United Airlines shared during its third quarter earnings call that they will not make material changes to elite status-earning next year. This is prompted by Delta Air Lines announcing, and then walking them back in part:
- New, higher status qualification levels that focus on spend only, with top tier requiring 35,000 qualifying dollars. (Credit card status-earning would require $350,000 – $750,000 in spend at that level.) This has been brought down to $28,000.
- Limits on access to Delta Sky Clubs, where holders of the premium American Express card would only get 10 visits per year (instead of unlimited) unless they put at least $75,000 each year on the card. This has been increased to 15, with each one allowing for use of multiple clubs on the same day.
Alaska Airlines offered a proactive status match just for Delta SkyMiles members and then JetBlue made a similar offer. The former is a big competitor with Delta on the West Coast, and the latter on the East Coast.
While neither American nor United targeted disaffected SkyMiles elite, who felt they were being fired as the airlines employees told complaining customers to stop being poor, CNBC’s Leslie Josephs asked during the question and answer period of the earnings call whether United has seen an uptick in status match requests. Yes they have.
Are status matches up dramatically? Yes.
However the airline cautions that status matches are not a “big number.” In other words, the big spike is off of a low base. And remember as well that they weren’t actively promoting it, a customer would have to proactively reach out to the airline and make the request.
There’s also been talk of a new status challenge coming from United. The current status match program has a published end date of December 31.
I read your article about a Choice Hotels Diamond Member being trown out of a Hotel. I have a story for you about many of the hotels of Choice Hotels. I am also a Diamond Member and the service seems to get worse the higher you get
I HOPE THAT UNITED COMES UP WITH A RESONABLE TRNSFER OF MILES AS I AM READY TO
EXCANGE MY DELTA MILES ESPECIALLY WITH UNITED.
thank you
Screw United and their status matches.
They have so many delays and such lousy customer service the glow of having been status matched will wear off quickly.
Never again!!!
@JIM ROBESON yes of course United will exchange your Delta miles when you status match.
airlines don’t “exchange miles”
They might match status, though.
UA is not doing it any more than what they normally do which is why Gary accurately noted that “In other words, the big spike is off of a low base.”
As for UA’s reliability, the DOT just released the Air Travel Consumer Report and UA’s operation this summer was indeed a disaster, not just in June but also in July.
UA’s on-time at EWR was below 60%, 15% or more worse than AA and DL had at JFK and LGA and DL was more on-time than AA, as is usually the case.
UA cancelled more flights to boot. And UA has had to cut flights from EWR in order to not operate as poorly on a regular basis as it did at EWR in June and July.
The only consolation for UA is that B6 was even worse in on-time – by far the worst that B6 has done and far worse than the rest of the industry.
DL simply has more growth potential in the highest revenue markets in the US which is why UA is not willing to match DL but also knows that trying to chase DL elites could easily backfire if DL decides to start poaching UA elites and high revenue customers.
Scott Kirby is smart and wants to align w/ what is making DL work but he is not going to go after DL’s elite passengers when he can get far more revenue from other more vulnerable airlines.
Hey look. It’s another Tim Dunn half truth Delta commercial
when you can’t debate the facts, debate the messenger.
There is no such thing as “miles exchanges” between the big 3 US airlines.
AA’s on-time is improving but they still trail DL. And AA customer service is still lower than it should be considering that their operation is more stable. DOT data doesn’t lie.
El Cheapos are leaving Delta.
Good for Delta’s profits and investment in the product.
For example, I was in a small Michigan airport last week, served by American, Delta and United. Delta had 4 physical check-in positions while American and United only 3. That’s the stuff that matters when you travel a lot.