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From: PTravel on 14 Mar 2007 13:18

"Louis Krupp" <lkrupp(a)pssw.nospam.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:12vf4c6ntsu5j96(a)corp.supernews.com...
> veg_all(a)yahoo.com wrote:
>> My mileage plus account prominently displays three terms which I have
>> no idea what they mean:
>>
>> Elite Qualifying Miles
>> Elite Qualifying Segments
>> Lifetime United flight miles: ( i know what this refers too, but what
>> use is it for )?
>>
>> I don't understand why none of these are hyperlinked so I can find out
>> what use they are to me. Really ridiculous!
>>
>
> Elite Qualifying miles are miles (or flight segments) which (if you
> accumulate enough of them) qualify you for elite status, i.e., the Premier
> Club. I think you need 25,000 miles. If you fly enough segments (which I
> believe is a city pair on your ticket, so Los Angeles one way to La
> Guardia with a connection in Denver would get you two segments, but a
> direct flight with a stop might only get you one segment), you get Premier
> status even if you don't have enough miles. I don't know how many
> segments you need.
>
> The Premier Club is nice. You get to stand in line with the better
> classes, you can board just behind Business Class so you don't have to
> hang around with all those other people,

UA 1k boards with First Class. 1P, 2P and 3P board in seating group 1,
called after First and Business. Non-elites are seating group 2 or above.

> and if you book early enough, you can sit in Economy Plus so you get a few
> inches more room.

Five inches more room. You also get middle-seat blocking. You don't have
to book early -- access to E+ is reserved for elites, for non-elites who pay
$299 a year for E+ access, and for non-elites who do electronic check-in
(either on-line or at a kiosk) and are selected by the computer to be
offered an opportunity to purchase an upgrade to E+.

> You have to eat the same food as the rest of steerage; you could say
> that you get the best of the worst.

Food on airlines is a non-starter at this point. Even in F, the "meals" are
a pale shadow of what they were even just a few years ago. A blocked-middle
economy seat is, for all intents and purposes, "First class light." You
have nearly as much room as First Class and it's really quite pleasant. The
major difference is that you have to pay for your alcoholic drinks -- in F,
they're free.

>
> If after a year or two as a Premier member you don't fly enough to
> maintain your status, you get busted back to peon.

That's incorrect. You must requalify every year by flying the threshold
mileage. Even if you're a 1K, if you only fly 24,000 miles, you're dropped
back to general member the next year. There is no soft landing. If you're
within a few hundred miles of a threshold, you can usually call UA and beg
successfully for threshold level status.

The only exception to this is UGS (United Global Services) status, which is
afforded to, roughly, the top 2% (in terms of dollars spent on UA tickets)
in each market. UGS has no minimum mileage requirements, and fall above 1K
(and, sometimes, above First Class) in terms of the priority order.

> On your next flight, they'll hold a special ceremony where you board last
> and the gate agent tears up your Premier Mileage Plus card in front of the
> entire coach cabin and then marches you to your seat at the back of the
> plane while everyone points and laughs.
>
> The Premier Club is kind of fun while it lasts, though.

For anyone who flies more than a couple of times a year, there are all sorts
of ways to engineer enough miles to requalify. I've had no trouble
maintaining Premier Exec (1P) status just by concentrating my travel on UA
(which, of course, is the whole motivation behind these programs).


>
> Louis

From: veg_all on 14 Mar 2007 14:06
I now have a somewhat better understanding of what EQM and EQS are
but it seems so stupid to have them. A mile should just be a mile.
Since when does a mile become an EQM and why should it matter what
segment I fly on. This is unncessarily complicated. As one poster
replied the 'rewards' are hardly worth it. Anyone who derives immense
satisfaction from a few inches of legroom and 'priority' boarding
needs to have their lives examined...

From: PTravel on 14 Mar 2007 14:30

<veg_all(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1173895597.234797.192300(a)y66g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>I now have a somewhat better understanding of what EQM and EQS are
> but it seems so stupid to have them. A mile should just be a mile.
> Since when does a mile become an EQM and why should it matter what
> segment I fly on. This is unncessarily complicated. As one poster
> replied the 'rewards' are hardly worth it. Anyone who derives immense
> satisfaction from a few inches of legroom and 'priority' boarding
> needs to have their lives examined...

