Howdy!

Has anyone discovered the best way to qualify for 1K status in 2020 (for 2021)?

I've been looking thru the guidelines & changes, and it looks pretty clear to me it is all based on $$ spent and maybe a little help from a Chase credit card.

Thanks!

I was just looking at this a few days ago.

Looks like the easiest thing to do would be two round trips to Australia in Business "Polaris" Class.

Pretty much all that matters is the $$$$$ spent.

I do not like the change to dollars spent plus segments. it takes the fun and adventure out of a mileage run. I am glad that I already reached million mile status as even gold level will be more difficulty to obtain.

You come out with more points by booking and flying with Star Alliance partners in many cases. I just booked with Singapore Airlines and will earn about 3X the points as I would have if I'd booked the same flight with United.

How does it work that you get more miles booking with Star Alliance partners, as prior it was just the opposite? Are you talking PQM toward elite status or just FF miles? And the FF miles have been capped at 75K per roundtrip, so is that still in effect?

OilManAg91 said:

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How does it work that you get more miles booking with Star Alliance partners, as prior it was just the opposite? Are you talking PQM toward elite status or just FF miles? And the FF miles have been capped at 75K per roundtrip, so is that still in effect?

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Yeah, I was wondering the same thing because I've had to book some higher fare classes to even get any United mileage credit from Air India and Singapore Airlines.

Now one situation I've run into with Qantas (as a comparable) is that when booking through Qantas, you can only book a higher level fare on Cathay Pacific, you can't book their sale fares. And they still don't give you as many points (Status Credits) as if it were on a QF ticketed flight.

This comment has piqued my interest though. I need to book a flight to the USA soon.

Here's how I did qualifying for Gold in 2019
Note: Since I have a foreign address, I am exempted from the PQD spend (which I couldn't get flying on Air India and Singapore anyway)
PQM Earned in 2019 - 52,864
PQS Earned in 2019 - 16
PQD Earned in 2019 - US $3,457.00

For the 2020 Program, it says you need to spend as follows:
Premier Silver = 12 PQF and 4,000 PQP -OR- 5,000 PQP
Premier Gold = 24 PQF and 8,000 PQP -OR- 10,000 PQP
Premier Platinum = 36 PQF and 12,000 PQP -OR- 15,000 PQP
Premier 1K = 54 PQF and 18,000 PQP -OR- 24,000 PQP

I don't see anyway I'm going to make 24 flights on United so it looks like I'll need to spend over $10,000 on United to qualify for Gold in 2020.

From the United Mileage Plus site:

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Previously, if you flew on a Star AllianceTM partner airline and your flight was not ticketed by United, you couldn't earn Premier qualifying dollars. With the new program, you'll receive spend credit on these flights in the form of Premier qualifying points. Your PQP will be equal to award miles* earned divided by 5 if you're flying on a preferred partner; for other MileagePlus partner airlines, it will be award miles earned divided by 6.

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So checking this out, it looks like a flight on Air India from Sydney to Delhi would be 6476 miles and divided by 5 would probably earn me about 1295 PQP each way. So, on a dollars per mile basis, that would be a better way to get more PQP than flying on United itself where I might only get 1000 PQP for a 7488 mile flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.

I booked on Singapore Airlines in Premium Economy for $1,200 from Houston to Bangkok. That's 19,000 miles. Divide that by six to get PQP. So I will get about 3,166 PQP.

If I had booked the same flight with United for the same price it would only be 1200 PQP (actually a bit less than that because you don't get points for dollars spent on taxes and fees).

The new system makes it easier to earn points with partner airlines.

New Mileage Plus

This is a pretty good breakdown of the changes for 2020.

That's awesome! So, the best way to qualify with United is by flying a Partner airline That's hilarious.

HollywoodBQ said:

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That's awesome! So, the best way to qualify with United is by flying a Partner airline That's hilarious.

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For those of us that live abroad these changes are great. I fly United when I go back to Texas....probably 4 or 5 times a year. The rest of my travels are usually with Avianca or Copa. This will definetly make things easier for me.

Given how stingy United has been in the past flying partner airlines, it appears there may be unintended consequences with driving business to partner airlines instead of 016 tickets and it will be interesting to see how long this option lasts before they decide to tweak the rules.

Yeah, for all your domestic SFO,IAD,LAX,DEN,ORD,IAH Starbucks lemmings, I think the new United program will be successful in increasing the dollars spent on United.

But, for those of us who use Star Alliance Partners for long-haul, we'll be the winners - until they change it again which probably means next year.

