United Owns you guys & made every US traveler their bitches. They know it and know they’ll get away with it.
What do I think? F-EM. I earned my Premier 1k the old fashioned way, through miles. And they gave me lifetime status. Living abroad, I don't have access to any UA affiliated cc. So accruing miles will not yield any value. I only used it to get into LH Senator Lounges or their partner lounges.
It took me less than one year to earn LH Senator status. Early next year wife and I will fly to HKG. We bought biz class tickets and used our vouchers to upgrade to FC.
Funny thing is that my Senator status lasts for two years. So by qualifying next year will give us status for three years. Being retired, I have no ambitions to go for Hon Circle.
And besides, @1990, I will keep having my roast goose dinner each year flying to Helsinki! And I am covered with EU 261. AND, since last April there have been no strikes at LH
Life remains exceptionally beautiful.
In theory, nothing. But I notice so many people chasing the status. I retired to get out of the rat race. And this post by Ben highlights that many FF are getting screwed. For my short flights, which we do once or twice month, we don't need FC lounge. For long haul, we do two three times a year, in fc. So we get into FC lounges included.As we pay for our flights, it is frivolous to buy our way into Hon Circle. Unlike in the U.S where 1k can't even access UA lounges, we get Senator lounges in FRA, MUC and others. Even if we fly biz, or even coach to, say, Singapore, their lounges give better above biz class lounges. At the end of the day, I keep watching status getting harder to attain, in the States, while the value keeps decreasing. I haven't seen the stats, but my gut tells me that more people chase status on OPM. This is my money that I spend for trips.
Let's not forget that the United Club card earn 1 status point for every $15 of spend whereas the Delta Reserve card earns 1 point for every $10. As usual, United gives you less. For me, once I've attained Gold status I move all my spend to the Sapphire Preferred. I know I'm not going to reach Platinum at that crappy earn rate so why put another penny on the card.
There are very few reasons for me to keep a United credit card anymore.
The Club Card only pays if you travel a tremendous amount domestically (and there are lounges in the cities you travel to or from. (Note that except for Honolulu, there are no United Clubs in Hawaii!)
Thus, I downgraded to the simplest fee-based United card when I was no longer travelling for business. What it provides for me is (1) Some advantage in terms of travel awards pricing/availability and (2) primary coverage for car rental damage when paying for car rental with the card. My wife and I use the two United Club one-time passes for breakfast once a year when departing SFO.
For everything else, I typically use the credit card that provides the greatest immediate statement credit for my everyday purchases, such as groceries, fuel/auto expenses, etc. And I keep as few cards as really necessary.
I know that doesn't help Ben with his income (from referrals to credit cards), but for me, in this stage of life, simplicity works! C'est la vie!
United indeed has a club in HNL, but as I originally posted “note that except for Honolulu, there are no United Clubs in Hawaii” – my destinations in Hawaii include Maui, Kauai, and Kona which have no United Clubs.
Hopefully further changes do not try to “undo” the lifetime status that many of us “earned” by many years of flying on United – Gold for 1 million BIS (butt-in-seat) United miles, Platinum for 2 million BIS United miles, and 1K for 3 million BIS United miles.
As others have noted, totally forget about “free” upgrades, even for Global Services members. They are rarer than hen’s teeth.
To me, the only remaining benefits of status, in my case Platinum, are (1) “free” access to Economy Plus seating when making reservations, (2) free luggage (3 pieces up to 70lbs each which I never have used – I check 1 piece of about 50lbs for longer vacation trips), (3) Boarding Group 1 (to be able to access space in overhead bins – and I wouldn't count on overhead bin access remaining “free” in the long term), and (4) Star Alliance Gold status that lets me access lounges on Star Alliance flights overseas.
Quite frankly, I would not be surprised if at some point, United suddenly decides to reset the “lifetime” status awards and/or reset the whole system. Read the fine print; none of the airline loyalty programs promise anything for the long term and even the points/miles/whatever and/or permanent status you think you have can be erased by a simple airline management decision.
@Faris…I wonder where he is going in Asia because Delta metal still does that out of SF with connections of course and I’m sure he could have found an equally priced flight from SF since distance doesn’t matter…… some people are just loyal regardless like preference of Pepsi or Coke and won’t have the other if there is a choice. Lol
@FoulOwl….. I hear ya too and agree. I didn’t actually mean to drop status, I was just saying one side of the spectrum I have encountered and I’d say I fall into that category. Yes, I dread sitting next to people whom like to have a few drinks and want to give me an A-Z lesson on Delta / United frequent flyer program when I have zero interest in having a conversation. But I’m polite and indulge…..they usually shut up when a flight attendant recognizes me and we have family discussions quickly or thanks me for being xyz customer. It’s a lot of same routes.
And I personally wouldn’t mind not having status because I’ll pay for what I want. Yes, I would miss out on few intangibles which do matter, but who knows I might not if it’s an expensive ticket.
