United Airlines Booking Tips

As you may or may not know, United has been dropping services, upgrades and benefits that Elite members can use. I wanted to share how I get around some of these issues, weather or not you may have seen this by now.

You may or may not know, United domestic economy no longer provides meals free of charge. Thus bring some cash along if you wish you purchase a meal, some flights including the PS "Premium Service" now take credit cards. So the smile and try to use a $50 or $100 bill no longer works towards getting a free lunch per say. On these specific flights they do not take cash at all.

Priority baggage, a feature provided to "Premier", "Premier Executive", "1k or 100k mile", "Global Services" named "Priority" only works in cities where they feel like providing such a service. For example, normally these bags are delivered off the turn style first. However in cities such as San Diego you commonly find your baggage delivered LAST!, usually due to loading so that the baggage agent can be sure to unload them first. No matter how much you complain at any status, they DO NOT CARE! and will do nothing about it.

500 Mile Upgrades: These upgrades allow for an upgrade, depending on status and distance domestically. For example if you wish to move from coach to first class from San Francisco to San Diego, it requires 1 500 mile coupon. Since the distance is less than 500 miles. Anything more than 500 miles is 2 coupons. This can only be applied within 60 hours of flight time depending on status, price of ticket and availability.

Regional "Confirmed" Upgrades: These upgrades allow a user to upgrade a flight within the US at time of booking, again depending on availability to the next level of status. This upgrade will not work on a paid "PS" Premium Service flight from Business to First class. These tickets from what I can tell are purchase only flights. This type of upgrade is provided only to a 1K status customer. You can only earn up to 2 of these per quarter in a calendar year. You must earn at least 10k elite miles within the quarter to gain this credit.

System Wide Upgrades: These upgrades allow a user to upgrade any international flight at the time of booking and or at the time of flight, depending on availability and level of ticket. Previously you could upgrade any economy ticket no matter what level if available. From what I can tell this works an a purchased business class ticket moving to first class as well. When you first gain 1K you receive 6 of these upgrades. However in 2008 it looks as if you need to fly over 150K paid miles in a calendar year before you can earn additional System Wide upgrades.

Premier status at this point only provides access to Economy Plus at no extra charge, wow all $14. The ability to upgrade with 500 Mile coupons which you earn for every 10k miles that you fly within a quarter. A light discount on access to the Red Carpet Room, but basically not much more. Well if you are on standby to get on a flight that can help as well, but prey you do not have Premier Executives, 1K or Global Service members in front of you. You can forget getting on the flight, unless you have paid a bit more than the Premier Executive for your flight. Somewhat priority boarding, the computer will insert you into boarding group 1. A minimum of 25k paid flown miles is required to either gain or maintain this status on United, which will provide "Silver Star Alliance" status as well.

Premier Executive status will get you about the same as Premier, except a few things. A slightly larger discount to the Red Carpet Room, unless I am mistaken. Higher seating priority for standby customers than Premier and a less long of a wait to use a 500 mile upgrade on a flight. A so called higher level phone clerk for reservations is also provided, this is typically at joke. 50K paid flown miles is required to either gain or maintain this status. This level of service also provides "Gold Star Alliance" status.

1K or 100K Status provides the user these same booking access as Premier and Premier Executive and to not only 500 mile upgrades, however regional upgrades and system wide upgrades as well. You can no longer receive 2 System Wide upgrades per 25k miles flown in a quarter, as previously allowed. Now you must fly at least 150k paid miles per year to earn these points. This level of status is what I currently have and is difficult to live without. However, the level of customer service provided to this level has dropped over the years, despite what several 1K customer service rep has told me. The additional Regional and System Wide upgrades make this status well worth having. You also receive a different phone number for booking, which at most times is faster. Especially since it detects your phone number and asks you less silly and at times stupid questions. I have seen this line pick up much slower than the "Premier Executive" phone line at peak times.

Another 1K advantage is a separate line to board your flight, reserved for Business Class, First Class, Global Services and 1K. If you have baggage, it is at time imperative to get on the plane first just to find a place to put your bags as well as a spot close to where you are seated. I love the bulkhead, however you cannot store bags at your feet. Thus you must be on first to put your bags up, for frequent travelers we learn that checking bags can tack on a minimum of 30 minutes to your exit time on United.

Global Services: Other than being at the top of the tier, I am not exactly sure, since its not posted, what you really need to earn this status. I do know that when you exit an international flight, there is a rep waiting to take you to your next gate or in some cases a special way to get out of the airport. I have heard you need to spend $35k +/- a year to get this level of service.

So to get to the promised booking advice. From what I can tell, if you plan on flying with United, booking on their website will provide you with the best of very close to the best fare. However, it is very important to run your exact travel searches through other travel engines to find the best possible fare. I find that the United website is terrible about providing the best options. You can find a greater level of variety at Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity.

If you are collecting miles, be sure to go back to United and book the exact flight you found. You will earn extra miles, if you use the Chase United Platinum Card, you can earn additional Elite Miles, good for status as well. Which is why I always book directly. The amount of additional miles that you will earn depend on your status, however you can earn 500 miles for booking directly and 500 additional miles for checking in and printing your ticket at home. If you re-print your ticket at the airport it will not credit you the miles.

An additional feature with Premier or highhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifer, in some airports you can gain access to a faster security line. This can help substantially, however some of the smaller airports only allow 1K or higher. When I fly out of SFO - San Francisco I now use "Clear" a TSA approved high speed security line that can really help, even over the priority line provided by United. Most times no one is in line to use it, thus it can be a quick short cut to get through. The only problem at SFO is that it shares the non priority line. They pick up your bags and put you in front of everyone else which really drives people crazy. However, many of these passengers rarely or never fly which even with 1 or 2 people in front of you can still provide a frustrating flow problem. It is well worth the $100 a year for frequent travelers. If you choose to sign up, please use my refer a friend code of SCB62397. This will give me credit towards my account.

