In October, United announced that they were moving to an “unlimited” upgrade system from their electronic certificate system. But as readers chimed in, one of the biggest complaints came from top-tier 1K members. The quarterly allotment of confirmed upgrades within North America was going away, and with that, a big perk of upgrade security.

United must have gotten a lot of complaints, as they’re reinstating the so-called “regional” upgrades:

1K® members will continue to earn Regional Upgrades
Sometimes no change is good news. After our last announcement, we heard from our 1K members how much they value their Regional Upgrades. To thank them for their ongoing loyalty, we’ve decided to continue issuing Regional Upgrades to 1Ks, even after the Unlimited Domestic Upgrades program launches.

That gives top-tier elites the best of both worlds: A reserved upgrade if booked in advance (and if United releases seats for upgrade early…) and the top of the free-upgrade list if they’re sweating it out at the gate.

And entry-level elites don’t really lose anything here. The 1Ks would be ahead of them in line, anyway.

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Separately, United and Continental announced that reciprocal “unlimited” upgrade privileges will roll out in mid-2010. No word yet on what the hierarchy will be; I assume that, in a tie, UA 1Ks will still outrank CO platinums…

And on the semi-upgrade front: Continental elites will also have free access to the Economy Plus section on United flights — a privilege which United hasn’t been extending to other Star Alliance partner travelers.

Upgraded: Continental Airlines BusinessFirst seats
Continental Airlines’ international business class seats are getting a facelift. Initially promised back in August 2008, the first of the new 180-degree lie-flat seats finally debuted last week. (They call them “BusinessFirst,” but let’s be real, it’s really business class.) The new seats are four inches wider than the old seats. The interactive tour of the seat is here.

Upgraded: Frontier Airlines, front half
Downgraded: Frontier Airlines, rear half
Frontier Airlines is reorganizing the seatmap to put in an extra-legroom section in economy, a la United’s Economy Plus. The section, dubbed “Stretch,” will have 36 inches of pitch between seats. Seats in the rear will have between 30 and 32 inches. 30? That is tight.

Upgraded: The Expedia-Choice Hotels War
You may recall the spat between the Choice Hotels chain and Expedia. Expedia demanded numerous draconian terms of Choice, and Choice said no. But now… As of this evening, Choice is back in. But no details yet on what the deal actual consists of. Stay tuned.

Upgraded: Ways to share your miles with veterans
It’s not new, but on this Veteran’s Day (or Armistice Day in the UK), you may be interested in the Fisher House Foundation’s program that accepts frequent flier miles to share with “military (or DoD civilian employees) hospitalized as a result of their service in Iraq, Afghanistan, or surrounding areas, and their families. These tickets can not be used for R&R travel, ordinary leave, emergency leave, or other travel not related to a medical condition.”

US Airways is rebranding their Dividend Miles program as “GoAwards” and making the miles worth less. What a shock.

This should come as no surprise, given that US Airways’ Dividend Miles program had a more generous redemption structure than Star Alliance partner United. The US Airways release says nothing about partner awards — we await the next shoe to drop — but you should expect a similar scale. (For the time being, newbie alliance member Continental is the go-to carrier for cashing in alliance awards now.)

The biggest change is the introduction of two additional tiers of awards. Instead of the old “saver” and “standard” awards, the new program introduces “Off-peak,” “Low, “Medium,” and “High.” Delta added a third tier to their program recently; US Airways now has four. Whoo. As the names imply, the cost will vary according to the desirability of those dates.

As per the FAQs, the discounted “off peak” seats are available in a small window: “Off-peak awards are available from North America to Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean September 1 – 30; to South America May 1- 31 and October 1 – 31; and to Europe January 15 – February 28.”

So, while a saver business class award from the US to Europe now costs 80,000, it will soon cost either 60,000, 100,000, 200,000, or a whopping 350,000 miles, depending on the dates. And those 60,000 mile off-peak seats are only available for six weeks in winter. OUCH. And what are the odds that the 100,000 seats aren’t much more readily available?

The new program into effect January 6, 2010. Check the old award chart. Then compare to the new award chart. See where you stand. And if you can, book now.

Especially if you’re taking advantage of the great deal on purchased miles I posted about last week, as reader Chris notes in the comments.

Also, Preferred members of the program will not be exempted from blackout dates, of which there are several, though, oddly, they are different from the current program’s blackout dates.