Although for flying business class it looks like it makes more sense to fly United. Most of my international flights are fairly last minute (+/- 2 weeks) and fares run anywhere from $5K - $10K. If I'm getting 7000 PQPs for a $7500 fare, then I would have to fly more than 37,500 mi roundtrip on a Star Alliance partner to get the same PQPs, and that isn't happening.

A business class flight IAH - LHR in mid Jan costs $6200 and earns 5851 PQPs for a total distance of about 9500 miles which would only earn 1900 on a Star Alliance partner. And a business class IAH - PEK flight through ORD with United costs $5000 and earns about 4500 PQPs for a roundtrip distance of 15000 which would only earn 3000 PQPs on Air China. So it seems this will continue to drive business class travelers to United.

OilManAg91 said:

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Although for flying business class it looks like it makes more sense to fly United. Most of my international flights are fairly last minute (+/- 2 weeks) and fares run anywhere from $5K - $10K. If I'm getting 7000 PQPs for a $7500 fare, then I would have to fly more than 37,500 mi roundtrip on a Star Alliance partner to get the same PQPs, and that isn't happening.

A business class flight IAH - LHR in mid Jan costs $6200 and earns 5851 PQPs for a total distance of about 9500 miles which would only earn 1900 on a Star Alliance partner. And a business class IAH - PEK flight through ORD with United costs $5000 and earns about 4500 PQPs for a roundtrip distance of 15000 which would only earn 3000 PQPs on Air China. So it seems this will continue to drive business class travelers to United.

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Good points. Thanks!

TXCityAggie said:

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I booked on Singapore Airlines in Premium Economy for $1,200 from Houston to Bangkok. That's 19,000 miles. Divide that by six to get PQP. So I will get about 3,166 PQP.

If I had booked the same flight with United for the same price it would only be 1200 PQP (actually a bit less than that because you don't get points for dollars spent on taxes and fees).

The new system makes it easier to earn points with partner airlines.

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Looks like this type of travel may replace the "mileage run" from the old days.

TXCity, did you book this on the Singapore website? Or on United.com?

But United business class is still the worst compared to practically all partner airlines, so you have to figure that into the equation...

Through the Singapore website.

Yeah, for Business Class, you're right.

Before I went to work for a start-up, I was working for a company that allowed us to fly Business on flights over 10 hours. My round trips between Australia and the USA ranged from $6,000 - $12,000. So, with a round trip netting you about 15,000 miles, it would definitely make sense to fly "Polaris" Class on United these days.

As of two weeks ago, my start-up has finally decided to allow us to fly Premium Economy for long-haul flights. I wish they would have had that earlier this year the two times when I had to fly SYD-DXB-MAD in Economy Class (and back MAD-DXB-SYD).

TXCityAggie said:

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Through the Singapore website.

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A couple of peculiarities I discovered when playing airfare games on Singapore Airlines while traveling for my previous employer.

The fares on the Singapore Airlines web site are often less expensive than what you can get through an outfit like AMEX Travel.

And, the fares differ by country. So, I once had to fly from Shanghai to Singapore to Bangalore and that would up being much cheaper (by like $2,000) for our China business unit to purchase it in Yuan, rather than having me purchase it in AUD from Australia.

Glad we had this discussion last week.

I just had a trip to Tokyo pop up for next week so... I've been checking out the other Star Alliance airlines to maximise my PQP.

Looks like Singapore is going to be the winner for this trip - for about 3,000 PQP.

I'm pretty pumped about the changes actually. I'm a 75-90 segment a year, all domestic (with a couple Canada trips sprinkled in there) flyer, and haven't made 1K since I did 148 segments in 2015-2016. I've never flown enough PQM to get close, but now as long as I spend a litttttttle more than I have the last couple of years, I should make it easily. I also have the old Chase PresidentalPlus card that still earns PQP's and that will be a nice booster to the PQP number for me.

I've just got to figure out how to trick concur into letting me book more refundable fares with slightly higher ticket prices. Now that our company loaded Spirit and Frontier into the Concur matrix, it is becoming harder and harder to be within 20% of the lowest fare and book a refundable fare on United.

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Now that our company loaded Spirit and Frontier into the Concur matrix, it is becoming harder and harder to be within 20% of the lowest fare and book a refundable fare on United.

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20% - that sounds nice. My old company the allowable difference was $100. My current company is $200.

What was really funny was at the old company, the $100 difference also applied to international flights and I always had to get at least two quotes. In that scenario, the price differences would often be several thousands of dollars.

