Without fanfare or any sort of announcement at all, United Airlines has extended the elite status of some MileagePlus members for another full year and extended the validity of PlusPoints for 6-12 months.
United Airlines Extends MileagePlus Elite Status Through January 31, 2023
Yesterday, I noticed that the expiration of my PlusPoints had been extended from January 31, 2022 to July 31, 2022, representing a six month extension. Then yesterday evening I noticed that my digital 1K card had a new expiration date: January 31, 2023.
As I mentioned earlier this week, I am very close, but even with the quarterly promotions have not re-qualified for 1K status for 2023 (I would have next week).
Navigating to FlyerTalk, I saw that many other United MileagePlus members have received a status extension for another year…it was not just me. MileagePlus status earned in 2019 for 2020 and extended last year through 2021 has now been extended through 2022.
However, not every elite member has received a status extension…at least not yet. It is not clear why United chose some and passed over others or if United is simply in the process of updating everyone’s elite status.
United Airlines Extends PlusPoints 7-12 Months
And not just status, but Plus Points too. Plus Points represent United’s upgrade currency and are given to Platinum and 1K members upon hitting status. United has taken a bifurcated approach to Plus Points extension:
- Those who have already re-qualified for status in 2021 (for 2022) through flying now have all their PlusPoints expiring on January 31, 2023
- Those who have not re-qualified for status through flying now have all their PlusPoints expiring on July 31, 2023.
- MileagePlus Platinum and 1K members who have received a complimentary status extension rather than earned it have not (yet) received a new allotment of PlusPoints.
At time of publishing, United Airlines has not offered a statement to Live and Let’s Fly concerning this news.
CONCLUSION
United becomes the last major U.S. airline to offer a status extension, following in the footsteps of Delta and American (American Airlines has only offered a two-month status extensions). At this point, however, it does not appear that everyone received a status extension. Those top-tier elite members who did not earn status through flying in 2021 have not received a new allotment of PlusPoints (nor did they last year). United has yet to officially confirm the news, but we will update this story once we hear back from United.
Has your United status been extended? Will this move make you more loyal to United in 2022?
I had noticed PlusPoints were extended yesterday and was happy about that. But I’m a little annoyed that status was extended after the “Fly to the Finish” promo
I get your point since this may dilute the 1K pool, but even those who did FTTF re-qualified for so much cheaper than in a “normal” year.
Even my silver membership has been extended
Thank you for your insight. It is/was extremely helpful in planning my move into 1K for FY/22.
I just checked my 1K digital card and it still says thru 1/22.
Have you logged out and logged in again? Everyone I have spoken to has had their status renewed.
Mine still shows 01/22 as well. Logged out and back in no change. Pluspoints were extended to July though.
FYI, I just checked my MP Account & it has been extended to, in my case, 1/22!
I just called United 1K line and the agent confirmed that this status extension is selectively offered and the process is complete. I am not a part of the pool.
I just called Mileage plus and I am not part of the status extension either. However, I took issue with what the supervisor said, she seemed extremely uninformed. She was totally unaware of it and was truculent that the extension was ONLY through one of the many promotions and was earned under those terms and conditions. She said to do otherwise would be unfair.
While I do not take issue with her comment if some people are “selectively” not having to play by the rules, it seems unfair for me not to have my status extended. She was extremely uninformed, you would think that at least the supervisory level in Mileage Plus they would have at least been given a memo via email. Perhaps she didn’t read it,
So in response to your question, no it will not make me more loyal to united, in fact, it rather perturbed me. Plus points were extended to 7/31/22, but without status after 1/31/22, good luck in using them!
Ah yes, let’s just keep moving the goalposts until EVERYONE has status. What a joke. TIme to make those who are actually flying a priority and stop diluting the elite pool.
Selfishly, I wish UA had not extended status because I would have made it without being given it. Still, I have to imagine that United ran the numbers, saw that many business travelers were not going to make it, and decided to extend in hopes that they will be back next year. It’s not a stupid policy.
I did extra flying to get the breakout bonuses, but those haven’t shown up yet. Do you think the bonuses are still happening?
Yes, those will post over the next 10-14 days and if you re-qualified this way for Plat or 1K, you’ll get a new allotment of PlusPoints with a later expiration date.
I didn’t meet the fly to the finish but it said if that’s the case I’ll automatically fall into the other promo. Is that still true? With the 3 trips of PQP that should get me there. Wondering when those will post.