This is a disappoint. Not a surprise, given United and Delta’s recent devaluations, but a disappointment nonetheless.

Upgraded: Your ability to earn lots of British Airways miles
Chase and British Airways have launched a pretty amazing airline mileage-earning credit card offer. 50,000 BA miles after one purchase, then 50,000 more after spending $2000 within three months. Gary Leff has thought this through and come up with a scheme for 420,000 miles between two people. That’s a lot of free tickets for a $75 annual fee.

Downgraded: Track suits
A Best Buy executive says that United refused him an upgrade because he was wearing a track suit. “United says there is no passenger dress code, but they cited two rules. Ticketed passengers can not be barefoot and must be clothed.” Standards!

Upgraded: Fees for Expedia phone bookings
Expedia announced that it was dropping the booking fees it charged for booking any flight, car rental, hotel or cruise on the phone. As online agencies compete to attract customers, this is the latest fee to drop. Yay, lower fees! Priceline immediately tweeted that they had never had phone booking fees. Nyahh.

Upgraded: Responsibility for rental car reservations
Avis Budget Group has worked with global booking systems to prepare their networks for an eventual introduction of no-show fees for car rental bookings. Frankly, I’m amazed that this is a fee that hasn’t been enforced more widely already.

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Periodically, US Airways runs a sale on buying their frequent flyer miles. Usually, buying miles is no bargain. But when they offer you double the miles for the same price…

Over at View from the Wing, the bottom line is clear:

With this offer you can buy 40,000 miles for $1030, get 80,000 miles in return, and fly business class from the US to Europe. Or if you and a friend each have 40,000 miles, you transfer to each other for $430 apiece, and you now both have 80,000 miles — enough for a business class Star Alliance partner award to Europe.

And don’t forget that US Airways doesn’t block Star Alliance partner flights like United does. This is a great deal, and a great way to book a complex ticket in business class at a low price.

Downgraded: TSA
Upgraded: Airports with independence
Near Glacier National Park, in Kalispell, Montana, Glacier Park International Airport is hoping to boot the TSA off its property and replace the government security agency with private contractors. What?? I had no idea this was possible, but sure enough: Under the Screening Partnership Program, an airport can apply to reprivatize security, generally if TSA isn’t meeting the airport’s needs. The issue for Glacier was staffing: The TSA calculated staffing levels based on October traffic levels — when August is the peak travel time for the area. About 15 airports, including several in Montana, have opted out of the TSA’s domain.

Upgraded: Efforts to keep convention business. ANY convention business
Hotels need business. So, is there any problem with hosting a convention of swingers as a Holiday Inn in upstate New York did? The annual spouse-swapping event, “Entice the Falls” (link not entirely safe for work), featured some exciting events like “Flogging 101″ and a (canceled) body painting party. But how many bonus points do you earn for a weekend of debauchery?

Downgraded: Chrysler at the rental counter
The Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is slashing its purchases of Chrysler vehicles. Their fleet is currently 76% Chrysler, but Ford will nearly tie Chrysler for new purchases (34 and 30%, respectively).

Upgraded: Luxury in Mecca
Downgraded: Raffles Hotels’ management’s common sense
Islamic pilgrims to Mecca who aren’t feeling particularly pious, but who are looking to live large, may be pleased to hear that Singapore’s Raffles Hotels are planning an enormous luxury hotel that will cast a shadow on the Muslim world’s holiest site. But what on earth is the hotel chain thinking? I’m sure some will find the uber-luxurious hotel an affront to the religious meaning of the site; are they painting a giant target on all the hotels in the Raffles brand?

Upgraded: Recliners!
The dip in travel has been a boon for furniture makers. What? Yes, according to the industry, sales of reclining chairs are up, as Americans travel less, stay home more, and look for greater comfort in their living room.

Upgraded: Spotlights on mileage running
I’ve been known to go on a mileage run or two (though not for a few years now) in order to bump up my elite-qualifying miles to the next tier, but I’m nowhere near the big leagues that these guys play in. Check out this 20-minute documentary on mileage runners, and the OCD spirit that drives them to collect miles and points with a singleminded focus:

United Airlines announced yesterday that they were revising their upgrade program within Mileage Plus. The headline is going to sound great — “unlimited” upgrades — but the reality is that this downgrades the United program (further). It’s a downgrade of the upgrade.

What United is doing is eliminating the 500-mile electronic certificates and the regional-upgrades. (International systemwide upgrade certificates for 1K travelers are unchanged. Upgrades booked with miles, which will soon carry a cash copayment, are otherwise unaffected by these changes.)

