UAL Silver Wings Plus

I was wondering if anyone has joined the Silver Wings Plus program offered by UAL. It looks like the fares may be too high or the restrictions too great to justify membership, but I'd like to hear some opinions.

When I joined, I received a lot of frequent flier miles and some good coupons. That made it worth the membership fee.
Since then, I've used their zone fare a couple of times, but usually I can find lower fares elsewhere. The system was very cumbersome. First I had to purchase the zone fare coupons and wait for them to arrive in the mail. Then I had to call to make my reservation. The seats are capacity controlled, like frequent flier seats but not as limited.
I think they've changed the system a little. I don't think you have to wait for the coupons to arrive in the mail anymore. But you still have to call to make reservations and maybe also pay a fee for using the phone service.
If you can get good bonuses for joining and/or you travel on routes where the zone fares have a price advantage, then it might be worth joining. Otherwise IMHO it isn't a very good program.

My understanding is that if the available fares are lower than the Silver Wings fares, you get the lower price and can still use $25 certificates. I'm always temtpted but I just don't fly on UA metal that much. Besides, I was afraid that they would stamp my forehead "Old Person" when I boarded the plane!

Yeah, I bought some of those coupons and never used them. So I don't think Silver Wings is worth much if anything. They email me almost weekly with cruise deals (yawn), and that's about it.

UAL no longer requires the purchase of the coupons. There is a number you can now call for reservations or book on-line - I think - we've not tried it yet.

You need to look at their zone fares and compare them to the regular sale fares to see if they would be to your advantage. Oahu from the west coast isn't a great value, but for the same fare you can get to an outer island which makes it a better value.

As with all travel purchases - compare and compare.

Oh, I see how it works now. From the Silver Wings Plus site:
"To take advantage of these discounted fares, call the Silver Wings Plus Travel center (a $5 Zone Fare certificate usage fee will apply.)"