Distance flown will no longer count towards qualifications for member status.
United Airlines has announced massive changes to how you earn MileagePlus Premier status.
The airline is eliminating mileage flown as a pathway to gain status, instead using two measurements to determine status – Premier qualifying flights and Premier qualifying points.
PQFs are the number of segments a traveller takes, whilst PQPs are based on the number of dollars spent on a flight excluding taxes and surcharges.
Basic economy tickets are not counted as PQFs.
The status requirements are as follows:
- Silver status requires either 12 PQFs and 4,000 PQPs, or 5,000 PQPs
- Gold status requires either 24 PQFs and 8,000 PQPs, or 10,000 PQPs
- Platinum status requires 36 PQFs and 12,000 PQPs, or 15,000 PQPs
- Premier 1K status requires 54 PQFs and 18,000 PQPs, or 24,000 PQPs
Currently, MileagePlus members can qualify for status with the airline based on the amount of money they spend, and either the distance or the number of flight segments.
With the new program, the distance you fly is irrelevant.
A statement on United’s website read: “Measuring Premier qualification based on the dollars you spend and number of flights you take rewards customers equally. We’re making these changes to ensure our most loyal members get the best value from their benefits.
“We also wanted to get rid of factors like fare class multipliers, which made it harder to track your qualifying activity.”
The changes will take effect from January 2020.
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