Hi Matthew,
I was checking with the UA agent for the Fly to the Finish promotion status. Since I completed the ’10PQF+2700PQP’, I wanted to know when the re-qualified 1k plus point is allotted. (I see my 1k status is extended to Jan2023 but I wanted to confirm this extension is systemwide or by the Fly to the Finish). The UA agent said I need 12 PQF, not 10PQF. I copied to the agent ’10PQF’ from a webpage that we have mostly known with 10PQF, but the agent said I need to confirm with the email directly from UA, and the agent believes it is 12 PQF. While arguing, I found one UA email for 10 PQF and shared it with the agent. The agent said this discrepancy is reporting since the UA system shows 12 PQF+2700PQP. I was disappointed with this UA system that the agent is seen. The 10PQF+2700PQP was for all 1k, right? Does someone need 12 PQF instead of 10PQF? Thanks a lot.
10 segments, 100% confirmed. Very odd. Did you try calling again?
https://liveandletsfly.com/united-airlines-elite-status-promotion/
Points plus extended to July, but status still expires in January. I have only traveled once in the last 1.5 years due to at-risk issues but expecting to ramp up seriously next year again (already have 3 trips booked) so hoping my 1K gets extended too.
I’m only premier platinum and my digital card still shows Jan 2022 as the expiration. I am flying this week. I’ll still be short but just by a little.
I checked my digital card, and it’s extended to 2023. I’d thought about switching to Delta for personal and business travel in 2022, and this extension will keep me loyal to United.
Extended too. Premier Gold, 0 flights in 2020 and 2021 (employer policy didn’t allow it).
Travel in 2022 will probably (hopefully) be possible, and it will surely be with United.
Frankly, it probably would have been United regardless of the status. On the route I’m most interested in they’re the best alternative.
Just a Silver but requaled it the hard way with TravelBank/ETCs and promos after United announced they’re not extending status when I could’ve saved those and used my miles/points instead….
Silver status is worth $10 or so
I am Premium Platinum and also see 01/2023 as expiration.
Thanks for the heads up Matthew! I re-qualified for 1K earlier this year, so all my Plus Points now show 1/31/23. And a shout out to UA for valuing my loyalty. Just waiting for the day I can burn the Plus Points to Korea, to see my family again. It’s been 2 years.
@Matthew – Any data points on what the threshold for earning Global Services in 2021 might be? I’ve found myself sitting at 30k PQPs, and I’m wondering if I might be getting close (I’m TPA based FWIW). I know in normal years it is usually in the 45-50k range (maybe more in SFO) but I was hoping that the pandemic may cause them to look a bit lower.
Hey! That flyertalk topic is me! 🙂 I went to these blogs and to flyertalk but didn’t see any entries about the extensions, so I posted there to see how far behind I was on the news….now I see my post has cascaded to my favorite travel blogs!
I see 1K expiring 01/2023 and 640 PlusPoints expiring 01/31/2023. A weird thing happened and I was refunded 40 PlusPoints I had used on the outbound leg of a roundtrip itinerary. I had up-fared later to P on the return.
Just checked, 1K extended to 2023. I easily qualified for Platinum already this year but with 2 big trip cancelations due to rising COVID concerns by the meeting organizers I was stalled at Platinum. This will definitely get me to stay loyal to United in 2022!
I requalified last week for 1K under the 2021 rules (PQP, not segments plus PQP). The plus 2020 points were definitely going to expire in January 2022. Now since I made 1K, the plus points are all Jan 2023.
Not sure having over 500 Plus Points will do much good. Half the time I tried using Plus Points for upgrades, they never came through.
If you have extra PlusPoints, I could use a few. I requalified platinum this year, hoping to take my wife and baby to the Philippines to introduce the in-laws to their first grandchild, could certainly use the extra space.
UA probably realized they couldn’t afford to lose elites to be free agents so wanted to hold on to them.
I just checked and I’ve been extended through 23; however, I was only 400 psps away.
I just checked and I’ve been extended to 23; however, I was only 400 PQPs away. I likely would have taken another flight to keep my status.
Thanks for the heads up, Matthew.
I just checked my card and I’m 1K thru 2023 (even though I requalified with Fly to the Finish.)
I’ve been a 1K for 20 years. Decent of United to do this, especially for those of us who live outside the USA where UA still hasn’t restored much of its flight schedule.
