4 ms·

I made status this year on United, fortunately I didn’t have to do any sort of mileage run. I do enjoy benefits of status - ability to pick better legroom sea

I made status this year on United, fortunately I didn’t have to do any sort of mileage run. I do enjoy benefits of status - ability to pick better legroom seats for the whole family, upgrades except for SFO LHR route because half the plane is Global Service for that route. However next year the same status will require $24k in spend, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to get to that. It was fun while it lasted though.

chrisseaton 7y ago
Who is achieving Global Services while not already booking in Polaris? I thought Global Services was like private invitation to senior executives? Those people aren’t likely booking in Economy and hoping for an upgrade. Or is it low-level consultants flying transatlantic twice a week every week who have astronomic mileage but aren’t actually senior in their companies?
- code4tee 7y ago
  It’s usually either those that spend a lot of total dollars with United or in some cases “influencers” in a company like the head of travel that control a lot of spend.
- asciimike 7y ago
  Nobody. GS is nominally the top 1-2% in UA metal revenue of each station (e.g. I had a coworker based out of PIT who was able to routinely get it with 50k annual spend, while I met a number of SFO folks who had to spend 80-90k). Anecdotally, companies with large business relationships with United (Apple, Google, etc.) will get a certain number of GS slots as well (they could get allocated to senior execs--there was a rumor that it was a director perk, though I asked my directors and they didn't seem to have access, so maybe it was VPs only?).
asciimike 7y ago
1k has gotten insane lately, so it only makes sense they're raising the spend limit. Switching to pre-board 1k's makes sense on non-mainline routes, but on any mainline flight, there's a huge gaggle of GS/1k wandering aimlessly around the gate waiting for the flight to board, and it's a total mess. This should restore some order. But as someone who spent 25k w/UA this year, I won't be doing it again next year. As for the benefits: - Econ+ is nice (mostly for being at the front of the plane), and let's call it $100/flight (what you'd otherwise pay for it) - Free drink + snack is $20 a flight - 3x 75lb checked bags is non-trivial, though I don't know a business traveler who checks bags - Lounge access on INTL flights, let's call this $50/flight - Waived change fees within 24 hours is $200 a flight, and TBH this is a game changer for my travel habits (and the thing I will miss the most come Feb 2021 when I no longer have 1k) - Upgrades: well, the plane was already flying there, so it's a loss of revenue rather than a cost per se, but honestly this is probably the biggest "cost" to the airline for having status

chrisseaton 7y ago

Who is achieving Global Services while not already booking in Polaris? I thought Global Services was like private invitation to senior executives? Those people aren’t likely booking in Economy and hoping for an upgrade. Or is it low-level consultants flying transatlantic twice a week every week who have astronomic mileage but aren’t actually senior in their companies?

code4tee 7y ago
It’s usually either those that spend a lot of total dollars with United or in some cases “influencers” in a company like the head of travel that control a lot of spend.
asciimike 7y ago
Nobody. GS is nominally the top 1-2% in UA metal revenue of each station (e.g. I had a coworker based out of PIT who was able to routinely get it with 50k annual spend, while I met a number of SFO folks who had to spend 80-90k). Anecdotally, companies with large business relationships with United (Apple, Google, etc.) will get a certain number of GS slots as well (they could get allocated to senior execs--there was a rumor that it was a director perk, though I asked my directors and they didn't seem to have access, so maybe it was VPs only?).

asciimike 7y ago

1k has gotten insane lately, so it only makes sense they're raising the spend limit. Switching to pre-board 1k's makes sense on non-mainline routes, but on any mainline flight, there's a huge gaggle of GS/1k wandering aimlessly around the gate waiting for the flight to board, and it's a total mess. This should restore some order. But as someone who spent 25k w/UA this year, I won't be doing it again next year. As for the benefits: - Econ+ is nice (mostly for being at the front of the plane), and let's call it $100/flight (what you'd otherwise pay for it) - Free drink + snack is $20 a flight - 3x 75lb checked bags is non-trivial, though I don't know a business traveler who checks bags - Lounge access on INTL flights, let's call this $50/flight - Waived change fees within 24 hours is $200 a flight, and TBH this is a game changer for my travel habits (and the thing I will miss the most come Feb 2021 when I no longer have 1k) - Upgrades: well, the plane was already flying there, so it's a loss of revenue rather than a cost per se, but honestly this is probably the biggest "cost" to the airline for having status