Instead, all travelers with any elite status will be automatically eligible for an upgrade. Some implications for the changes:

• If you’re an entry-level elite (Premier) you’re not going to upgrade much. Previously, a Premier Executive or 1K would have to request an upgrade and offer up some certificates, but now those elites will automatically jump ahead of the Premiers. If you live in a city with a lot of United elites (Chicago, San Francisco, DC, Denver, for starters…) and you’re “just” a Premier, say adios to hot nuts.
• If you’re a 1K flier, you’re in good shape for shorter flights where you might not have otherwise bothered cashing in your upgrade currency. You’ll be at the top of the list for those short hops from Washington to Providence. Par-tay!
• But… 1Ks give up some security. The e-certificates that allowed upper-level elites to reserve upgrades at booking are kaputt. Adios, sure thing!
• Flights on “p.s.” service between New York/JFK and LAX or SFO are excluded from the “unlimited” upgrades. This is obnoxious — you’ll have to use miles or systemwide upgrade certs to move from economy to first? Puh-leeeze.

Within minutes of the announcement, Gary Leff and lucky each weighed in on the change. Neither of them found it to be an improvement. Read ‘em both for more critique.

Reader mail also started pouring in. And none were happy. A few excerpts:

Don writes:

“Unlimited”? My a**. I’m a Premier living in Chicago and flying mostly short hops. I guess I’ll be in Economy Plus forever. Hello American?

Taylor writes:

So they take away my confirmed-regional upgrades and make it a lottery? How is this an improvement?

Antonio writes:

This is genius marketing on United’s behalf, because on the surface it sounds like a fantastic proposition. UNLIMITED UPGRADES!!! But in reality, what they’re doing is cutting a program that gave upgrades earlier, allowing the airline more time to keep those seats free to possibly sell them to a paying customer.

SA nails the reason for making the change:

So Continental joins Star Alliance, and United is turning Mileage Plus into OnePass. At least there’s consistency across the North American partners.

And Tino sums it up:

So United wants to encourage gambling, instead of rewarding loyalty. Maybe their call center should merge with the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline.

In the end, Antonio’s objections noted, top-tier elites are the ones who come out looking best-of-the-worst in this new scheme. As you move down the totem pole, you’re less and less likely to benefit. And that, perhaps, is the point. United is rewarding its highest-spenders. But it’s harming its mid- and lower-tier spenders. And that seems like it could hurt them in the long run.

This leaves only American Airlines using the certificate-based method of reserving upgrades (for Gold and Platinum AAdvantage members). It will be interesting to see if low- and mid-tier United elites start defecting to American, or if American will join the rest of their peers in going “unlimited.”

Downgraded: American credit cards
For several years now, a pet-peeve of mine as an American traveling abroad has been the challenge of using a swipe-and-sign credit card in a country where chip-and-PIN is the norm. (Consider previous posts on chip-and-PIN challenges. I even wrote a piece for National Geographic Traveler on the issue.) Now the New York Times revisits the issue and finds that it’s getting worse, not better, for American cardholders. When will US card issuers catch up with the rest of the world? (Thanks, David!)

Downgraded: US Customs and Immigration
Did the gruff face of US immigration kill the city of Chicago’s bid for the Olympics? It was apparently a contributing factor, if reports from the IOC are to be believed: “Syed Shahid Ali, an I.O.C. member from Pakistan, in the question-and-answer session following Chicago’s official presentation, pointed out that entering the United States can be ‘a rather harrowing experience.’” Somehow, it’s not a shock that the guy from Pakistan had this particular critique of entering the US. But he’s hardly alone.

Downgraded: Cockpit decorum
When I draft my list of minimum requirements for pilot competence, I think “not getting into fistfights in the cockpit” goes unspoken, an assumed background condition for commercial travel. Apparently, I need to be more explicit with my expectations. An inflight cockpit brawl on Air India, anyone?

Upgraded: Hotel promo deals
Over at View from the Wing, read up on an ongoing Hyatt promotion “the best hotel promo I’ve ever seen.” The deal: 13,500 United Airlines miles and a free Hyatt night for a two one-night stays at a Hyatt property, including discounted Hyatt Place properties.

