Many U.S. road warriors have given up on the frequent flyer miles awarded by airlines. For all but the most profligate spenders, miles are tougher than ever to earn from flying, and they’re not so easy to redeem.
Upgrades are another matter. Many flyers stick with an airline not because they want miles, but because they hope they can upgrade to a flatbed to Europe or Asia for free, saving thousands of dollars per trip.
United Airlines knows this, and on Tuesday, it outlined a new program executives claim will make it easier for the carrier’s best customers to sit in premium seats. Starting Dec. 4, United no longer will award frequent flyers chits they can use for upgrades, replacing them with a new proprietary currency, called PlusPoints.
Customers will start earning points when they fly 75,000 miles in one year, with United giving them 40. But they won’t start racking up a lot of them until they reach 100,000 miles. Then, they’ll get another 280 points.
In most cases, each upgrade type will cost a fixed number of points. A passenger will need 20 to upgrade to domestic first class, or from economy to premium economy on long-haul routes.
A customer will need 30 points to go from long-haul premium economy to business class, and 40 to upgrade from higher-priced economy fares to long-haul business class. Customers who want to upgrade from the cheapest economy fares to business class will need 80 points.
Like today, upgrades will be capacity controlled, so United is likely to upgrade a passenger only when it cannot sell the seat. But Luc Bondar, vice president of United’s MileagePlus program, said in a briefing United may offer its best customers an upgrade on a popular flight if the customer will part with more points.
“We are very confident that this is the most generous upgrade benefit for premium customers in the U.S. today,” Bondar said. “Upgrades are a huge benefit. We want to make it easier for to use these upgrades.” https://skift.com/2019/09/24/united-airlines-simplifies-seat-upgrades-with-points-incentives/