When Alison Levine travels via United Airlines, she doesn’t bother showing up at the airport two hours ahead of her flight.
Levine arrives just as her flight is due to board. She doesn’t waste time in line at security, nor does she have to line up and wait to board the plane. Levine is greeted by airline staff. Flight attendants pay her special attention, taking her meal and drink orders ahead of other passengers. When her flight is a few minutes late arriving, a Mercedes SUV is dispatched to pick Levine up on the tarmac and drive her directly to her connecting gate.
Levine is one of United’s best customers, and as such, she has been granted entrance into Global Services, the airline’s “invitation-only” loyalty program. It’s the frequent flyer equivalent of getting into Harvard.
In December and January each year, United Airlines decides which customers have made the cut for Global Services. Unlike United’s published loyalty programs, which set a specific threshold to attain, the Global Services program isn’t publicized, and what it takes to earn Global Services status remains somewhat of a mystery. But it’s no secret that those who are granted the vaunted status will be treated to airport amenities and conveniences that ease—if not eliminate—many of the burdens and inconveniences associated with airline travel: Global Services members board first; baggage restrictions are virtually non-existent; their food orders are taken first; if there’s any delay or cancellation of a flight, Global Services members are the first to know, and the first to be booked on another flight.
“When I find out I’m Global Services, I’m always really excited,” says Levine, a keynote speaker who lives outside San Francisco. “But my heart sinks, because I think ‘Oh my God, I’ve been gone way too much.” Levine estimates she will have flown 250,000 miles in 2018 on United. She was first invited to the program in 2008, and has qualified every year since, except for 2016, (“I flew Delta a lot that year.”)
Some of the benefits of the Global Services program are also outlined on the airline’s website—but only on a portion of the site accessible only to anyone lucky enough to have achieved the status. The Mercedes tarmac pickup may be the most publicized Global Services perk, if only because it’s often visible to other passengers aboard the plane. Other benefits include a dedicated phone line for members, dedicated check-in counters, priority boarding and expedited security, priority for standby, priority for baggage.
But what Global Services offers goes beyond the listed benefits, according to past and present Global Services members. “If there is any kind of travel interruption, United is going to jump through hoops to take care of me,” Levine says. “If my flight has a mechanical problem, almost before the pilot has announced the problem, my phone rings and it’s Global Services saying they’ve already rebooked me on a Delta flight.”
And Global Services even offers assistance on travel-related mishaps that are unrelated to flights. Levine recalls a time she forgot her laptop while going through airport security. When she tried calling TSA, Levine says couldn’t reach a live person. A quick call to Global Services resolved the issue.
“When you’re Global Services, most of the rules we’re all used to don’t really apply to you,” says Ian Altman, a keynote speaker who lives in Maryland and qualified for Global Services briefly more than a decade ago. “The customers they really value most are the Global Services customers.”
Jason Smith, a Houston lawyer who first qualified for GS in January of 2017, recalled a trip he took with his daughter for her birthday to New York City, where a Global Services representative met them at the gate with a bag of gifts for his daughter. And when Smith’s father passed away suddenly, it was Global Services that got him on a flight, upgraded, despite all the flights being booked.
United isn’t the only airline with an invitation-only loyalty program. American Airlines offers select passengers its Concierge Key status, a notch above the airline’s Executive Platinum level. And, like United, American doesn’t advertise the Concierge Key status level, unless, of course, you count this placement in the movie Up in the Air. Delta, too, offers an invitation-only status. While the benefits of Delta360 status aren’t publicized by the airline, many of the perks appear to be similar to those offered by Global Services. Although, your tarmac transfers will be in a Porsche, rather than a Mercedes.
Of the many blogs that exhaustively cover the minutiae of airline loyalty programs, the consensus seems to be that the benefits of United’s program exceed those offered by Delta and American.
If nothing else, Global Services certainly appears to be working for its intended purpose—to engender loyalty in an industry where many customers look at little more than the cost of a ticket.
“If I have a travel interruption on any other airline, I am lucky if I can even get a live person on the phone to help me,” Levine says. “This is one of the reasons I pay more for United tickets. I think of it as buying an insurance policy with every single flight.”
