1st the payroll employee screw, now the Gold FFs

[Sally4th]

It wasn't enough to muck with the employee pay, now they're cheesing off the Gold level frequent fliers! Have a look a this thread on FlyerTalk.

It would appear a large number of base and Silver DMs are being bumped up to Gold level for apparently no reason whatsoever. Golds took a beating with the devaluation of the DM program to begin with, by all means, lets show them just how valueless the sandcastle think they are by flooding their level. BOHICA! I'm sure this will also thrill the Star Alliance.

In the immortal words of someone "Is this any way to run an airline?"!

 

[US1YFARE]

The US1's got screwed the most in the merger and then the US3's (formerly US2's)...and now, they are getting more screwed and so are the US1's and US2's because that means a larger pool of people upgrading earlier (3 day window) which is when I buy my tickets many times.

Guess they are concerned that they are losing those so unimportant elite business customers.

 

[Sally4th]

The US1's got screwed the most in the merger and then the US3's (formerly US2's)...and now, they are getting more screwed and so are the US1's and US2's because that means a larger pool of people upgrading earlier (3 day window) which is when I buy my tickets many times.

Guess they are concerned that they are losing those so unimportant elite business customers.

So they boost the bottom of the chain?

 

[US1YFARE]

So they boost the bottom of the chain?

It costs them nothing, but artificially inflates their elite numbers. If you boost someone to CP status, that costs them more money because CP's don't pay for issuing tickets on the phone or at the airport, they get 4 "free" one-way upgrades to Europe/Hawaii, the get to use the CP line without paying a ticketing fee, we get to redeposit miles without a charge, and CP's get upgrade 7 days out causing more seats in FC to be occupied without an opportunity to sell that oh so valuable FC seat. I'm sure the Sandcastle spreadsheets show those things as revenue losing perks.

 

[Sally4th]

I'm sure the Sandcastle spreadsheets show those things as revenue losing perks.

Peanuts when looked at as a percentage of the monies spent reaching that level.

Penny wise and pound foolish? How much does the loss of higher leve elites cost?

 

[Barbell]

There's more to this than meets the eye...

 

[ClueByFour]

There's more to this than meets the eye...

Absolutely. Dilution of the Gold level, for one.

That, or the sandcastle is going to make things such that Gold is not Star Gold. In which case every gold with a pulse will leave.

It's not as if the program was not diluted far enough with 4 elite levels. The conventional wisdom on FT is that this is being done to boost the elite levels to keep people from leaving in droves. Which, based on intel out of INT, makes perfect sense in the absence of any reasonable explanation.

I know a guy who made gold by flying almost exclusively paid Envoy. Kept gold. I know a guy who barely made silver with southwest-matching mileage runs and "everything counts." Got Gold.

The former has already asked how to get a comp from UA. He reads FT and gets it. Give me one reason (one!) why he should not be pissed?

 

[jimcfs]

Peanuts when looked at as a percentage of the monies spent reaching that level.

Penny wise and pound foolish? How much does the loss of higher leve elites cost?

Remember, the bean counters at the SandCastle have a "what have you done for me lately" mentality (at least that's the perception of the elite customer). We all know one former CP who frequents this board that was driven away by this type of thinking.

I'm no CP (I was GP for 2006) and have 2 Million lifetime miles, but due to circumstances I had 0 EQM for '06. (When I did fly, I cashed in award tickets). Since there has been no mention of the former HP lifetime status, I'm guessing I'm at the true bottom of the barrel after the end of the month. Should this be the case, I will explore other options in the future.

 

[Barbell]

While you bring up valid points, the items being discussed on FT as referenced by the OP have nothing to do with what you've referenced in this post.

If your friend has gone to UA - a much better airline from what I've been told - as Gold, then why should he be pissed? He should be happy as all hell that he goes somewhere they'll kiss the ground he walks on.

While you may think you "get it", and I think you do on many levels, you have no idea what you're talking about when discussing the exact specific topic being discussed here. There are some things that go on behind closed doors that some people don't know are happening. There are reasons for it, and they will not be discussed here by me.

And for the record, while exceptionally knowledgeable and nice, the folks in INT are not the end-all be-all of all that goes on. They may see things, but they certainly don't see all things.

 

[FCYTravis]

There's more to this than meets the eye...

I sure hope so. Seems pretty bizarre to me.

Several Golds on FT have reported being bumped up to US2. I qualed for Plat in '06 with 85k BIS and if I was still flying US, I would sure be pissed that 55k Golds could bump my upgrade priority.

BTW US1YFARE, Plats have the same fee-free award redeposit (and ticketing, I think) abilities as CP. Just no free TATL upgrades.

 

[FCYTravis]

Oh yeah, and I think I figured out the secret Sandcastle plan on this one.

Remember "Everything Counts"? Well, you ain't seen nothin' yet.. Get ready for...

Everyone Counts!

Sign up for a Dividend Miles account and you're instantly granted Everyone's Preferred status. All existing DM customers are granted Everyone's Preferred status. Remember, on US, EVERYONE's Preferred!

So to make way for the new Everyone's Preferred, all previous SPs are getting bumped to Gold.

Can't wait to see the elite boarding lines now...

 

[Doc]

All this talk of getting free stuff is getting to me again. Personally I think all upgrades should be done at the gate after selling them is exhausted.

I guess if I had a extended conversation I could be convinced of giving the US1’s the seat when they check in.

 

[SS255]

I had 56K EQM's in '06, did not order flowers from FTD, and have maintained Gold since '02. I've seen my elite mileage bonus drop from 100% to 50%, and now I find out that I could have earned lowest tier elite on another airline AND maintained my Gold status on US by only qualifying for silver? Now I'm competing with all of the fake golds for 4 less seats in F and less overhead space on the 320? I'm not a happy camper!!!

If US truly does have something up their sleeve, why aren't they showing their higher level elites any love? And why didn't they instead reinstate the "soft landing" to reward those who previously had earned their status but - as in the case of jimcfs - may have had a change in circumstances in '06 which resulted in less flying?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Hey - I non-reved 3 times last year. That should get me bumped to Silver at least....

Jim

 

[Sally4th]

While you may think you "get it", and I think you do on many levels, you have no idea what you're talking about when discussing the exact specific topic being discussed here. There are some things that go on behind closed doors that some people don't know are happening. There are reasons for it, and they will not be discussed here by me.

And for the record, while exceptionally knowledgeable and nice, the folks in INT are not the end-all be-all of all that goes on. They may see things, but they certainly don't see all things.

Can I buy a vowel, Vanna?