As you all probably know by now, United has switched to a revenue based earning model for miles as of March 1st. This change only impacts how redeemable miles (RDM) are earned. It does not impact how Elite Qualification miles (EQM) are earned. EQM (or PQM as United calls it) earning remains the same as…
Elite Status
Tag Archives for Elite Status.
Upgraded to the Presidential Suite
Every once in a while one gets lucky – an upgrade to a suite in a hotel. I was staying for one night at the Westchester Marriott in Westchester County, NY. It was an uneventful stay and a nondescript Marriott, in a non-so-exciting location. I showed up really late and was in for a surprise…
Full Fares – Earning bonus Elite miles on United Partners
As I discussed in my last blog post, if you book a full-fare or flexible-fare economy ticket that is booked as a Y or a B fare, you will earn 150% of the miles flown on the trip. This is not a reason to buy these tickets as they can cost several times the cost…
Earning more miles than you actually fly – the how and why?
When I looked at the miles I have earned over the years, I have found a consistent trend – my earned Award miles (RQM) and Elite miles (EQM) are always are greater than the actual miles flown (BIS – Butt-in-Seat Miles). This is not unique to me, you will see this in your accounts too.…
RMF and CLV – Wharton marketing professor defends Delta’s mileage changes
RMF: Recency, Monetary value and Frequency CLV: Client Lifetime Value These are two of the technical terms that Wharton Marketing professor Peter Fader uses in this excellent interview to explain Delta’s changes to their mileage program. As you may have heard by now, Delta is switching to a new earning program from 2015 where passengers…
2013 – A (Personal) Travel Year in Review
2013 was an interesting year. Both for me personally from a travel perspective and also for the travel industry. Several firsts and several changes – some for the good and some for the bad. Here are a few I care about. Personal Travel recap: Personally, 2013 was a very interesting year. I made it to…
Alliance Wars: The post US Airways – American Airlines world – Part I
There are three alliances in the world of Air Travel: Star Alliance OneWorld and SkyTeam Of these three, Star Alliance has been a very dominant alliance – mainly because of the sheer number of airlines they have (28 at the time of posting this), as opposed to OneWorld (13) and SkyTeam (19). Across their members,…
Tracking a United International BusinessFirst Upgrade
On a recent flight to Tokyo, I used a United Global Premier Upgrade (GPU) to request an upgrade for myself to BusinessFirst. The upgrade did not clear when applied and it did not even clear at the 24 hour before the flight mark. At that point, United turns over the regular upgrade process, which is…
CPUs, RPUs, GPUs: all the United PUs (Premier Upgrades)
One the benefits of being an Elite on an airline is the ability to get upgraded to upper class seats on flights. Anyone can use miles and upgrade themselves (more and more with a co-pay), provided space is available. Elite customers though get the ability to get upgraded with using up valuable miles. United has…
Lifetime Miles
I logged into United.com this morning and saw my lifetimes miles total – 500,024. I am half-way to become a Million Miler! For United MileagePlus, One Million Miles is a significant milestone (no pun intended). It gives you and a significant other Gold Status for life! No matter how many miles you fly in a…