For NewYork-based public speaker Peter Shankman, loyalty to United is about maintaining Global Services, which he says allows him to be home more. Because Global Services enables him to save time at the airport, Shankman says he can leave his Manhattan home at 4:45 am to catch a 6 am flight, something that would be impossible without the perks of the elite tier.
United is keeping quiet as to how the airline decides who qualifies for Global Services. “Our Global Services program is by invitation. Since it’s not a published tier of our loyalty program, we don’t publicize this level or the qualification/benefits,” a United spokesperson told Quartz.
“There’s this mystique around it,” says Smith. He attributes making the cut for Global Services based on his significant travel in 2016, when he says he purchased business class tickets to Australia, India, Tokyo, and Europe—all aboard United.
“With the other United loyalty programs, you know exactly what you need to get. With Global Services, you have absolutely no idea,” Smith says. “I knew about Global Services and I didn’t know what the magic formula was, but I knew I was going to be close.”
Rumors abound: A flyer who logged 250,000 miles on United one year and didn’t make it. Another who logged 150,000 and was granted the status.
“When you’re waiting to board a plane and you’re next to someone else who is Global Services, there’s this curiosity—‘How much did you fly last year and how much did you spend?,’” Smith says.
Shankman thinks United’s decision to keep the program a mystery is strategic. “Without the signposts or milestones, you always wonder,” says Shankman. “It’s similar to having a Black Card on Amex. There’s an allure to it.”
On sites where frequent flyers flock to discuss all things travel-related, the consensus seems to be that qualifying for Global Services is based on a combination of factors, and that the program is likely designed to reward those customers on whom United derives the most profit.
“Consensus seems to be that $50K is the threshold for initial qualification,” reads one post on flyertalk.com. “My wife made it … for the first time with $39,000 spend, all in First or Business,” reads another flyertalk.com post. “Having been spoiled by GS I would LOVE to know what the actual qualifying number is to make sure I hit that number again, but I suspect it’s in United’s interest for me to not know that number so that I try to exceed whatever it is,” writes another user.
So desperate are the efforts to achieve—and maintain—Global Services status that hundreds of frequent flyers have offered up their own statistics on miles flown and dollars spent in order to build spreadsheets in an effort to reverse engineer the alleged ‘magic formula.’ But the neverending efforts to crack the code hasn’t yet succeeded. And the reason may be that what it takes to earn Global Services is ever-changing.
A 2009 blog post includes an explanation—allegedly from a United employee—that Global Services status is granted to “roughly the top 1% of elites in a given year,” and that it’s comprised of both individuals who “spent their way there” as well as those passengers who are “very important to United.” In other words, there may well be no magical number.
Unless, that is, you earn 4 million qualifying United miles. One of the only references to Global Services’ existence on United’s website is a page indicating that if you earn 4 million lifetime miles on the airline, you’re rewarded with Global Services status for life.
Those who haven’t hit the 4 million mile mark will have to wait patiently, year after year, as United determines whether their past travel warrants inclusion in the Global Services program. Notifications in past years have begun in early to mid December, and continue into January, according to past and current members.
Levine says she is optimistic about her chances for qualifying for Global Services in 2019. She rattles off her statistics in the way only the most frequent of flyers can, noting that she spent $60,000 on United alone. “And I still have about sixteen flights coming up in December,” Levine said when Quartz spoke with her earlier this month.
Levine knows the disappointment that comes with being dropped from the Global Services rolls, even if it only means dropping to United’s 1K status. “I did feel a sense of panic,” Levine admits.
Shankman, the New York City based keynote speaker, isn’t worried about losing Global Services status. He’s banking on hitting the 4 million mile mark, and earning it for life. “I’m currently at 2.5 million miles, so I’ll probably make it,” says Shankman.
Smith doesn’t think he will be so lucky this year. “I had surgery so I didn’t travel for four months. I’m more than likely not going to make it this year,” Smith says. “The worst thing that happens is you drop to 1K. They call it a soft landing.”