Airline Aristocracy

The rich get richer: United's revamped frequent-flier program rewards big-bucks travelers

United Airlines has revamped its Mileage Plus frequent-flier program and it's getting mixed reviews. Starting March 1, 2015, points will accumulate based on the amount you pay for a ticket, not the number of miles flown. Depending on how much of a procrastinator you are, you will either praise or loathe the modifications.

After taking a closer look, this appears to mean a serious deduction of points for those who book their long distance travel in advance for cheap prices, and a hefty return on your investment for customers who wait until the last minute and splurge for the uber expensive seats.

Either way, United is the true winner.

Depending on how much of a procrastinator you are, you will either praise or loathe the modifications.

The number of points received will multiply depending on your Mileage Plus Member status. Ordinary premier members, who fly less than 25,000 miles a year, will receive 5 points per dollar, 7 points per dollar for Silver (those who fly 25,000 - 49,999 miles per year), 8 points per mile for Gold (50,000 – 74,999), 9 points for Platinum (75,000 - 99,999) and 11 points for the elite 1K (100,000 and up).

For example, let’s say you are headed to New York (La Guardia to be specific) as I am for an end-of-summer getaway on Friday, Aug. 1. If you booked the ticket today, a non-stop, round trip flight would cost $746.50. The following is a comparison of how many miles you would accumulate on the current program vs. the future benefits program:

Member with no Premier Status: 2,832 points now vs. 3,732.5 points on the new plan

Premier Silver: 3,540 points vs. 5,225.5 points

Premier Gold: 4,248 points vs. 5,952 points

Premier Platinum: 4,956 points vs. 6,718.5 points

1K: 5,664 points vs. 8,211.5 points

However, if you wait until a month later, when the peak summer travel season is over, the round-trip fare to New York drops to around $305 and you wind up a big loser in the travel points department — 2,832 points under the current system vs. 1,522 on the new plan for a flier with the lowest level of premier status.

If you want to try some comparisons yourself, check out the calculator for the current miles here and the new plan here.

Some more changes regarding the program: No more additional miles for flying first class. It will simply be calculated by the fare you pay. But don’t throw away your long-distance trips just yet; your level of premier status will still be calculated based on your miles flown, not how much you spend.

United appears to be following in the footsteps of Delta Airlines, which announced an almost identical change to its Skymiles program that will take place Jan. 1, 2015. American Airlines remains the lone holdout among the major U.S. headlines. The Dallas-based carrier is sticking to its current rewards program for AAdvantage members.

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HISTORY CORRECTED

Houston documentary maker helps correct biased Texas historical marker

Photo by Virginia Diaz-Laughlin

Medrano stands in front of the Karankawa marker while filming 'Truly Texas Mexican.'

It's not often that a film has an impact past the box office, but one documentary has helped tell the truth about the Texas Gulf Coast's long-disparaged Karankawa people.

For years, the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas have fought for a corrected Texas Historical Commission marker in Corpus Christi. Houstonian Adán Medrano’s 2021 film, Truly Texas Mexican, helped finalize a push that will lead to a long-due correction on July 25.

The old marker was plainly offensive. Not only did it say the Karankawa people had "gained a reputation for savagery," but it repeated the long-discredited claim that they practiced cannibalism — a contention born out of the colonial need to justify violence against the tribe.

Medrano, a San Antonio native who currently lives in Houston, became part of the fight when he stood in front of the marker and made a direct appeal to correct the sign.

"I call upon the historians who live in Texas to come up and stand up and say, 'Take this down. This is a lie,'" he said during a scene in Truly Texas Mexican.

Two of them heard the call. Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi history professor Dr. Peter Moore and historian Dr. Tim Seiter of the University of Texas at Tyler joined the years-long Indigenous effort following the film's release. Led by the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas, the academics helped research and draft a replacement that honors them as one of Texas' first peoples.

The marker not only replaces racist mythmaking with scholarship and tribal knowledge, it presents the fact that Karankawa descendants aren't a historical footnote but a living community still present in South Texas today.

Medrano's advocacy here continues his work with the T exas Indigenous Food Project, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating the Indigenous foodways of Texas and the Americas. But in many ways it is a continuation of a career devoted to amplifying voices rarely heard in popular culture. In 1976, he founded San Antonio's CineFestival, now the nation's longest-running Latine film festival.

At 10 am on July 25, representatives of the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas will unveil the corrected marker, joined by Medrano. Visitors can find it at 6001 Ennis Joslin Rd.

adan medrano film indigenous history history