Depending on my personal and business trips during the course of a year, I sometimes must fly unnecessary flights simply to retain my status. Again, this year I must status run for United 1K.
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Year to Date
Other frequent flyers crisscrossing the globe will laugh at my feeble numbers while some who struggle to achieve spend as leisure flyers may be jealous of my problem. My flights are expensive but short, usually, just 1,000 miles to and from Houston at a cost of $272 in net airfare costs each segment.
This leaves me with a unique problem and one I still don’t fully grasp. If United (and the others) have emphasized that cash spent on the carrier is key and that highly frequent flyers, but low spenders (regardless of whether the airline prices the flights cheaply) need not apply, then why do flyers like me who will exceed the requirement still need to fly the segments or miles?
Where I Will End
My current trend line has me ending the year with the following United stats:
- $15,651 PQDs
- 60 segments
- 59,079 PQMs
By flying I should really be United Mileage Plus Gold, but by spending, I should be a 1K. As such, I’m not content to lower myself several pegs down the upgrade list simply because I haven’t flown the distance.
There is a possibility I could end slightly higher than these forecasted stats, but I am unlikely to exceed my current run rate by more than 25% leaving me short of 100,000 miles by about 30,000.
What Is A Good Status Run?
The idea of a status run is to complete your trip to qualify or re-qualify for the least amount of money and effort possible. In the past, flights from North America to Asia have been the best way to do this. In the days where I was an American Airlines Executive Platinum and my upgrades (eVIPs) still cleared, I would fly mostly to Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Bangkok in coach and clear to a premium cabin for just a few hundred dollars.
Asia still makes the most sense but instead of two exhausting runs to Asia and a quick return back, I now focus on finding a trip that earns just enough (miles, dollars or both) in a premium cabin with premium cabin bonuses and a slightly longer turn so that I don’t hate my life when I return to work.
Only United ticketed flights (tickets that start with 016) work for this purpose but in the past, I have targeted codeshare joint venture routes with ANA or Polaris because of the enhanced experience. Matthew remains impressed by United’s shoulder-crushing 8-across business class 777-200s; I am not.
Is It Worth It?
Domestic upgrades are important to me. Added space gives me room to work, provides me some semblance of a meal from time to time when my schedule is tight though lately, they have been slipping in this department. I tend to save my RPUs because I tend to clear domestically and in the cases where I do not, they usually aren’t mission critical for me.
Elevated mileage earning adds to my value but for me, the most important aspect of United 1K status is the flexibility it gives me to move flights (American has made this really difficult), re-route as necessary, but most importantly, getting moved to the front of the line for service is valuable to me. While I don’t really want to spend any money that I don’t have to (I have some vouchers to offset the charges) nor take a trip I don’t need to, it still makes more sense to run than to sink two tiers down.
Conclusion
This year, more than any other, I don’t really have the time to status run. Further, I don’t need to run for both PQDs and PQMs, rather just one of the two and that makes it feel like less value for money for me. I’m not happy about it, but I am rather certain I will need to run again and based on the number of miles required, I will likely return to Asia.
What about you? Do you have to status run to maintain your airline elite status? Any sweet spot routes for United given my current situation? What about hotel status?
I’ve been 1K for several years and your 2019 numbers look very close to mine. I’m not going to be doing any mileage runs. I do not play the upgrade waitlist game for international, and can get by using miles and copay when there is upgrade space at booking. Or if there is cheap discount business, buying it outright. Domestic, I am fine with economy, but also buy a lot of TODs. I’ve only been able to use 2 of my 6 GPUs this year (I suspect I’ll use them on some domestic flights). I’m happy to fly BA if BA will give me the upgrade at booking for miles. Sure, 1K boarding is nice, but I’ve never found loyalty to UA to be worth flying flights I don’t want to. My guess is that there will be far fewer 1Ks next year.
Did you really need to write a Conclusion for this post? I think it is pretty self-explanatory.
Since you don’t need PQD you don’t need United ticketed flights. You will get PQM and RDM from partner airlines just not PQD. They have cheap flights to Europe at the moment why don’t you take a vacation?
“As such, I’m not content to lower myself several pegs down the upgrade list”
Lol. “Several pegs” should read “all the pegs”. I’m Platinum and the only upgrades I clear are early morning or late night flights to to places like ALB or ROC.
I did not experience much change from Plat to 1K for upgrades. It is still like once a year on some short obscure route. Now, since I have a tendency to accept cheap upgrade offers, I might have gotten more, but it is also people like make taking cheap upgrade offers that is why there aren’t many status upgrades.
I clear better than 70% of the time (I don’t fly from SFO) but I am often 2nd or 3rd on the list with 2-3 seats in the front of the plane. I would be surprised if my upgrade percentage remained the same at Platinum and even in that case I would still need at least one run to get me there.
