DM Elites no longer have E+ Benefits on UA

[US1YFARE]

Economy Plus seating on United

Our partner United® has just announced that effective immediately they will no longer offer Economy Plus seating as a complimentary benefit to US Airways Dividend Miles Preferred members and elite frequent flyers of other partner airlines.

United has chosen instead to offer Economy Plus AccessSM packages that allow members of their Mileage Plus program to reserve Economy Plus seats for an annual membership fee and has other fee-based programs available to access these seats.

As a Dividend Miles Preferred member you’ll still enjoy other great benefits when you travel on United and other Star Alliance™ member airlines, including priority check-in and boarding and the ability to earn Preferred-qualifying miles and segments.

And, as always, you’ll continue to have Preferred seating, unlimited First Class upgrades, priority check-in, boarding, and more benefits when you travel on US Airways and America West-operated flights.

Check out our route map to see where we can take you, then book your flight to over 230 destinations worldwide at usairways.com to get 500 bonus miles each and every time you make your reservation.

Sincerely,

John M. Reistrup
Director, Marketing Programs

 

[Travelpro72]

LOL.... How nice of them. Good Ol' United. There Grrrrrrreat.

 

[Fly]

SQ just announced they won't allow an earned Business seat reward ticket to sit in business on their airline for international...only economy. I guess they have enough of their own customers to accomodate those seats.

Good for both of them. If you seats are being filled by your own customers, it does not make sense to lose revenue by letting other airline programs use them.

 

[donttouchthebeauty]

SQ just announced they won't allow an earned Business seat reward ticket to sit in business on their airline for international...only economy. I guess they have enough of their own customers to accomodate those seats.

Good for both of them. If you seats are being filled by your own customers, it does not make sense to lose revenue by letting other airline programs use them.

Exactly - UAL has a ton of business class seats to offer in the domestic U.S. - So if a MP member of UAL were to travel on US they would never get the equivelant of UAL benefits a US would get. Just a thought.

 

[trvlr64]

Then what's the sense of having a marketing "alliance" where the "benefits" can't be used by ALL who participate??

This move by UA is their way of acquiring customers from US, plain and simple. They know there are a lot of disgruntled US customers that fly UA but still pocket their frequent flyer miles to their US account.

Premerger, half of my travel was on UA because US didn't go to the cities I needed to travel/work in. Post merger, I'm happy I can get everywhere I need to go on US now and don't ever have to step foot on a UA plane. And I'm sorry but E+ was only great when the middle seat wasn't occupied. Most of the flights I had on UA where I got E+ were always full and E+ was still cramped. Especially when the jerk infront of you fully reclinde his/her seat.

Guess US had better start flying to all points on the globe so we don't have to use another airline.

 

[Travelpro72]

Well now that I think about it, why should UA extend that benefit to our FF's? If UA were giving E+ seats, what was US giving UA FF's when travelling on us? 10 inches of leg room in the event the didn't make it to f/c? LOL

 

[ONT_CP]

Well now that I think about it, why should UA extend that benefit to our FF's? If UA were giving E+ seats, what was US giving UA FF's when travelling on us? 10 inches of leg room in the event the didn't make it to f/c? LOL

UA (And other *Alliance Golds/Silvers) get access to US's Exit rows, bulkhead and preferred zones. So maybe not all the seats have extra legroom, but it does get you on or off the plane faster... and if in exit rows, you can get some nice seating.

As a current CP (and former 1K), I think this is dumb for UA, but great for US. US can now show old US East Elites that US has routings to many places they formerly did not. I think US can do well with this change....

 

[Travelpro72]

I totally agree we can do well with this change. Sitting in E+ versus sitting in ANY of our coach seasts besides the exit rows does not compare though. The bulkhead seats with those annoying tray tables in the armrest and absolutely nowhere to put your briefcase or bag below. Anyway....more possibilities with our merger than in the past. I think a lot of the codeshare with UA has been one sided to begin with.

 

[US1YFARE]

Especially when the jerk infront of you fully reclinde his/her seat.

wow, someone's cranky today. I once had a guy "knocking me" on my head because I kept my seat in a recline. He was really, really old and I just ignored him...I had a little headache, but it got to be funny after awhile. Oh, well, guess he should have bought a FC ticket if he didn't like the seat pitch.

UA is obviously trying to capitalize as much as possible on their E+ seats since they are the only one with it in the US--BA has that enhanced economy but I am not aware of anyone who has such a product.

Also, it doesn't matter, US now makes it nearly impossible to book a codeshare flight. My bet is still that US will not be part of the *A in the near future and will join SkyTeam and work with DL. The thing about DL is they are joined with American Express and American Express is tied with SkyTeam by giving free club access to American Express Platinum Card holders. US pulled out of the American Express program apparently because of Juniper Bank or whoever does the MasterCard...so I don't know what will happen.

 

[N965VJ]

<SNIP> My bet is still that US will not be part of the *A in the near future and will join SkyTeam and work with DL. The thing about DL is they are joined with American Express and American Express is tied with SkyTeam by giving free club access to American Express Platinum Card holders. US pulled out of the American Express program apparently because of Juniper Bank or whoever does the MasterCard...so I don't know what will happen.

Hmmm...

American Express is behind the US Airways Autopilot Windows thingie.

 

[IMisstheAladdinTrays]

Exactly - UAL has a ton of business class seats to offer in the domestic U.S. - So if a MP member of UAL were to travel on US they would never get the equivelant of UAL benefits a US would get. Just a thought.

Where talking about economy plus here not business class!

 

[US1YFARE]

the codeshare with UA has been one sided to begin with.

Well UA has US flights listed on its website...US does not...

I do have a question for US employees. When 1K's from UA are traveling on US, do you do ever give them a comp upgrade or any special treatment that you would give US1's or US2's? Just curious. In my experience, I have found that UA employees have been very nice to me as a US1 flying on UA metal.

 

[TechBoy]

Then what's the sense of having a marketing "alliance" where the "benefits" can't be used by ALL who participate??

This move by UA is their way of acquiring customers from US, plain and simple. They know there are a lot of disgruntled US customers that fly UA but still pocket their frequent flyer miles to their US account.

Yes, this is clearly an attempt by UA to get more customers buying and flying UA. I suspect that it will succeed to some extent.

As a 1K, I'm pleased with the policy. I would be willing to "share" E+ with US elites if there were something equivalent that I could "share" when I fly US. But there is not. And I have noticed that it had been harder to get E+ seats before this change in policy. So it only seems fair for UA to take care of its priority customers first.

If US started offering something like E+ (or had a disproportionate number of F seats to upgrade into), then I would gladly support UA granting E+ access to US elites. But until then . . .