You are, apparently, a casual flier (and a rude one at that) and for you,
you're right -- don't bother with the UA program. I always find it amusing
when ignorance and arrogance are so closely allied.



>

From: Louis Krupp on 14 Mar 2007 14:51
PTravel wrote:
>
> "Louis Krupp" <lkrupp(a)pssw.nospam.com.invalid> wrote in message
> news:12vf4c6ntsu5j96(a)corp.supernews.com...
>> and if you book early enough, you can sit in Economy Plus so you get a
>> few inches more room.
>
> Five inches more room. You also get middle-seat blocking. You don't
> have to book early -- access to E+ is reserved for elites, for
> non-elites who pay $299 a year for E+ access, and for non-elites who do
> electronic check-in (either on-line or at a kiosk) and are selected by
> the computer to be offered an opportunity to purchase an upgrade to E+.

If you book too late, you run the risk of having all the good seats
taken by other E+ passengers. (It could happen.)

>
>> You have to eat the same food as the rest of steerage; you could say
>> that you get the best of the worst.
>
>> If after a year or two as a Premier member you don't fly enough to
>> maintain your status, you get busted back to peon.
>
> That's incorrect. You must requalify every year by flying the threshold
> mileage. Even if you're a 1K, if you only fly 24,000 miles, you're
> dropped back to general member the next year. There is no soft
> landing. If you're within a few hundred miles of a threshold, you can
> usually call UA and beg successfully for threshold level status.

After my first year in the Premier Club, when I didn't fly nearly enough
to qualify for another year, UAL gave me "Premier Emeritus" status. The
following year, I was busted back to full peon. This was about 15 years
ago. I would be willing to believe that "Premier Emeritus" has been
discontinued; I certainly didn't get it the second time I achieved
Premier and then fell from grace. But I don't know that, and that's why
I qualified it as "a year or two."

>
> The only exception to this is UGS (United Global Services) status, which
> is afforded to, roughly, the top 2% (in terms of dollars spent on UA
> tickets) in each market. UGS has no minimum mileage requirements, and
> fall above 1K (and, sometimes, above First Class) in terms of the
> priority order.
>
>> On your next flight, they'll hold a special ceremony where you board
>> last and the gate agent tears up your Premier Mileage Plus card in
>> front of the entire coach cabin and then marches you to your seat at
>> the back of the plane while everyone points and laughs.
>>
>> The Premier Club is kind of fun while it lasts, though.
>
> For anyone who flies more than a couple of times a year, there are all
> sorts of ways to engineer enough miles to requalify. I've had no
> trouble maintaining Premier Exec (1P) status just by concentrating my
> travel on UA (which, of course, is the whole motivation behind these
> programs).

Thanks for the info. That's the most complete description of United's
elite program I've ever read.

Louis
From: Mike Hunt on 14 Mar 2007 14:52
veg_all(a)yahoo.com wrote:

> I now have a somewhat better understanding of what EQM and EQS are
> but it seems so stupid to have them. A mile should just be a mile.

Well, no.... For example, flying another carrier might earn you miles,
but they might not be EQMs. Buying something with a credit card might
get you miles, but are probably not EQM's.

> Since when does a mile become an EQM and why should it matter what
> segment I fly on. This is unncessarily complicated. As one poster
> replied the 'rewards' are hardly worth it. Anyone who derives immense
> satisfaction from a few inches of legroom and 'priority' boarding
> needs to have their lives examined...

Well, if your chances of really getting 5 inches of legroom for the same
price of a ticket, then I don't see how you can not see the benefit of
that. Additionally, if you ever were forced to gate check a bag, then
you might understand one main benefit of priority boarding.
I won't bother you with info on things like free trips, free lounge
access, mileage bonuses (double credit for the same trip - awards for
half the normal effort) and other perks of elite status, since you
really don't seem to give a damn. Even casual flyers can earn something,
as any activity of any kind in some accounts keep the miles alive.

During bonus periods, I have earned free tickets for not doing much of
anything. Once, I flew to Europe and got a free ticket to the Caribbean,
PLUS the double miles I usually get. Every trip I make to Europe gives
me enough miles for a free domestic US ticket.


Your right, signing up for a frequent flyer program is a waste of YOUR
time.

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