as E+ is still an option. The PremEx and 1K elites are more likely to defect if the policies (like the recent 500-miler expiration) changes. But take that away…

If you were Platinum on Continental, I’m sure they treated you well. Lower-tier elites haven’t always raved about the program. See this post, for example (written during happier days at Mileage Plus, fyi…) which also links to a FlyerTalk thread on status matching, if you’re considering defecting.
http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/03/21/debating-the-value-of-elite-status/

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 20:00:34 +0000

Yet another reason to let the Premier Membership expire come Feb. 2008. I suppose my nearly 50,000 miles and my 39 segments on them is not enough for them.

I’ve come to expect this from United though. Sad but true. Bring back the bankruptcy days. At least I got decent customer service then.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 18:14:16 +0000

It’s items like this that make me wonder if being Elite on UAL is really worth anything. For nine years, I was Platinum with CO and then switched companies this past year with a UAL contract.

Though I appreciate some things (737s from CLE, Star Alliance for Intl, E+ when not upgraded) their elite program leaves something to be desired.

I have an opportunity in a couple of weeks to fly Int’l and am thinking of defecting back towards CO (via NW) because being elite on UAL doesn’t seem to mean a hill of beans.

Any thoughts? I’m happy to be proven wrong.