Would be great to have an article that compares where all airlines were say 10 years ago as compared to today for status earning.
I don't know why people chase status these days. Specially if you are an small independent business. The rewards do not justify the spend or the effort. Just free yourself and book the the combo of best fare + itinerary. I love the freedom.
100%. Especially if you sometimes buy premium fares, you'll receive good service and amenities through that and the manufactured halo from status is meaningless.
Changing flights, cancelling and receiving credit to use on other flights, etc. provides more than enough flexibility that used to be more differentiated based on status.
I feel like this is right up Ben’s alley! Especially the days when it was just pure mileage. I was able to get UA Silver from one round trip on SQ from JFK-MNL via FRA & SIN and one or two more domestic segments.
Yep. Latam or AeroMexico for Latin America, European airlines for Europe, Asian for Asia. If United or Delta offer a lower price, great.
I think AA should raise the bar for EP.
They will. They previewed it with the changes to the AA Exec Card. You now get 40k LP as follows: 10k at 50k; 10k at 90k; 10k at 165k; 10k at 240k. Have to imagine EP will go to 250k, PPro to 175k, etc.
I honestly appreciate this, not because it benefits me, but because it finally pushes 1K beyond reasonable reach for me.
Work travel has slowed for me over the past year or so, and this year I'm hitting 1K largely from personal travel, but just barely. The PQF thing is irrelevant as I haven't flown near enough segments since COVID to make that math relevant.
However, I've realized there are really no tangible benefits for me of maintaining 1K. I had Global Services for ~4 years and that was the only period in the last 8 years where I consistently received complimentary upgrades and utilized PQP successfully.
Otherwise, with just 1K I almost never receive complimentary upgrades and my PQP upgrade success is extremely low as well to the point that I won't chance international upgrades on PQP and just buy Polaris outright. Domestically I purchase First class when pricing is reasonable.
These days the main IRROPS I experience are weather related and usually there isn't a better option (or at least not a more guaranteed option) to get out so the available self-service capabilities are totally sufficient. I haven't had to call United in well over a year. So for me, that leaves free snacks / drinks, and pre-boarding as the only "perks" I take advantage of. Certainly not worth trying to spend more. I dropped to Platinum last year and can't say I've noticed any difference in my experience between last year and this year (with 1K).
Honestly my real question with this change is whether United is planning to enhance 1K in any way with the increased requirement? Global Services is still a very useful status to have. However, these days 1K doesn't feel valuable at all and is more just a marginal recognition worth having if you have lots of high spend work travel and United is generally the best option for you based on your home airport. Maybe this is the goal - no longer diverting resources to loyalty and instead competing on product and routes and trying to focus on incentivizing credit card spend (unrelated to loyalty because their PQP earning is abysmal).
I think you just hit the nail on the head. United may want to increase the reward of 1K by reducing the number of them
The one infuriating part of this for me is that they are constantly recognizing the need to adjust PQP tiers, but have not changed the 75K award mile earning cap in like 10 years. That is the real punch in the face to high spend flyers on United.
This is a great point. Trying to have it both ways - rightly say we need to increase thresholds since air travel is more expensive but then not simialrly expand the thresholds around this earning route..
(shrug)
Whatever. I took more than half of my airfare spend to non-US based airlines some time ago. Not looking back. Once EWR gets the Centurion lounge, I'll downgrade or cancel my United Club.
1K status aside, I do feel (anecdotally) that UA miles have actually become a bit more useful (not just more "valuable") over the last ~12 months or so.
For real. Specifically if you have one of their cards and can snag a 75% discount on Polaris. Win some, lose some; also, wine some, whine some.
I'll clear $28K spend this year and qualify for 1K, which I have for as long as I can remember. But this is the end of the line for me. For starters, I refuse to play the credit card game "Annual Head Start Will Require The Credit Card." At some point you realize you are just a number to them and it's not about loyalty. And one person exits the program, another joins for the first time. They don't care. In some regards it will be liberating. UA was always my go to, even sometimes paying a little extra. Most of my travel is international so I will definitely look at more travel on foreign carriers.
I get it as airfares are rising, but the issue is being 1K or Exec Platinum doesn't get you much these days. Upgrades are tougher to come by. You get better mile earning per flight but marginally and it's not like miles also haven't become incredibly inflated. It's nice to have status but the benefits have basically went down where it's not worth going much out of the way to get.
Specifically PlusPoints and System Wide Upgrades are a farce, unless you enjoy ‘dying on the Waitlist.’ Not perfect, but at least GUCs and Move to Mint often confirm at booking.
The days of Delta's high revenue model are over. Delta started really struggling this summer. Look at Southwest vs Delta stock price for the past month. Delta is down 1.2% while Southwest is up 2.9%. It's bad when you can't beat Southwest.
TATL business class fares have soared this year, so if you are a paid business traveler it was not unusual to earn 1K in just 2 roundtrips. I'm guessing they are adjusting to the inflation in airfares which have probably swelled their elite ranks.
