Maintaining my United 1K Status is very important to me and my family. For the last year, distance flown matters more than just money spent (and segments) which means I have one more true mileage run, this year via Honolulu.
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United 1K Requirements and Changes
United changed its requirements for achieving status by halving the segment requirements and excluding distance flown as a factor in determining eligibility. I had discussed before that I thought airlines should have a waiver for those who spend more than most but don’t fly as far or as often as others. That’s better business for airlines anyway (fewer passengers occupying seats for more money per flight.)
United heard my call… or just made the business decision they thought was best and changed their qualification methods as a result. However, that’s next year and doesn’t help me in re-qualifying this year. As it stands, I will have had 93,500 PQMs, 79.5 PQSs and 17,000 PQDs. That places me at the following tiers based on activity:
- PQM = Platinum (1K deficient by 6.5%)
- PQS = Platinum (1K deficient by 34%)
- PQD = 1K (1K proficient by 13%)
I can’t be just 6.5% away to finish the year and miss out on 1K when next year I will clear under the new system anyway.
Honolulu
When hunting for an end-of-the-year mileage run I had to be a little choosier than normal. When I used to re-qualify with American Airlines and I knew that I wasn’t flying enough to hit status from regular activity, Asia runs were my best option. Fares were inexpensive, especially early in the year, upgrades were almost a guarantee (though not any more) and I could coast the rest of the year.
There are certainly cheap flights and good odds to upgrade on trips to Hong Kong right now, but I just don’t have the time. This year I needed something closer to home. Honolulu with connections on both the outbound and the inbound routes offered a chance to obtain my goals with the minimum time away from home and good chances to clear space in the pointy-end of the plane.
There are worse places to mileage run.
Why I Maintain Status
My friend, Sriram, has long quit the status-chasing game; He is a free agent, every airline is eligible for his business. I disagree with his take on status (though he has some valid points for his situation) as I frequently clear upgrades and benefit from direct flights to my most frequent business destination.
I also fail to see what the point would be to save $2,000-3,000/year but lose upgrades, add connections to every journey, and add the cost of same-day flight changes or stick with inconvenient plans. That slight premium makes status runs like this one worth it.
What Next Year Looks Like
I could have hit status this year if I had flown United exclusively. I didn’t do that and won’t next year either. For nonstop flights to Florida on Spirit using $40-60 roundtrips, I refuse to spend 3-4x that price and take a connection to fly United for the route. I also spend miles to fund personal trips for myself and my family and that will not change either.
However, the spend requirement I achieved this year was all on United metal. In 2020, I will be less restricted due to the new rules and though I would likely achieve $18,000 in PQDs for business travel and some personal trips, it will be the international trips where I can now fly and earn status-qualifying points that will make next year a much lower threshold.
Conclusion
There are worse places to mileage run/status run than Honolulu. I don’t look forward to the chance at riding in the back on an unnecessary trip, but this year it seems like an exceedingly smaller price to pay, especially given that next year should be easier to re-qualify for me personally.
What about you? Have you mileage run (or mattress run) to close out the year this year? Have you given up on status altogether? Have United re-qualification changes helped or hurt you?
@Kyle: Many frequent flyers including myself (1K for 10+ years) will leave United next year. Many of us won’t have 54 segments so the requirements for 1K would be $24,000 without taxes. This requirement is ridiculous and it does not make sense for many of us as the benefits we get back in return are not worth.
Some might argue that we don’t need to spend $24K by flying with preferred/non-preferred partners. What is the points of staying with United MileagePlus when all our flights will be operated by partners? You call partner about your flight, you check-in at partner counter, your flight is operated by partners… then why do we have to give United business?
If someone is a free agent, why would they need to add unnecessary connections unless it was to save money?
I basically gave up a status level this year simply because $2-3k of travel to retain it would be something like 30% of my travel budget- there’s no way change fees etc. would eat it up (and the plans that DO require change can go through Southwest, and involve 1-3 hour flights where I am relatively indifferent to F/Y). I am slowly easing towards free agency, it seems.
My last scheduled flight of the year is only 1,202 PQMs (DEN-PHX) and I’m 2,716 short of 1K. What I’m hoping to do to avoid a mileage run is to use SDC to route my flight via LAX on the way there and back…which would leave me with 100,008 PQMs for the year.
