United's New 'Fly Like A VIP' Elite Status Offer Triggers Criticism, Confusion
There's a bit of a dustup going on at travel blog The Cranky Flier, where a post on United's new "buy Elite Status for a day" program is drawing strong comments from all sides. The debate revolves around whether it's fair—and, more importantly, whether it's smart—for the airline to allow regular passengers to purchase Elite perks like Economy Plus seats, early boarding, Red Carpet Club Access, and so on.
The arguments are clear. On on hand, it's fair as airlines need to diversify their revenue streams otherwise they'll go out of business and we'll all lose. If people are willing to pay then let them pay. On the other hand, letting passengers purchase Elite status now means devaluing the miles that loyal customers banked earlier, since the assumption back then was that status equaled exclusive perks. If nothing else, the gamble risks encouraging United fliers to rack up miles and status elsewhere, secure in the knowledge that they can purchase Elite status on a per-flight basis.
This whole issue is a bit United frequent flyer-specific, though of course that's not necessarily a bad thing. Feel free to sound off in the comments if you have an opinion yay or nay. "I don't care about the intricacies of airline miles because I'm eating Ramen so I can save up for a South American backpacking trek" is also an acceptable answer, by the by.
[Photo: Bigtop / Wiki Commons]
Related Stories:
· United Introduces Elite Status for Anyone Who Wants to Buy It [The Cranky Flier]
· Airline Miles Coverage [Jaunted]
· United Airlines Coverage [Jaunted]
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