United’s Single Biggest Drawcard…
Posted on August 27th, 2010 by TWSThis will no doubt piss off quite a few FlyerTalkers.
So be it…
Probably the single biggest reason I continue to remain loyal to UA is as a result of receiving 6 System-Wide Upgrade certificates each and every year.
Let me explain to the uninitiated.
When you achieve 1K status on UA, these certificates are posted to your account. It’s a simple process. And the most value you can obtain from these certificates is by redeeming (or applying them) to an international itinerary.
Lets assume I book a Singapore to New York (JFK) flight. Providing that a, I book an upgradeable fare, and b, there are seats available, United will move me from the class I originally booked to the next class up. So from Economy to Business. or from Business to First.
It is easily the number one retention tool UA has in its marketing arsenal.
Now here’s the rub.
If, like me, you hang out on frequent flyer forums such as FlyerTalk (and you specifically “lurk” or participate in the UA forum) you will quickly learn that there are a lot of angry people. People who need to clearly get out more. People who clearly have unresolved issues with their parents.
Or something like that.
You see, UA has clearly made changes to the upgrade clearance window, meaning that it is taking longer and longer for System Wide upgrades to clear the upgrade list. Sometimes, it’s even coming down to “the gate”. Meaning, you don’t know if you have a bigger and better seat until you get to the airport. Apparently, UA is not alone in “holding back” upgrades until the last minute. American have been allegedly doing the same thing as well.
I couldn’t tell you though as I don’t fly AA. I reckon any airline who can’t afford to pain the outside of their planes, reeks of cheapness.
Anyway.
This upgrade “slow-down” has outraged many travellers.
In my mind, there are 2 reasons that this is occuring. The first one is physical capacity. As a result of Wall Street raping and pillaging the global economy, the airlines had to take drastic measures with the glut of capacity it had on most of its major routes. This meant sending a lot of aircraft to have a rest in the airline parking garage – better known as the Mohave Desert.
The airlines had little option. Planes were flying empty. Fuel costs were skyrocketing. And premium passengers were now driving around redeeming coupons in supermarket checkout aisles rather than working out their next exotic location to travel to.
Then there was the upgrading of United’s international fleet. For too long, UA’s long haul product languished behind that of its Asian and European counterparts.
I reckon I sat on this seat for a good 10+ years. In fact, they should name one after me. In the meantime, carriers such as SQ, QF etc were all investing heavily in their business and first class cabins.
Some carriers, such as SQ, probably upgraded their J class product TWICE in the period that UA kept this old clunker of a seat.
But UA had no where to go. The beancounters were running the show due to their bankruptcy, much of their customer base didn’t know any better (or didn’t have a choice) and there were probably many a heated argument over stale coffee and donuts about the fact that seat capacity would be reduced if the premium cabins were overhauled to include lie-flat seats in every business class cabin.
So, that was a long-winded way of essentially saying that upgrades were taking longer to clear due to a reduced physical capacity of seats (ie many routes going from 2 flights a day to 1 flight a day or less) and the fact that the new and improved premium cabins now had 30% less capacity in them.
For example, the old J class cabin on a 747-400 was configured to 73 seats. The new cabin (below) with all lie-flat seats maxes out at 52 seats. That means that each flight now has 21 less seats. That’s a lot of overweight businessmen who would now be forced to cram their fat arses into very narrow seats down the back.
The thing I find amusing in all of this “dialogue” on FT is the absolute sense of entitlement that a lot of 1K passengers have towards the redemption of their SWU’s.
Now, I don’t want to appear to be totally in United’s corner. I’m not. Yes, I’d like to think I’m a loyal customer. But I try and put my upgrade certificates in perspective.
For example, my home airport is Singapore. No other carrier I fly offers me anything remotely close to a System Wide Upgrade. When I was based out of Australia, it was the same.
Look at the choices. Look at the fare costs. Look at the value.
SQ’s belief is that if you want to sit in in J, pay for J. Either through the nose via a J-class fare or burn a shitload of miles. Upgrade capacity is on a very, very slow drip. Qantas is even worse. Don’t get me started.
I’m about to head to JFK in mid September. I’ve got a couple of options when booking on UA. I could book the cheapest economy class fare and might not be eligible for an upgrade (ie the fare class wont allow me to apply a System Wide Upgrade certificate). In this case, the cheapest fare united.com came back to me with was a V class fare for around SGD$1900. Not the cheapest by far that I’ve seen on this route, but this price range is pretty much par for the course for someone wanting to fly all the way from Singapore to New York within a 2-week booking window.
This is the chart UA uses to sort upgrades. That, and your actual status within Mileage Plus. The last criteria is the actual time added to the upgrade waitlist. In order, the process is Status, Fare Paid, and Time Added.
However, you need to understand that some fares are not eligible for an upgrade. Anything on this chart below W and you’re shit out of luck.
The thing that has many FT’ers waving their arms in dismay is that they are buying W class fares, and finding that their upgrades are still not clearing.
This has them outraged. The tirades are almost laughable.
A I said, what gets me though is the absolute sense of entitlement.
I reckon if I apply 6 System-Wides in a year and only 5 of them clear, that means I’ve scored 5 very cost effective business class seats. No other airline allows me to do this. It’s a huge benefit. And the main reason I’ve remained loyal to UA for the past 14-years.
The simple rule I apply now is that if I want to improve my chances at my upgrade clearing, I buy the highest fare I can afford. I wont stoop to buying a full Y fare, because often, I could buy a discount business (Z class) for the same money. But I have been buying B or M fares, and my clearance rate is 100%.
B fares are virtually the same as full fare Y (economy) and are at the top of the upgrade priority list. That means that I can book a B fare 2-weeks out and trump anyone on the list that is the same status as me, but has a ticket with a lower fare class.
And even if it costs me SGD$3000, where else can I buy a business class seat with a truly lie-flat seat for that amount of money. Is there a risk that my upgrade won’t clear? Yes, absolutely, But I give myself every chance by ensuring I am booking a flight thats not packed to the gills. And with a B class fare, I could always cancel at the last minute (pay the minimal $75 fee) and book again on a later flight, where loads are better and my chances for my upgrade clearing are better.
I’m actually glad that UA are making things harder. It’s smart repositioning of their premium cabin. Now they still have a lot of work to do in the delivery of the hard product (ie the food is barely edible, the wine list the cheapest on the market, and the in-flight service is hit and miss) although I will say there seems to be a general effort across the board to lift what’s happening once the doors are closed and the flight is underway.
And I have noticed that on a lot of the premium routes where cabin staff were assigned as a result of seniority (ie Tokyo to the US), there seems to be a much younger staff population now. Maybe all of the old flying mattresses died. Whatever, all I can tell you is that the crew are younger.
So there you have it. My approach to the whole SWU argument. It’s simple. If you want to sit in J, pay for J. If you want your upgrade to clear, stop being a cheap arse and buy the highest fare you can afford. If it clears, it still will be the most cost effective way to secure a business class seat available to you.
If it doesn’t, well you will be in the minority and my guess is that if you calculate your total clearance stats over the lifetime of your 1K membership, you’ll easily be in the 90% plus window.