Extended but would have qualified once the Breakout Bonus PQPs would have been applied so no real benefit, just an early acknowledgment I’d be 1K again anyway.
As long as upgrades are prioritized based on money spent in 2021 it doesn’t make much difference how many have the status. Other than a few more people boarding 1st, it really doesn’t affect most of us that never stopped spending money the past 2 years.
I understand the airlines hanging on to a prayer the so called business travelers are coming back. As long as they keep pushing a new Covid fear every couple months, I don’t see it. Especially when companies are making great profits without sending a salesman in a cheap suit across the country to sell frozen burritos.
They extended my plus points and status. I was actually in the process of migrating to Air Canada over UA’s lack of extending when Delta and AA extended. Now I will stay.
Haven’t had anything above silver in a few years ( I don’t fly for work much anymore) but I noticed that I have a pqf added to my qualifying pool that I didn’t take. What’s going on United?
Only gold since it’s all personal miles, but my card now shows an end date of 01/23. About to hit 1 million miles on my next flight, so doesn’t really matter, but good move by United to try to keep their loyal customers happy!
I’m a MM 1K who has had two domestic flights in 2021. @Matthew My 1K status (earned in 2019) was extended to 1/23, but contrary to your comment, my PP were only extended to 7/31/2022.
Based upon a friend who similarly didn’t requalify, but who did earn PP this year as a result of earning MM, and whose PP expire 1/31/2023, I wonder if anyone who earned PP this year has all of their PP extended to 1/23, regardless of requalification.
. . . PlusPoints had been extended from January 31, 2022 [insert comma after year] to July 31, 2022, [you put in a comma here, correctly] representing a seven month . . .
Do a search, comma after year.
Nice! In a world where it seems all news is bad news it is great to hear good news like this.
I was going to earn my final PQP required for 1K in a couple of weeks, but it is nice to know that if I need to cancel my last trip this year I would still have 1K for 2022.
Merry Christmas from United!
I’m currently 1k and participated in Fly to Finish 3000k to retain status. I earned a total of 3340 PQP within promo period – 400 corporate starter, 2,259 PQP on ticket’s, 681 on Day of Departure (DoD) upgrade. UA is more saying my DoD doesn’t count even though the activity awarded the PQP. What can I do since the promo says 3k PQP without any other fine prints.
Thanks for the heads up Matthew, I checked and I am a lucky one. I was going to just miss 1K requal after more than a decade + and just short of 2m. wicked happy they have chosen some guys to extend and that I’m one. This is going to make a big difference hitting 2M. I am expecting to be back to normal next year
I’m literally on a mileage run right now and have another one booked next week. Contemplating if I should just cancel next week’s.
Thank you for the heads up! I had requalified for Platinum with the Fly to the Finish promotion…but was bummed about losing Plus Points. Just checked and saw the Plus Points now expire in January 2023.
If only UA Plus Points were useable. Nothing shows as confirmable using Plus Points. And I mean to nowhere that United flys.
OK, I thought that I was late to the game! I just noticed this evening that my status had been extended until January 2023 and that my Plus Points don’t expire until July 2022. I have taken two one-way, single-leg trips so far this year. And I have a four-leg roundtrip itinerary booked for later this month. My work travel is government travel, which hasn’t really resumed (and might start up again next year); so I haven’t been close to being able to requalify. I have been trying to burn the Plus Points (even giving them out to friends) but may try to scale back on that based on this news.
Mine was extended.
I was extended as a lowly silver! Zero revenue flights 2020 due to draconian changes. One in 2021. Bizarre. I’m quite happy. Was gonna jump ship to AA next year w/cc spend. Now I won’t have to. Unless I wanna line up status for Feb 2023…
Totally fantastic, so relieved. Lowly Gold status, first time I had qualified in years for it, and it sat fallow for 19 months. Painful. But I hopefully can travel more in 2023!! So glad you saw and shared. Thank you. Hopefully rest of those who are still at 22 get updated too.
This was not what they said when Delta gave everyone another year. I requalified for 1K status due to their last promotion and plus points till ‘23 although I never use them. According to reports this did not thin out the IK pool- it raised it. Only good news is PQP threshold is kept at the lower tier than at the very high 25K.
