United Wants $12,670 To “Upgrade” You To 1K Status — And Calls It A Discount [Roundup]

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • United wants $12,670 to upgrade to 1K status – and calls it a ‘discount’

    Comment
    byu/VegetableRealistic60 from discussion
    inunitedairlines

  • How on earth can the default option be an 18% tip at self-service checkout from an airport concessionaire? And how can they also charge a credit card processing surcharge, when they do not accept other forms of payment here?

    If it’s an optional service I can understand the logic, but if it’s a required part of the transaction then there’s really just one ‘price’ to make the purchase. You’re just lying about the price. Hey, Austin, demand better of your concessionaires.

  • American Airlines has spent handsomely to win back managed corporate travel, in staff and incentives and commissions. CEO Robert Isom says they’ve recouped the $1.5 billion hole they dug for themselves. Costs are up, so why hasn’t their revenue gone up too?

  • American Airlines has to order widebodies. They retired their Airbus A330s and Boeing 767s and they just don’t have a pipeline of planes coming in. But they aren’t making money which puts them in a tough spot.

  • You people are disgusting.

  • But how do you ‘laugh it off’ and not say something?

    Scenes from Delta One (JFK > LAX)
    byu/DragonDeez indelta

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Yeah I got United’s offer to keep 1K for $12k. I only missed it by 6k. Absurd. Thing is, I enjoy 1K so much much that I told myself I’d pay for 1K if the cost was around 2.

    No, try 12. Who would do that? What’s the point? To mock you?

  2. For an elite experience in the sky, join SkyMiles and enjoy a thoughtfully-curated flight with Delta.

  3. If asked for a custom tip, enter “-20%”. After all, you are providing a service to the self checkout store.

  4. It costs them nothing to add the tip screen.

    And tip-happy idiots will tip. America is full of them.

  5. The No Tip, with next increment 18% seems like it is not well thought out. Someone might be more willing to throw 10% given that there is no clear recipient.

    All airport authority cares about is that they get their cut of the tip revenue.

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