I wrote previously about my surprise status match to United 1K. Despite my previous posts declaring my independence from American, I had trepidations when it came time to actually make the switch. In the comments from readers I was forewarned that United may not be any better and in fact, most 1Ks thought it might be worse. But after a bad experience on American, it was time to give it a go. Status Challenge accepted.
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Hub 1Ks Don’t Get Upgraded
Overwhelmingly, readers that commented on my previous post were quite clear – they neither expect nor receive free upgrades from coach to first class. Upgrade percentages were so low (in some cases entirely absent) that I had to check the policy with United to be sure.
Complimentary Premier® Upgrades are space-available, complimentary upgrades on select United- and United Express®-operated flights. They are available to all Premier members, as well as to a companion traveling on the same reservation as the Premier member.
So while complimentary upgrades appear to be possible, 1Ks submitting their own experiences on my previous post suggested that they had become all but unicorns. However, most of them were also reporting results from Newark and San Francisco, a pair of United strongholds (in the case of Newark, perhaps chokehold).
That shouldn’t be as much of an issue for me as I am based in Pittsburgh and should be an improvement over American. US Airways inexplicably had two hubs in the state of Pennsylvania until 2004 and Pittsburgh was one of them. While eventually US Airways (now American) consolidated traffic to the far busier and more lucrative Philadelphia market, a lot of legacy crew and loyal lifelong customers remain in Pittsburgh. This made American upgrades move from automatic to about 70% in my experience, though that’s recently gotten worse with smaller first class cabins.
Since Pittsburgh was never a focus city for United, clearing from Pittsburgh shouldn’t be tough, but if hub upgrades really are that tough, then I will only truly be able to upgrade in one segment on any given ticket because, ultimately, all flights will lead to one of their hubs where I will be just another 1K in the back of the bus.
Regional Premier Upgrades
One advantage of United 1K status is that they also offer Regional Premier Upgrades to their 1Ks which can be attached to a reservation long in advance (Systemwide upgrades for non-international itineraries). These work the same way as stickers and in my opinion are something missing from American Executive Platinum status. If I am to believe our commenters (why wouldn’t I?), these don’t really stick either but as with any sample set, it may not be indicative of the whole.
I hope my luck is better than others simply because of the expanse with which you can use these upgrades. Trans-continental flights with lie flat seats, travel to Hawaii, central America, even flights that get all the way through Micronesia to Guam can in-theory use RPUs.
Am I Valuable to United?
So far, I believe that I am. There was a direct flight from Houston to Pittsburgh that fit a slot I needed. I had a meeting in the Galleria area (30 minutes from IAH in the middle of the night, in the middle of the day 45-60 minutes, maybe…) at 10:30AM. I had a dinner meeting in Pittsburgh at 7:30PM.
I have written before about the Southwest Spirit Effect on pricing and that is still in effect for the market pair, but not for all flights. Specifically, the Spirit effect was not helping my direct, midday United flight.
I booked a domestic $537 seat in coach on United, one-way (not pictured). I would say so far their challenge is paying off for them.
I am also helping them with ancillary revenue. I was waiting for some work trips to confirm and missed out on an airfare to Mumbai for $2200 from Dulles via Newark in business class (P fare). The replacement that fits my schedule and stays close to my budget (would have loved to stayed closer to $2k for this) is Boston-Shanghai via San Francisco for $2900.
As I already lost out on the Mumbai fares (the day I was ready to book it went up after just checking it the night before) I was happy to use FareLock for $6.99 for three days. While American Airlines offers 24-hour holds for free, I didn’t feel like $6.99 was too expensive to give me a little peace of mind and give the Google Flights servers a rest. With AA, I would check back every day and re-hold a reservation if the price was the same or lower – a meaningful fare increase would trigger my purchase decision.
Then, I saw a really good offer for the Mileage Plus credit card form Chase. I don’t sell credit cards for any bank, there is no link in this post, I make no commission from telling you I signed up. I don’t doubt some folks will still comment that I am just getting paid to shill for United and Chase despite making it abundantly clear I am not.
The reason I signed up is because there is a better offer for 1Ks than there is for the general public. My offer was 70,000 Mileage Plus points, and a $50 Statement credit. I also am looking into requirements for re-qualifying for 1K and should I fall short of that aim, may need the $25,000 credit card spend waiver to save me.
So far, this totally free 1K challenge has netted United the following:
- A $537 coach one-way that I might have taken anyway, but given the challenge was a no-brainer. Let’s split the difference and say that there was a $250 incremental benefit to United because of the trial to push me onto that flight instead of trying to make other options work.
