As the new United and Continental elite program comes into focus, they announced today the alignment that is occurring to prepare the programs for merger at the end of 2011. As the resident segment flyer here at upgrd.com, I feel an obligation to really discuss how big of a change it is for those of us that earn status by segments.
Segment flyers are those primarily flying for business, and most of the flights are relatively short. To Illustrate the significant difference, I am going to give you a snapshot of my progress toward status as of today:
Now, the EQM needed is skewed slightly as I made a trip to SFO for Fleet Week, so that round trip netted around 6,250 EQM instead of the usual round trip amount of 2,000 that I normally get for my flights (I purchased a CO B fare for the flight out just to get the guaranteed upgrade after I got off work.) Why is this illustration important? Because it shows the grand mileage gap between earning by miles versus segments.
Each round trip is usually 4 segments, so as it currently stands 1K is earned by flying 25 round trips by segments. If each trip is a week, that is 25 weeks out of the year that someone is traveling, and even more if that person has multiple trips that are 2 or more weeks at a time. This is quite a stretch as it is. Under the new scheme, a new tier aligned to Continental Platinum is being created at 90 segments (22.5 round trips) and 1K is moving up to 120 segments (30 round trips.) While to the average mileage runner, this change seems like a small round trip difference, but many businesses avoid travel around major holiday periods, and are slow to pick travel back up after the start of the year. Thus a 52 week year can easily devolve into a schedule of only 40-45 weeks available for business travel. Throw in a few long term projects or every other week travel events, and that 5 round trip difference does have a large effect. This is why many members of FlyerTalk are upset at this change in qualification criteria. There are other changes in benefits that apply to all members at the Premier Platinum and 1K levels, and those have been discussed by everybody, and will continue to be discussed as we move closer to implementation. I am merely writing on the segment perspective.
As for my personal opinion, I have no issue with the changes in qualification criteria. As it was, segment flyers were given the opportunity to cheat at getting 1K with only having to fly the equivalent of 33,000 extra miles between 1P and 1K, instead of the 50,000 miles that those flying on mileage have to earn. Yes, segment earning is harder, but with 2P and 1P, United and other airlines have established a standard equivalence between miles and segments for status.While this is a blow bringing us back in line with those earning it by mileage, it does fall in line with the current system of status divisions.
However, what I will say is that if you are someone who just barely makes 1K by segments and can not foresee making it to 120 segments, then you should seriously start considering AA if you want to have top tier status, as they are going to be the holdout of offering top tier status at 100 segments.
Comments
So your point is that if your were earning 1K on United with 100 segments and less than 100k miles then you are not going to qualify for 1K next year? Isn't that obvious? 100 is bigger than 120 and 60 is bigger than 50. If American's status perks are better than United's then flip if you are only going to be flying 50/100 segments. Is this going to make enough people switch airlines? I don't think so. Economy Plus as a fallback along with unlimited domestic upgrades for all tiers is a big plus for United.
My note to United.
Yesterday you announced the "Benefits" of the 2011 1K program. As a "benefit" you raised the number of segments for qualification from 100 to 120, a 25% increased "benefit". Nice way to screw your most loyal customers. Nice marketing message of the "benefits". I have an even better suggestion for you. Raise the segments and mileage to 1,000,000 and make the benefit free travel on UA. That way no one will qualify and it won't cost you a darn thing. And way to go rewarding the loyalty of Continentals top fliers. Their's increased from 90 to 120 segments. I'd bet that they are really enjoying the 'benefits' of being part of United. This is a bonehead move that I would have expected from Glenn Tilton but not Jeff Smisek. Clearly the message from UA is screw the loyalty. Stupid, Stupid, STUPID!
I wonder how many segment 1Ks do indeed have 4 segs/roundtrip? Glad you sound to be ok with it... sorry to read about all the "I'm Defecting to AA" folks over on Flyertalk.
@Michael D and Darren: The rage transfers are really a symptom of people believing that nothing should be taken away from them, and many of the decisions are not being made out of calculation, but out of rage at the perceived slight. Do I agree with it? No, however I do understand it.
Nick: Your last point is spot on.
Once people cool down on FT, they'll realize that this change is not enough (for most) to jump ship.
The benefits are great, but we're not entitled to them.
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