If that can’t happen I’ll have to mileage run some quick ORD or LAX trip, but should come in under $150.
I will be 1K again for 2020 (I am also lifetime Platinum). But for 2021 and beyond I will be a free-agent. I will book UA when it makes sense but others will get the lion’s share of my business. I already have 2020 long-hauls booked with BA in J. I think United has shot itself in the foot with the changes but it is their decision. I will be interested to see how it pans out over the next few years. In the meantime, adios United.
I just made 1K earlier last month. I have used my GPUs in the past for several trips to Asia to help me get to status…but I may branch out and fly more Air China, Air Canada or EVA etc when cheap J fares come by for those PQPs.
Kind of makes the GPUs less important for me now.
I thought I would need a mileage run this year, but an upfare last month and an unanticipated business trip to SAT last week got me over the 1K hump for 2020.
The new requirements do seem onerous, but, like you, Kyle, I think I actually stand a good chance of re-qualifying for 1K in 2021 if my flying patterns remain the same (I have no reason to think they’ll change). I’d be within $1,000 of the new 1K requirement this year and am well over on segments (a future PQP run???).
Anyways, what puzzles me about this is why my travel pattern should be so attractive to United from a loyalty standpoint. I know of people who earn 2x the PQM that I routinely do. I rarely buy business or first-class seats; and never for work travel. So it strikes me as odd that my travel fits their new mold. I definitely don’t think of my self as a high-value traveler for United.
With all due respect, why bother?? Although, doing a same day HNL turn to buy a loved one a fresh lei is always an intangible benefit. IMHO (as a 15 yr. 1k’r and lifetime Plat) The 1K benefits are “no longer there” for the spend requirement. I can never meet the segment requirements due to my travel patterns. Like Sriram, I have become a happy free agent. I can fly any * carrier, use my status benefits, and get much better service.
This whole thing is not about rewarding the biggest spender, it is about culling the uber elite ranks after the merger. I believe Kirby calls us “over entitled”.
If you regularly have upgrades go through, then 1K might be worth it. But if that is so, I think you are an outlier. At any rate, I really do not want better odds of getting an upgrade on a TPAC or TATL flight, I want to know I am getting an upgrade. So if, on my routes, I cannot use a GPU at booking, that GPU is not worth much. I’d still buy UA if it is the cheapest business class, but in recent years it isn’t. And if there is PZ space, I am happy to use miles and copay you’re snag it.
The worst deal is flights booked before the changes were announced. My flights booked this fall had me 57 percent (57,862 PQM) of the way to Hold for 2020. After new rules, PQD for 2020 only gets me 11 percent (1,167 PQD) of the way to Gold. I asked them to give me equivalent credit for my flights bought before rules change. United says tough luck. I will leave United and fly with other airlines.
I just did a mileage run EWR-FRA RT and got myself to 103000 PQM and $16500 PQD ….. sadly only to find out in my PQ Tracker that 1K qualifications need 125,000 PQM in 2019! What a downer and surprise that was. Is it true?
100,000 is needed.
In my defense, I don’t consider mileage running to maintain top tier status as pointless as mattress running “because suite upgrades”. But if you really are unnecessarily spending an extra $2-3k/year to remain loyal to UA, you do realize how many same-day changes, checked bags, preferred seats, etc. you can buy with that amount of cash, right?
I flew twice this year on another airline in which I needed a schedule change, it cost me a combined $1500. Those were domestic flights but short notice changes plus fees. If I add preferred seats in there, I’d say I could only afford a handful at best. Even Southwest who notoriously changes no change fees, nearly exclusively sells same day tickets for $500+ one-way. If my original ticket was $150 one-way, I still eat into that budget pretty fast and of course they still don’t have the schedule and route network I need.
My husband and I have been 1K on United for the past 12 years. In the last several years, we had a very difficult time using our systemwide and regional (harder) upgrade certificates, and ended up wasting them by the year’s end. We ended up paying full business class to insure seats. After pricing other major carriers, we discovered that we can save a lot of money ($800 on our past trip to Seoul) by purchasing our seats on them. Not only did we save $800, but Hawaiian Airline’s service, food, lie flat seats and boarding were exceptional. We were so caught up in the “status game” that we never stepped out of the box.
I wish United would give the same status to someone who has flown 1.7 million miles on United metal versus someone who has flown 75k in just one year.