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United Mileage Plus (Edit)
Overall Mileage Plus does a good job of meeting expectations. Travelers will tend to get better results if they live near a United hub (Washington/Dulles (IAD), San Francisco (SFO), Denver (DEN), Los Angeles (LAX), or Chicago/O'Hare (ORD)), as those areas tend to have more experienced and better trained agents, who most likely deal with more customer service issues than other airports.
Features
At a modest level of travel (25 000 miles/year) one qualifies for Premier status (2P). At this level the traveler is able to pre-board the plane, which is probably the most important travel benefit. They can also select Economy Plus seats, which provide more space than standard coach seats. The traveler also receives a 25% mileage bonus for all travel. This also qualifies as Star Alliance Silver status, with some benefits on other Star Alliance air carriers.
The second level of status, which is also reasonable to obtain (50 000 miles/year), is Premier Executive (1P). At this level the traveler is able to pre-board and earns 100% bonus miles for travel. They are also able to obtain upgrade seats in advance of the flight. This also qualifies as Star Alliance Gold status, with some benefits on other Star Alliance air carriers. A primary benefit of Star Alliance Gold is the ability to access "Star Alliance Gold" lounges at international airports when departing from that airport on an international itinerary.
The top level of normal status is the Premier Executive 1K (1K), which requires 100 000 miles/year. At this level the traveler can pre-board, earns the 100% mileage bonus, receives more upgrades, gains access to a special reservation/help phone number and other privileges. This is also Star Alliance Gold, with some benefits on other Star Alliance air carriers. A primary benefit of Star Alliance Gold is the ability to access "Star Alliance Gold" lounges at international airports when departing from that airport on an international itinerary.
The top level is "Global Services" (GS). United Airlines have not published any way for this status to be earned. Anecdotal reports on FlyerTalk say that if one spends about US$ 30 000 per year on full-fare tickets, one is likely to be offered Global Services status. Other reports indicate that if a medium or large firm has a corporate agreement with UA, then the firm will get several GS cards for use by top management (e.g. CEO). In recent years, GS status also automatically qualifies one with the full 1K benefits, including full Star Alliance Gold benefits.
Pros
At each level of status, the traveler receives access to a phone line that is dedicated to their travel needs. United also looks after its travelers who are not frequent flyers by having targeted promotions from various cities. Even a casual traveler can find ways to increase their mileage balance.
Probably the biggest benefit is that UA generally will not deny boarding to a UA Frequent Flyer if a flight is oversold. Another benefit is that UA staff often will make extra efforts to re-route or otherwise help out a stranded elite traveller during irregular operations (e.g. aircraft mechanical fault, flight cancellation, and/or weather). UA has recently (Spring 2009) restored flexibility to Gate Agents and CSRs in handling irregular operations; this had been restricted a year or two back.
Cons
While there are not too many down sides with United, when the traveler faces one of them, it is usually at a time when the traveler is already in a stressful situation. Among the down sides are 1) lack of space on flights to use miles for award tickets; 2) some customer service representatives do not know the rules of upgrades/fares; and 3) new rules for using upgrades that are covered by vague language.
As with other US-based airlines, different UA agents not uncommonly will give different answers to the same question . If you do not like the first answer given, politely end the conversation, and then call back -- the next agent will probably have a different (possibly better) answer/solution to your problem.