I’m 1K and did get the extension. The problem I have with Plus Points is that United doesn’t always give the option of “skip wait list.” I understand their rationale for this based on availability and time of reservation. On the other hand, why would someone who always flies upfront take a chance of ending up in coach by being put on a “wait list?” Certainly not the end of the world but it would be nice if United had a way adding more clarity to this policy.
I made a reservation on a non-stop from Newark to Capetown four months in advance and ended up using mileage to confirm FC. Better that then chance taking a 14 hour flight in economy.
I just received my 1K extension today 12/6 for 2022, with an email. My last name begins with a “Y” so it looks like an earlier post on 12/4 where an United agent claimed that all of the automatic extensions have been completed is not true. I would otherwise have qualified assuming the 2250 PQPs under “Breakout Bonus” are added, and thus an allocation of new PlusPoints. Has anyone been credited with their Breakout Bonus yet? I just want to make sure I understood the rules correctly that as long as you meet the 3 flight segments you will receive the 2250 PQPs if I didn’t meet the Fly to Finish challenge. Thank you.
From what I was told on the phone by United. If you did the bonus program well you currently held platinum, because you had not flown enough to meet 1K, it only would get you 1500 PQP. So the number of PQP points you could earn and the bonus was not based on your status this year that carried over from last year. It was based on the threshold you had met by July of this year.
And no I have not received them yet. I completed a flight November 30th and just flew again last weekend
Very irritating. I’m one of those people who booked flights I didn’t need to take or force them into a time frame that didn’t suit me just to meet the bonus programs they had. So to suddenly find out that I’ve been extended as 1K anyways for 2022 is annoying.
Very bad customer experience decision. I spent an extra $1,000 I would not have.
I qualified for Platinum in 2020, did not get my status extended (expiring 1/2022), plus points also did not get extended.. expiring in 2022
I’m finding this frustrating. I am gold, did one international round trip this year and will complete the outbound leg of another in December. Will just miss meeting requirements for gold in 2022. But my status has not been extended. Yet some with gold or even silver status and no flights have been extended. Makes no sense.
It is very strange and breeds resentment.
I did not get the extension for 1k, but have qualified for platinum on my own. I did call today to see if more were potentially coming, and the woman said as far as she knew no, but they didn’t even know this was happening. It is all done by marketing. She did say so many people are calling upset mainly because of the lack of transparency to who got picked and who didn’t. Ultimately, who knows if United will do something else and just decide to give it to everyone due to the negative reaction. At least that is what I am hoping for. I have had friends get extensions and they have not flown at all this year. I feel partly punished for getting platinum, but am not close to 1k at all.
Funny, just noticed my gold status got extended. Being from Halifax has made it nearly impossible since our direct to Newark flights aren’t back yet but I was still very close. Only annoying thing is I paid 1000 for a flight that I didn’t need to only to make sure I got my status back
Congrats on your status extension.
Platinum status and not extended….. I’ve already qualified for Silver, just short of gold, but really wanted my Platinum status extended. There appears to be no logic behind who was or wasn’t extended…… United should have followed lead with Delta in the beginning and avoided this disaster they created.
I did not get an extension, so I asked about it and was told “The only exception given last week were for very select members who are close to requalify and who has strong Premier history.” I told the guy about the Silver Medallion member in this comment section who flew zero times in 2020 and once in 2021 and got an extension, and I was told to send an email to mileageplus@united.com. We’ll see what happens but I’m not holding my breath.
I’m sorry you did not receive an extension. Hopefully writing UA will prove fruitful. Keep us updated.
I only hit silver and not too far from Gold but didn’t extend my status, I emailed to ask why and explained that all my flights in 2021 were personal due to the travel ban at my company.
They replied that because I was extended in 2019 (I gave birth to my first child and was on maternity leave for a good chunk of the year) that they can’t extend it again because “they only grant extensions once every five years.” I guess they are counting 2020 as a freebie but not this one?
I travel internationally at least twice a year (personal and business) and now that I have a family, I’m usually bringing them along too.
Only having Silver status next def gives me incentive to fly cheaper airlines for my trips.
So, I just called in to United and was told I was not part of the extension (I am Gold, expires 01/22). However, the agent said she could offer an extension to 01/23. The caveat was that another extension would not be offered to me for 5 years. I went ahead an took it because I’m pretty close to 1M lifetime miles anyway.
The agent did mention something about a ‘strong history’ and that’s why she could extend my Gold to 01/23. Honestly, I wish UA had more transparency in these things.
Congrats on the status extension.