Downgraded: Brazilian justice
Three years ago, NYT columnist Joe Sharkey was onboard a plane that survived a midair collision over Brazil. He subsequently criticized Brazil’s fractured air traffic control system and came under nationalistic fire for refusing to go along with the official Brazilian line that the (American) pilots of the surviving business jet were solely at fault for the accident. Now, Sharkey is being sued for $250,000 for defaming the entire population of Brazil. The lawsuit is offensive and absurd. For more background on the case, see here and here.

Downgraded: Helicopter service in Manhattan
Helicopter service from downtown Manhattan to JFK, canceled? I’m shocked, shocked!

Upgraded: Electronic cigarettes on airplanes
Back in February, I posted about a report of an impending deal between an electronic cigarette manufacturer and an unnamed airline. Immediately, I thought it would be a European low-cost carrier. Sure enough, it’s the granddaddy of ‘em all: Ryanair. For €6, you can buy a pack of 10 (disposable, I assume) nicotine-vapor sticks.

Upgraded: Clear’s life chances
Clear / Verified Identity Pass, the subscription-based service that promised shorter airport security lines, before it died an abrupt and refund-less death, may be back. I was a skeptic from the get-go — frequent travelers already get shorter lines, without having to give up their personal information. I’m still a skeptic.

Upgraded: Bloggers branching out
Brett Snyder of CrankyFlier is expanding the Cranky franchise: He’s launching a new service, dubbed CrankyConcierge. For $30, he’ll help you find a low fare, track your flight status for you, look for alternatives in case of rebooking, and aid you in post-trip dispute assistance. At the same time, Gary Leff of View from the Wing is now charging $150 to help travelers book frequent flier tickets. I’m looking forward to seeing these business ideas develop. Good luck, guys!

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United has rolled out an enhancement to their Mileage Plus frequent flier program: You’ll now be able to book hotels, rental cars, or packaged hotel/car combos using your mileage balance.

United has tested this sort of thing in the past, but only for their elite-level Mileage Plus members. The new program allows all members to redeem miles this way.

On the surface, this is a good thing, which is how the majority of the media are bound to spin it. More redemption opportunities are a good thing, clearly. The selection of hotels and car companies isn’t seemingly limited by proprietary side-deals and exclusivity arrangements. And there aren’t blackouts, which is nice. But simply having another place to spend your miles isn’t a huge improvement if the cents-per-mile value proposition stinks.

And yes, the value proposition stinks.

The FAQ’s don’t list the conversion rates up front, but open up a few new browser windows, run a few parallel hotel and car searches, run the math, and we’ve got our answer: about 0.75 cents per mile.

The 0.75 cents per mile number assumes that the cash-booking would be done with the supplier directly, with full cancellation possible. Which isn’t fair, since the United bookings aren’t cancellable. Changes incur a $35 fee.

So not only do you have harsher terms, you even get LESS than 0.75 cents per mile if an agency or consolidator offers a lower price for the same dates. In one test, I found night at the Intercontinental Boston in October that goes for 42,725 miles on the United site. The hotel chain’s own site has a rate of $329 a night for a cancellable reservation (0.77 cents/mile). Prepaid costs $297 (0.70 cents/mile).

If you’ve got more miles than you know what to do with, or the last thing you want to do is cash in miles for more travel, then this might be for you. But if your mileage balance is more down-to-earth, you’ll probably want to try spending your miles on travel — particularly long-haul travel in premium cabins — before you empty the piggybank for a rental car.

Related:
- Is Starwood Preferred Guest’s “SPG Flights” a game-changer?
- Cashing in miles, but not on flights
- Reader mail: What kind of point-earning credit card is best?
- Reader mail: Can I cash in miles for magazines?

It had to happen, and I’m surprised it took this long.

A reader forwarded me an email he received from a spammer: The e-mail promised a large sum of frequent flier miles.

In a secured environment, I opened the attachment, which offered low! low! prices on male pharmaceuticals that Bob Dole used to endorse. Lovely.

But appealing to your desire for miles could be a new trend in spam. Unlike the normal phishing scam where someone tries to convince you to give up your e-mail or banking login information, spammers could start using a promise of free miles as a hook to get you to give up your frequent flier account data. Beware!

The forwarded e-mail follows, for your reference:

American Airlines

Hello [******] [*] [*******]

American Airlines has awarded your account 50,000 air travel miles.
To claim the miles, you must open the attached pdf and fill out the
questionnaire.

Many Thanks,
American Airlines
Consumer Rewards Director

Attachment: “Bonus Miles Award.pdf”