- $6.99 3-day Fare Lock
- $8.99 7-day Fare Lock extension (waiting on my Chase card to arrive)
- $2,903 for a business class ticket to Shanghai – 100% incremental revenue for United.
- Unknown credit card bounty for signing up with Chase. I speculate that the credit card companies are paying about $7-10/1,000 miles so this will have generated between $490 and $700 (pure speculation) in upfront revenue for the airline.
In total, I think it would be safe to say that United is coming out ahead on my trial of about $3500 so far.
Is this bald-faced stupidity?
Why would I spend that kind of money?
I am a travel blogger and this is my hobby. I spend money and time on miles, points and trips around the world. This year, my flights on American for leisure purposes were almost all free because of vouchers and the use of AMEX Platinum’s business class redemption bonus of 50% (now 35%).
Without getting too specific, every year my family budgets about $4000 for mileage runs that yield them the benefits and the miles they have grown accustomed to receiving and spending. Even with the United Shanghai flight, I am well under budget. If I include miles received (at fair and normal valuations), I will actually come out financially ahead despite the United 1K status challenge and including my American Airlines farewell tour.
How did it go?
Based on the previous comments, I should not expect upgrades as a 1K, especially out of hubs. I booked an R class ticket which is towards the top of coach, but not the very top in terms of upgrade hierarchy.
Within a few hours of booking I had cleared my first upgrade with United defying all odds. I don’t doubt that the fare class and price of the ticket played a part, but according to the upgrade chart it shouldn’t have been a lock.
Further, I would assume that my route (from a hub city and from an oil and gas play to another on a Monday) would have made the upgrade all the more elusive. Instead, I found my seat assignment (1A) perfect and the upgrade window excellent.
On the Chase side, things didn’t go so smoothly. Dot bomb (united.com as I understand it colloquially to be) offered me the credit card all over the place and throughout the purchase process. Except when it was time to actually purchase the ticket.
I called Chase once I had been approved and they said I could immediately purchase straight from my United.com account, the credit card would already be saved into my file. They were wrong. It cost me another $8.99 to lock the fare until the card was ready and a weekend of me babysitting when the card went active so they could next day me the physical plastic.
All told, my account started with 3,018 miles (thanks to the MPX app for shopping bonuses in-person). At the conclusion of all of these activities I should stand at about 114,000 Mileage Plus miles and a pile of Ultimate Rewards points to top up my balance as needed.
Do you think my upgrade was a rare exception? Did I make the right decision to switch to United?
The $25000 spend waiver does not exempt 1K PQDs. You’ll max out at Premier Plat, which takes away most of the desirable perks on offer.
Re-reading it, I can see now that I didn’t make it clear enough. I am aware of the waiver only allowing up to Premier Platinum, but if I should fall short in the re-qualification (as I am not sure which airline I will qualify with next year), it would allow me up to a decent status level without revenue requirements.
But I did not make that clear in the post and I will try to edit it.
Welcome to UA 1k!! From a 1k to another…
1) R fare is the upgrade bucket, so you can’t book R outright. R means you’ve been upgraded. If you see R space on any flight domestic, you can confirm your regional upgrade into first
2) Remember to get your free drink and free food item (any) in coach as a 1k. You likely will have to mention you are a 1k, and some FAs will ask to see your boarding pass
3) For your regional upgrades, as mentioned, look for flights with R space to confirm your upgrade at booking. Make sure expert mode is turned on when you search UA site
Any other insight needed, just holler!!
Thanks for the help. I am sure I will be requesting a lot of help from experienced 1Ks so that I can start to understand the system better.
From a former UA 1K / 1 mm based at IAD, flying United is a mistake 6 times out of 10. You made the wrong decision.
On the other hand, AA and DL have their fair share of poor experiences too so maybe it will work out. good luck!
On the Status Match post I linked to above, I received a ton of comments from 1Ks unhappy about their experience. It was almost enough to scare me off. However, those commenters were based in SFO and EWR – you are also based in a hub city, IAD, and I am not sure my experience will be as poor in PIT. But as I also pointed out there, all of my flights will have to connect in a hub city so who knows whether or not it will really be any better?
The good news? I have Executive Platinum with American Airlines next year already qualified so if I have a bad experience I can go crawling back to AA.
Thanks for the comment!