United Airlines latest scam

On my way home to San Diego last night I noticed that there where well over 40 people on stand by for my flight. What I didn't realize until later is that they where not on stand by from another flight. United oversold the flight by 50%, wow if you do not have status you are so screwed now. The worst part is, since the tickets are non refundable, even though they oversold it. They do not have to give back the money based on their fine print. I sure can see another government investigation starting very soon!

United Airlines dropping to actual EQM for flights under 500 Miles

So normally I fly United for short flights, since I get my 500 Elite Qualifying Miles per run. But as of July 2008 they will only provide actual miles for short flights. If anything the shovel that Jet Blue, Virgin America and Southwest that United handed over is now going to start the burial process.

Flights are less expensive on these other airlines, all 3 of these airlines actually have friendly flight attendants that are happy to be there. I love how the pilots say, flight attendants are primarily here for your safety. They really don't give a crap about your level of service.

So whats next United? Will your customers have to fly on a full moon, every other solar eclipse to get status points any longer? United tries over and over again to get new clients with these fake fairs that is only 1 seat per flight. When you actually get the email its booked by then.

United Customer Service

So I have been a loyal client of United for years now and I really want to vent a story. Most commonly I do not chase too much down with them because its totally pointless and they will not help. But I am a 1K, or 100 thousand mile customer, not a small score to have in their eyes.

So on my way back from my last business trip to Sydney I purchased several cases of wine and had the bottles very carefully backed for shipping. I know that United throws bags and boxes no mater what is written on the box, these boxes had 5 large Fragile stickers on them and marked glass as well. When I got into SFO I found 1 of the cases in the normal collection area, the other was in the freight pickup sitting on a large flat cart.

It turns out one of the bottles was obliterated from miss handling, typically being dropped or thrown. I waited hours to talk to someone about this and finally the manager of Untied international starts to walk towards me. He hears something on his radio and immediately does an about face and out the back without talking to me. I asked the assistant manager to have him call me. I even provided my 1k-mileage number, cell phone number, address and email.

At this point I didn’t care about a financial re-imbursement but an apology for the way this was handled, the assistant manager did not even apologize for this obvious screw up. Instead she promises that he would call me and talk to me about what happened. NO, CALLS AT ALL!

Wow go United! It was bad enough when they jacked their employees of their benefits and they started to hate the clients, but holy crap!

Off to London for a long weekend

Well I am off to London for a long weekend to visit some friends. Back to one of my favorite spots in the world. But just checked the weather, looks like cold and rainy all weekend.

Back in San Francisco

After a much needed business trip to Europe I am finally back in San Francisco today. As much as I love Europe, San Francisco is my home and I always feel integrated with the pulse of the city here. The Webmaster World Pubcon starts Tuesday, I am looking forward to seeing everyone again this week. As the SEO world continues to grow and transform the Pubcon is a very important show to attend. I am involved with 3 of the sessions, stop by and say hi if you around.

Hello from Paris

Got to Paris last night off of the Euro Star bullet train that was a cool experience. I have only been through Paris briefly before and never got to see anything. So far I must say this city is amazing, one of the most beautiful I have seen in years. In terms of the American in Paris paranoia, the cab drivers here are extremely rude. But the younger people here are very friendly. Other than I cant really read anything, I am enjoying the sites. My office is very centrally located making it a great experience.

Hello from London

After an amazing trip in Dublin I got to London late last night. I keep forgetting how long that taxi line at Paddington can get; it must have been 200 deep. Every time I come to London I have a great time, but with the current strength of the US dollar it’s very challenging. My office is down in the Richmond so my morning commute is pretty thick from Oxford Circus. Getting a lot done work wise, but looking forward to going out and having a few drinks with some old friends and colleagues this week. Trip is slightly changing I will be in Paris Thursday afternoon, through Saturday.

Hello from Dublin

I got to Dublin late last night, I always enjoy flying Lufthansa Air great service every time. But I got to the Hertz car rental counter and they handed me my keys to this Opel after I made a reservation for a BMW. I asked if they gave away my car and they said no, you need to be 30 to rent a cheap BMW in Ireland. As a 5 star gold member of Hertz I was pissed. I will never rent from Hertz outside the US again, in June one of their employees in Tel Aviv stole my laptop. I could write for hours on how they suck. It’s really depressing when a kid 18 +/- tells a 29 year old guy that he is too young to rent a cheap BMW.

I have to gripe about Google maps, no coverage in Dublin. I really needed the maps and no one has it online. I have the Always Lost system from Hertz, which is missing most of the addresses that I needed. It didn’t have the address of my office, or the address of my hotel. On the way to the office this morning it told me to drive the wrong way down a one way street. Great logic!

But Dublin is beautiful, from the little I have seen I am in love! What a great city, if you have a chance you have to visit!

Hello from Berlin

Got in on Monday this week and it was a little cold here, but the last 2 days have been freezing. I had no idea it could get so cold so fast! Berlin is beautiful, great food and good bars. I have enjoyed meeting a few of the top SEO’s from Germany here, its amazing what these guys come up with. Just like the cars they really think out of the box when it comes to tactics. Off to Dublin tonight!

Taking a small business trip before the Pubcon

I am heading off to Berlin on the 29th then to Dublin on the 2nd and then to London on the 5th until the 12th. And I get to experience jet lag while at the Pubcon this year! This is a great time of the year for me to catch up on some needed training overseas, since I can’t do a lot of SEO stuff on my site during Q4.

Anyone have a good list of places for me to hit up in Dublin? It will be my first time out.