But, the trick I learned was how to game the city pairs I was traveling to/from to get the airline I wanted. Often times, driving an extra 50 miles at one end of the trip would allow me to get the carrier I wanted by going into a different airport. Monterey, CA was my favorite trick for avoiding Delta and sticking to Qantas and United.

Newly Premier Silver here:

Looking for tips on what are things I can/should do to maximize my newfound status? Other than automatic stuff like checked bags, boarding group...anything I need to do at booking?

I saw it says day of upgrade to premium economy (or economy plus- i forget).
Can my travel partner get any upgrade as well?


Thanks!

lazuras_dc said:

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Newly Premier Silver here:

Looking for tips on what are things I can/should do to maximize my newfound status? Other than automatic stuff like checked bags, boarding group...anything I need to do at booking?

I saw it says day of upgrade to premium economy (or economy plus- i forget).
Can my travel partner get any upgrade as well?


Thanks!

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You would get 1 companion upgrade at time of check-in.

What you listed is pretty close to the max benefits from Silver status. You might get priority check-in but not sure.

So you're talking about day of check-in, so basically hit up the counter when you arrive at airport and tell then your Premier Silver and see if they have upgrade avail + companion?

You can do it on your app upon check in 24 hrs before your flight and you can move you and your companion to economy plus as long as y'all are on the same reservation. If you're on separate reservations you can still do it, you just have to call them.

Welcome. It's handy to have status.

Try to check in as soon as possible. As silver, you're competing against others silvers and higher status people for economy plus seats. You need to select the economy plus seat yourself in the app. It wont upgrade you automatically. You should also be able to move one companion. I've had issues with companions before.

If you ever get lucky and receive a first class upgrade, that will be automatic...maybe even at the gate. There's also a way to request an upgrade with miles but you still may be behind higher level people.

Congrats. However not to be overly negative on your upgrade chances, but just realize there will be many people ahead of you on the upgrade list on each flight. As an example, I have been Global Services for a few years and most domestic flights I am stuck at first on the upgrade list (and receive no upgrade even using Plus Points) as the few available business seats are filled last minute with revenue tickets. It's just the way it is. Pre-covid it was much easier to get upgrades, now it is very rare.

lazuras_dc said:

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So you're talking about day of check-in, so basically hit up the counter when you arrive at airport and tell then your Premier Silver and see if they have upgrade avail + companion?

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You can do it all in the app. Lately, I actually have the most success moving into an economy plus seat within an hour of boarding. If you want to move a companion as well just make sure you're on the same reservation as it makes it much easier.

You will probably never receive a first class upgrade. I've only ever had one and it was going out of Austin like 5 years ago. If you depart from IAH, DEN, ORD, etc you will be comically far down the list. I think there should be fewer people with status in 2024 as all the COVID grace periods are over, but who knows.

There's not much else that's handy with Silver assuming you have a United branded credit card. If you dont, then the free bag does come in handy. Sometimes being able to go through the priority check in lane has helped me at non hub airports where there's a long line to check bags, but there's never any line for premier access check in at IAH or DEN.

Even as a gold the past couple years I've only gotten upgraded when flying for work on a Y fare with PN availability. Will hit platinum for next year when I fly home for Christmas next month. Only thing I'm expecting to change is being able to get my kids moved into economy plus along with my wife and me when we're all flying together.
Also I've found it to be a better chance to get upgraded when flying in/out of smaller airports.

Also, seems with the new credit card avenues to earn status upgrades will become even harder to get.

Actually, the new rules for 2024, huge push for United Credit Card and purchases to help you keep climbing higher on airline status. United Presidential comes with annual fee of $450+ but it unlocks a lot of other perks as well (ex Automatic Gold Status on Marriott, United Club, etc).

OldArmy97 said:

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Actually, the new rules for 2024, huge push for United Credit Card and purchases to help you keep climbing higher on airline status. United Presidential comes with annual fee of $450+ but it unlocks a lot of other perks as well (ex Automatic Gold Status on Marriott, United Club, etc).

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They don't offer the Presidential card anymore to new cardholders. It's been replaced by the card branded "United Club Infinite." I carry that card as I almost always travel on United and the perks justify the $525 annual fee.

Have infinite card as well but don't thin it carries gold status with it anymore.

lazuras_dc said:

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Have infinite card as well but don't thin it carries gold status with it anymore.

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Not at Marriott. The new card is Platinum Elite at IHG which isn't great for anyone but a rural traveler IMO.