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.
Love this chart for clarity https://t.co/Sexo29Hr3U
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) January 28, 2026
- You people are disgusting.
Since when did "Economy Class" become code for "I’ve forgotten how to be a human"? ✈️
Personally, I make it a point to hand my trash to the crew during the actual collection or take it with me. It takes 2 seconds and shows a shred of respect for the cleaners who are working on… pic.twitter.com/xKWxRrBFp8
— Fahad Naim (@Fahadnaimb) January 27, 2026
- But how do you ‘laugh it off’ and not say something?
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?
For an elite experience in the sky, join SkyMiles and enjoy a thoughtfully-curated flight with Delta.
Gary, seriously, nothing on 1-year since AA5342? Or are you and the others saving that for later?
If asked for a custom tip, enter “-20%”. After all, you are providing a service to the self checkout store.
It costs them nothing to add the tip screen.
And tip-happy idiots will tip. America is full of them.
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.
Re: American wide bodies.
They have 19 on order?
Little tiny Alaska has 17 787’s on order.
It’s comparisons like this that make you wonder what AA’s leadership was thinking.
Anyone else’s Bilt Card show up? Got mine today.
@Mike P — Cool. Not yet. Did you get that Palladium, limited-edition, mirror-finish?
UA 1K is a joke. If any UA 1K members get clear for long-haul upgrade, e.g. LAX-HKG, or SFO-NRT, please let me know. These days who would chase UA 1K anyway? Well of course, if the corporates foot the bills, then hey try for GS.
Talking about AA new planes, I recently stumbled on N334CR, an ER175 from MIA to GSO. During the greeting at the door a brief whiff of newness hit the nasal sensors. Immediately I did some research of Flight Radar. Damn. It was delivered 4 months ago. Forced me to play the lottery that night.
AS did this to me once. I had 27k MVP qual miles – they offered to upgrade to MVP Gold (40k) for $1300 – a dime per mile. But no such offers when I missed MVP Gold by about 2k in a couple of subsequent years. I might have opted in for $200, as AS still actually allows upgrades to First.
@Mark: It’s very well thought out. People who will pick no tip will pick no tip when the bottom tip is anything above 10-15%. The 18% tip minimum tip guilts most people into picking 20% because the medium tip is psychologically the right one for tippers.
I received a $6200 offer to upgrade from UA Gold (which I JUST BARELY made) to Platinum.
Honestly, this is a “fair” offer. I’d have needed nearly $5k in additional PQP to make platinum, which with taxes/fees would have easily cost over $6k in real cash, and I didn’t need to actually put my butt in a seat.
The problem is if I’m not doing that $6k of travel organically, Platinum status isn’t worth $6k more than Gold status.
The point of the emails is to plant the idea into your head that the next status level *IS* worth $6k, so when you’re looking at an AA itinerary that is $100 less than the UA itinerary, you pay the extra $100 to get you closer to that $6k in “value”.
(Note: I *LOVE* my United Gold status. Best 50k level status of any American major by far. I just can’t justify $6k for a handful of domestic upgrades and one business class upgrade… which if I just pay cash for will get me halfway to Platinum next year.)
Thank about how many small-dollar upgrades you could buy instead of giving UA $ to buy-up status which will most likely not help clear complimentary upgrades
US electors voted for deregulation.
How dare you ask the government to require companies to follow some regulation???
The company can do whatever they want, including asking the 3.8% fee. That’s what Americans voted for, and certainly Austin is not going to increase regulations!
That mess video…that’s a Qatar cabin from from Melbourne apparently (or vice verse). But even for a 14 hour flight that’s a messy cabin. And someone left their charging cable plugged in to a seat.