And I’m taking 10 people on a safari late spring / early summer and Delta will be footing the bill on our travel regardless of the insane D1 redemption rates. So, I guess I care about mileage earning, but to me it has never been important. I just never talk about status and actually sometimes it is embarrassing to me.
Now the correct credit cards to use to maximize rewards…. Yes.
Four years ago, I hopped off the US airline elite status 'hamster wheel' when UA, right after the CV-19 pandemic, raised the requirement for making 1K to $28K, Finally, the bridge was just way too far. My only consolation after more than two decades of patronizing MileagePlus was that I walked away with the program's One Million Miler status and the LT Gold/*G that comes with it, which is without a doubt the "sweet spot" among LT statuses in the industry. In retrospect, walking away when I did was a brilliant move, given the whirlwind of programmatic devaluations that has since hit both the hotel and airline loyalty industries.
The bright side here, because there is always one, is that the stiffened requirements for earning Premier Plat and 1K will thin their ranks to potentially make my LT Premier Gold more valuable...
@dcs
Just remember that Lifetime is defined by the airline, in this case United, for which “lifetime” is whatever United defines it to be. They can discontinue that status at any time and for any reason whatsoever and for that matter, any benefits that come with it.
This really sucks. I have made Gold the last 2 years and Platinum before that with a combination of flights and spending. I already have enough segments for Platinum in 2027, but will barely make Gold with just over $10k in spending this year. For those of us who fly out of smaller airports and connect to most of our destinations this final removal of segments for elite qualification is a sad day. I used to make Chairman's on US Airways with 100 segments easily by late Summer or early Autumn in my 4 to 6 segments a week travel days.
As someone who normally reaches just Platinum on a few segments and card spend, this change won't really affect me. And I don't usually get close enough to even consider 1K anyway.
Meanwhile I easily reach Executive Platinum on American Airlines with their credit card spending and tiered bonuses, hotel bookings and an occasional flight. United really does need to reconsider the amount of PQP earning per dollar of credit card spending. It's terrible.
Arggg...this stings, and while it may thin the ranks of elites further, that is unlikely to help with benefits. Even on the Global Services side, it seems to have become substantially more difficult to get upgrades based on what I see with PN availability. The credit card spend required for PQPs is substantially higher than the competition. As someone who's been Gold or higher for over two decades, and with 4 years at Global Services, I may barely make Gold again this year. Perhaps time to stop chasing.
No normal household spends $200k or $400k in credit card spending.
Most Americans take zero flights per year.
Not sure how sustainable all these requirements are
United 1K squarely targeting Business travelers on company dime rather than Leisure or Miles & Points enthusiast. Even if an household spends $400k a year, they normally wouldn't do it on a United credit card. The only way this makes sense is still business travel. Long haul J fares is usually 7-8k USD, assuming 5k is the fare price, that's just 6 long haul flights a year. Fairly common in mid-upper management of larger companies.
I started the miles & points game back in 2010 when United didn't yet merge with Continental. 100% miles given per mile flown on the cheapest fare. Round trip fares to Asia and Europe on the cheap. Easy 1K. Amazing what this program has become now. On the bright-side, it just means the economy is doing well and people were fair better off than the economic depression we were in back in 2010.
What a lame change. Chasing airline status just does not make sense.
One can actually argue that if the nominal cost is 32,000….it is less than the real cost of flights ( August 2026 ) you could have booked a year ago for a nominal cost of 28,000. As the real cost for that same 28,000 of spend equals approximately 34,522 on Augusts year over year number (+23.4 percent). So, I’m shocked United isn’t spinning it as a discount on qualifying for status with everything being equal LOL.
YES, money still has to be spent and come from somewhere….. of course ….. it’s also supply and demand. Prices will change, but haven’t airline executives said even if oil drops that fares will still remain higher.
Air fares are 30%-40% lower in real terms since deregulation in 1978 and the cost/mile is down 40%-50%. Even after accounting for fees the price of flying is significantly and there were no lie-flat seat/beds back in the glory days of air travel. Fares are still 12%-19% lower than pre-Covid.
I will probably loose my lowly status of Silver with these changes. I make chooses on cost and value. My main Airport is a United Hub so I don't have much option that most of my flights are United, but... If I never going to get status helped along by the number of flights then I might go with other choices especially at the end of the year.
Do you have some sort of inflation benchmark that would be applicable, say an airfare price index? You could go back to when United instituted the outgoing rules, and see how much spending that translates to, in today's dollars.
Is there anybody who puts massive amounts of non-airline spending on those cards?
Do airlines ever release how many status members they have any given year? I've always wondered about the ebb and flow of status on an annual basis
https://starlinktracker.united.com/program/starlink
UA Starlink:
More than 635 mainline and United Express (UAX) aircraft with Starlink installed.
Roughly 46% of our daily flights now have Starlink.
275% higher status match applications for current offer than pre-campaign levels.