UA Lowers 2013 Status Match Mileage Requirement
 

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie (long time reader but first time poster). Apologies in advance if I've somehow missed this posted elsewhere. I was helping a family member with their MP account and out of curiosity asked the UA CS rep about status match. He mentioned to check back as they were updating the program for 2013 and hinted they'd be lowering the mileage criteria. Sure enough I checked the UA site this morning and they've dropped the platinum match to 18k EQM from 25K. They've also lowered the mileage requirement for Gold and Silver and lowered the PQS across the board. From what I gathered from united-renegs-1k-status-match they've also adjusted the T&Cs to allow COS bonus EQM to apply as well. Seems like these changes will ease the process for many folks.

Flight Requirements
Premier Silver Fly 7,000 PQM or 8 PQS on flights operated by United, United Express or Copa to retain Premier Silver status
Premier Gold Fly 12,500 PQM or 15 PQS on flights operated by United, United Express or Copa to retain Premier Gold status
Premier Platinum Fly 18,000 PQM or 22 PQS on flights operated by United, United Express or Copa to retain Premier Platinum status


MileagePlus Premier Status Match Challenge

I thought this was an interesting footnote:

*Customers whose offer enables them to meet the flight requirement on or after July 1, 2013, will retain their matched Premier status through January 31, 2015, unless a higher Premier level is earned. Go to mileageplus.com/premier for more information on the MileagePlus Premier program.

This suggests that if someone took the challenge (at any level), and completed their challenge flying before July 1, they would keep their level through 1/31/14, but would not have that status for the 2014 program year.

Weird (at least to me)...

If I'm not mistaken I believe that if you complete the challenge prior to July then you retain status up through when the 2013 program year expires. For us DL flyers that's end of Feb. of the following year ie. 2014. I'm not 100% sure on UA. It's widely recommended, from what I have read, to complete these challenges after July as it yields nearly a year's worth of additional status in contrast to starting earlier in the year.

This is pretty typical - if you complete a challenge after 7/1, you keep the status through the rest of the year, the following calendar year, and the residual .

It looks like if you match before July 1 2013, you only get it for this year (eg. it doesn't count as qualifying this year for next year).

This is fairly typical for status matches. You would of course have whatever status you earn for the subsequent year (e.g. if you fly 18k for a Plat match and then fly another 7k on top of that the rest of the year, you'd be Silver for the following year), but your matched status would only carry over if you earn it in full during the year.

I have a question :

Does this mean that on Copa flights, that they need to be booked with a UA flight number and not use the CM code? The flights I want to take do not have a UA flight number ! eg YYZ-PTY-GRU rtn

So I take it that the flyer/applicant gets to pick when the 90 day period starts to run?

I think the clock starts ticking the day your status match is approved. Which is usually 5-7 business days from the time you submit your application.

Bolding mine. Reads a bit oddly, as if it's a way to retain current status that you missed requalifying for on UA, until you realize that the "metals" match up between Delta & UA.

That's what I thought initially, but then how could someone qualify in the second half of the year?

Since I already have status in UA and *Gold is excluded, I can't take advantage of this offer, right? Just want to be extra sure!

You'd have to wait until at least 90 days prior to July 1, so sometime in early April, to start the challenge. I believe it would have to April 2nd or later. There is obviously still the chance MP may change the requirements between now and then, however. If I were to do it I'd wait as the extra year of status is worth the risk IMO.

I believe if you already have status with UA you are excluded but either way the T&Cs state the following, which looks as though it would specifically exclude you based on your current *Gold status.

Customers who have Star Alliance Silver or Gold status are excluded from this offer.

You're assuming then that the flyer/applicant can pick the start date, which is what I'm assuming as well, but the offer doesn't explicitly say that.

I'm just curious as to how UA is going to work that if they allow people to pick the 90 day period.

I don't think they do let you choose. AIUI...

If you ask for a status match on 1 April then the challenge may kick in on (say) 6 April when they push the right buttons. If you then complete the challenge in 60 days (so ~5 June) you have status until year end. However, if you take 90 days to complete it (~5 July) you get an extra year.