Welcome to 1K. I’m writing this from a small town south of Mannheim Germany, having flown into FRA on a GPU upgrade to a W fare (that had R4 at booking). The big plus of 1K is the GPUs, and I manage to use my six up each year on my company trips (all booked in coach). I’ve got one waitlisted for Lufthansa on the return too. The free food and (one) alcohol when in domestic coach helps too.
It sounds like you’ve been incredibly successful! As I make my way through the program next year and look for ways to use my upgrades, please reach out with any tips or tricks I may not know.
Welcome to United.
RPU (regional premier upgrades) are next to worthless, as UA almost never opens advance R on any domestic route you’d care to upgrade. There’s a long thread about this in the UA forum on FT.
American seems to be the same way. Regardless of the low probably success rate, I am going to try to burn upgrades on the nearly-impossible-to-clear “Island Hopper”. I’m sure it’s a lost cause, but I also think that learning the hard way about a program is the best way to really get to know it.
I’d like to welcome you to United, and 1K. As someone mentioned, if you are in coach, we’ll occasionally ask for proof (boarding pass or card) because people move around, our devices didn’t update, and/or other people are catching on to the perk. I’ll end this by saying I hope we meet and exceed your expectations. Something I try to do on every flight for my passengers.
A United fa
(Pre merger United)
Thank you for the welcome! In five years of writing about airlines, hotels and the like, you are the first frontline employee to reach out – that says a lot about the character you hold and the pride you have in your employer. You’re giving me confidence about United and I have only taken one flight as a 1K.
I just became a lowly UA Gold for the first time, and have already been upgraded from flights from New Orleans, Cleveland, and Norfolk, all to EWR (actually the first of those was as a Silver, which is almost unheard of). Pretty happy about it, but my expectations when flying from EWR, where I live, are zero. I just try to get Business Class tickets with points or miles whenever possible.
For some reason I like flying UA, which is hard to explain given the many, many things they get wrong. Part of it that they still have a reasonably valuable and easily
accumulated award currency, for however long that lasts.
Seems like a sound plan Ivan. A lot of people really love UA, more so than the loyalists at AA – they really have a passion for the carrier. Maybe it’s nostalgia or maybe it’s warranted through great experiences. Time will tell.
I have had good luck using my GPUs for international upgrades both TATL and TPAC out of SFO but I don’t necessarily buy the lowest upgrade able fare. They can also be used on Lufthansa and ANA which is sometimes a better option. I use RPUs on long intracomtinental flights where I want a good chance of an upgrade. With some thought on route they often clear. If not I am in the exit row anyway so space is ok, be aware you will need 12k spend to keep 1k. The GPUs make a huge part of keeping 1K if don’t buy biz tickets (I buy a mix).
(Ps. The new Polarisservice is a cooperative enhancement for UA)
I expect to purchase a mix next year, but coach tickets W fare class or higher for desirable routes to ensure I at least have the option to upgrade. Given your comment (and those of some others) fare class hierarchy seems to play a pretty big role so I will target better fare classes when the price difference is nominal.
Welc0me to the friendly skies. The new United is happy to have you as a customer. Team SAN
Thank you so much for the warm welcome, I hope to visit your station soon.
I’m one of those 1K (former AA EXP) that posted a comment when you 1st wrote about the challenge. Glad your posting updates about your experience.
I have 2 trips planned in the near future — Hawaii & Israel. Already booked biz class 6 months out on Swiss using a Super Saver. Hawaii is tough to chance on GPUs out of EWR so I’m using the Expert Mode to check how close to booking are R fares available or Ist/Biz super savers from LAX.
Tracking the pattern of R class / Biz super saver availability was helpful on my previous flights to Barcelona & other cities in Spain.
I was 1k in 2015, flying out of IAD, I was upgraded probably 80% of the time. Since then I’ve dropped down to platinum and now gold, I doubt I will get back to 1k ever again. With that said, I’ve been upgraded on both lower statuses mostly due to fare class purchases…that seems to be the driving factor for lower status levels so I would
Imagine you can optimize your fare classes to make sure you’ll get the bump.
Also, when using RPU and GPU’s make sure you purchase the right fare classes to use them. (Duh).
Lastly, I can confidently say that I’ve had mostly only good (standard) to great service on united. I’ve never really had an issues flying them for the past 5 years. United Express flights are usually the ones where I’ve seen issues occurs with service- mainly attitude, rudeness, lack of service…etc.
I honestly wonder sometimes why people trash UA the way they do(besides the recent PR issues.)
I think you made the right decision and if you generate enough revenue (20k+) you could even make Global Services from your non-hub city.
Happy flying