Makes me miss the days of segment running on AA for EXP. Simple. Good times. No longer.
Even more reason to just settle for the lowest mid tier elite level that allows free extra legroom seating at booking
Sure, unless it’s oneworld and you like premium lounges, then, maybe, go for OWE. Otherwise, yes, ‘settle’ for Star Alliance Gold, SkyTeam Elite Plus with any carrier, or just match into the others.
Don’t get me wrong, the Oneworld Emerald lounges are awesome. But personally I wouldn’t be willing to contribute a material amount of additional spend to access them versus Oneworld Sapphire lounges.
But for those who value them, there are an increasingly smaller number of reasons to make much effort to go beyond the lowest Emerald tier offered.
Daniel is right, There are way too many 1Ks (and it will only get worse as we get closer to the end of the year).
I believe this move is an indication of how well their credit card PQP/spend revenue strategy has worked, and it’s also further indication that they don’t value customers earning flight PQP as much as those earning credit card PQP.
Now… my question is do they do anything at all to make 1K more rewarding, or do they just hope that the reduction in 1Ks alone is enough to keep us on the hook…. as is, 1K is not worth the stark additional credit card spend required compared to DL/AA.
PS, American Exec Plat is way too crowed as well.
They will absolutely not do anything more for 1Ks (and I am one, so this is not just a UA hater opinion or something).
The logic I guess is less 1Ks come 2028, the remaining ones will see some uptick in upgrades clearing (especially PPs).
Now, that was a bit the logic the last time they upped the requirements, I think in 2024 accrual year or so, and that didnt really work since flight inflation probably outpaced the increase at the time.
Wow. I've been 1K continuously for almost 20 years, about 98% based on personal leisure travel, not business, so a lot of incremental revenue has gone to United. It's been a stretch for me to get to $22K+60 flights, but I make an effort and spend more than I otherwise would because I highly value 1K status and particularly the PlusPoints. There's no way I can get to $32K PQP. I can't even get PQP from credit card spend since I live in Canada. So now I have to decide whether Platinum is even worth it because I automatically get Gold from my million-miler status without doing anything. I now need to look a lot more closely at Aeroplan, VIPorter, and Flying Blue.
This officially prices me out.
I get about $20k of OPM per year, and have been making 1K with personal travel. The jump from $28k to $32k means a jump from $8k to $12k personal spend, which is enough to push me away.
With IN now available to CC holders and Group 1 available to Gold, I hardly see much incremental benefit to getting Platinum. The 40 PP will never clear. I don't need more than 1 E+ companion. I have never checked 3 bags in my life.
I'll just get to Gold and leave it there. In some sense this simplifies my life a lot. No more need to count PQP.
United has hit me twice this year. I have 1,500,000 miles with the airline, and now my wife will not get one case status with me in 2027. Now instead of spending 28,000 to earn one case status I need to spend 32,000. I now need to make the decision about jumping to another airline. I could spend 28,000 with Delta and get Diamond medallion status. Less of the spend, but Delta's points are worth far less than United when I book an overseas trip in first class. American Exec Platinum is the lowest spend, about 18,000. As far as I can, tell, Americans points are about as valuable as United points. If American offers some sort of status match, I may jump to American.
AA and AS (Alaska) miles are the most valuable of the major US carriers, with great overseas partners and much easier to book business/first flights.
AA miles are more valuable than United.
Why not just google “AA status match” and see how to do it? The big three always offer them.
AA miles are more valuable than United.
Why not just google “AA status match” and see how to do it? The big three always offer them.
Free agency is sounding more and more like a good option. Take the money usually spent to stay loyal, and go with the best and lowest priced option while using the loyalty money to pay for the upgrades. May not net out exactly, but now open to flights on other airlines including more nonstops, higher value points with other non-airline cards and no rat race.
I would personally argue that the vast majority of the “most loyal / valuable” customers on Delta / United ( more so with 75k cap ) could almost careless about the miles they earn or even talk / brag about status. What they care about is customer support, IRROPS, soft treatment and getting home or to a destination relatively easily regardless if it’s a normal sunny day, snowstorm or IT glitch.
Delta 360 and Global Services…..and yes, they do rank you internally within those status levels fyi.
I hear ya. and partially agree with you, but even you just dropped your top tier status. So, clearly there is some care about it…. And same with many GS I sit next to whom love talking (or bitching) about it all.
What I've found working in SF is that these high-spenders absolutely do care about their points and status and go out of their way to stay on the hamster wheel. I was just talking to a guy who recently moved to SF from NY and who is flying back to NY to start his trip to Asia just so he can fly Delta and re-qualify for Diamond.
If everyone is elite, then no one is, so it makes sense to increase requirements and reward actual members who spend money.
I can just about make this work. But the thing which will drive me away is if PlusPoints significantly devalue. And in the new 'dynamic' system that seems likely.