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Airlines

How United Airlines Is Turning Value Flyers Into First-Class Customers

Grant Martin

Photo Credit: Still from a promotional video by United Airlines. The carrier, along with others, is increasingly using discounts in premium cabins to monetize where they once incentivized.  United Airlines

Skift Take

Can we now say that the radical evolution of loyalty and premium upgrade is nearly complete?

Late last year, I broke a cardinal rule governing my career as a traveler and a travel writer: I booked a first class airline ticket. It was just too good to pass up. The ticket, booked on United Airlines, was only $200 more than one in economy, earned double award miles and thanks to a promotion from the airline earned quadruple elite status miles -- something I sorely needed for the year. It would be the first of several first class tickets eventually purchased through United that took advantage of a new strategy that the airline is

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