I bring this up every survey I take on the MileagePlus program. If they have switched everything over to be driven by revenue, they really need to add some bonus for people who mostly fly domestic routes. I will easily surpass the $12K spend but never hit 100K miles or 120 segments. I would ask for more RPUs but those never clear anyways…maybe 2 GPUs if those have any more real availability? Kinda crazy it goes from 0 for platinums right to 6 for 1Ks.
A friend and I booked an EWR to SIN 2 years ago at $450 RT and bought or way into Business class for $600 each way. The entire purpose was to get the miles in order to maintain or 1K status. Last year I booked Business Class RT IAD to CPH and kept my qualifications for 1K PQD and PQM.
Like many other commentors, I’m really wondering if the effort is worth it. The PQD amount has gone from $10K to $12K to $15 over the last 3 years and yet the benefits continue to shrink and appear more difficult to use.
That sounds like a good run. The issue at stake is not the PQDs, I am trending to exceed that amount, it’s the distance miles/segments that will be tough.
Dubai !!! 30,000+ PQM in one run.
Mileage runs are even more difficult this year with United thanks to many business class fares now ticketing into P with only 150% PQM. Last year I was able to get a round-trip Polaris fare from Europe to New York for 200% PQM and just barely land into Silver. That won’t be possible this year.
As a United Silver member I actually recently did get upgraded on a MEX -> EWR segment. Apparently I got very lucky.
Given the already low chances of being upgraded and the fact that I already have the United Club card for lounge access and free bags, I don’t really see a benefit to status beyond free Economy Plus sets if you fly routes where upgrades are few and far between.
Well aren’t you mister moneybags! LOL I’d say the best parts of Silver are E+ and the premier phone line. I’ve flown a whopping 4k this year with no future travel booked. I spend 25k on the UA card so I have to earn status (yes you read that correctly- we’re creatures of habit). I briefly considered giving up status last winter but couldn’t bring myself to do it. May have to go your route. Or a very long coach journey.
I have vouchers and also value the domestic upgrades at about $50/each (because that’s what I would pay out of pocket most days to get them). When you add in the miles I will earn from the flights and their value, I can re-qualify for less than that plus the progress toward million miler.
And frankly, it was hard enough to give up Executive Platinum, there’s no way I can drop below 1K too.
I was actually replying to Daniel and not your article (hence the indent) but I suppose my comment applies there too. I can certainly see why you’re reluctant to slip 2 tiers and agree it’s well worth the time/money.
I envy your dollars. I’m at 15 segments and 70k PQM. But I’m not even halfway to $15,000.
Doing 50k of flying without tying it to a vacation or work is tough, but if you don’t value the GPUs as much, perhaps you can search for PZ space and use them for cheap runs. Lots of availability EWR-HKG this year, along with IAH-SYD. Those two trips would get you pretty close, and be exciting destinations.
As far as spending money out of pocket, I fly internationally for work, but always in economy. I’m more than happy when I have spent less than half the PQD out of my own pocket. I suppose for me, 50% is my threshold. Yes, that’s a lot, but it’s also a 50% discount for achieving a status that helps tremendously throughout the year. Those GPUs come in very handy for my work travel.
Sorry. Didn’t mean to post as a reply here.
Sweet spots? Think UA 1 & 2 or UA 28 & 29. Can highly recommend the Crowne Plaza @ SIN as well!
I gave up on United when they devalued the program. I’m glad they did it early in the year. I immediately stopped booking. I have over 9K PQD but only 52K PQM. So I’ll only get gold next year.
I still book them if its the only feasible option but I moved most of my business to AS.
This is nuts – you are going to be 40K miles short!”
Even if you book everything in 1.5x earning class – thats still 30K butt in seat so 60 hours of plane time.
If you book everything at 1x thats 80hours. Add airport hours and you are talking 6 days of your life.
Surely better to take your family on a UA trip for a vacation and then take longer routings on work trips to just get over 75k and live with Platinum for a year.
As an addendum: is the extra benefits of being 1k worth 5 days of life on planes plus a solid chunk of cash?
thats the only question to answer.
I think I can answer why United requires miles or segments. Otherwise, someone could buy one or two very high priced tickets and make top status. If their company is paying for the tickets, they don’t care about the price anyway.
And ain’t that the point. That Rev going to UA, not AA or DL for a piece of plastic. Now of thats all they fly then they are not cluttering your upgrade list anyway.
I’ve done similar. A J from JFK to GRU and a platinum status challenge on AA
What is this “domestic upgrade” you refer to?
Last year, I needed an extra 52 miles to get to Gold. There were no economical short flights at the end of the year, and I really didn’t have time for a long flight. So, I booked a short flight for January, got mileage accelerator and PQM accelerator, and canceled the ticket the same day. Instant Gold status. And, the PQD came on a Chase card waiver. I can’t use the miles for anything but upgrades, as I need to pay for the seats to keep status.
I always meet PQD before PQM. However, I have more international flights than you do each year so never have to do mileage runs. I do agree that when you fly domestically you get screwed in terms of mileage awarded.