watermen

I am new to this and recently joined FT and have been reading a lot of posts here.

After spending nearly 2 weeks reading everyone comment's in this forum, I decided that I want to focus on collecting United's miles, with the following goals:
1. Redeem international first class ticket.
2. Receive complimentary upgrade on domestic flight.
3. Achieve a million miles.

Question 1:
Regarding premium status, if I collected 25,000 miles through flying the cheapest economy class, will I earn a Premier Silver?

Question 2:
After earning premium silver status, for the next trip do I get 25% bonus? For example, if I travel 10,000 miles, do I get 12,500 miles? If I get it, are these extra miles counted toward the Million Miles program?

Question 3:
If I achieve silver status on the 1st June 2013, and earn another 25,000 in one month, do I get the Gold status on the 1st July 2013. Knowing that Premier status last for 1 year. If I got Silver status on the 1st June 2013, it will expire on the 31st May 2014 right? However, if I continue to fly more miles during this time, for example I reach Platinum in 3 more months after I get the silver status? When will the Premium status expire?

Question 4:
What are the best way to achieve a million miles aside from sitting in a plane for a million miles?

Thanks so much.

aacharya

1. Yes (needs to be on more than 4 segments, unless you have the UA club card).
2. Yes, and no.
3. Next to flying, buy them at 10 cents apiece.

jbsay

Yes, assuming you're flying United metal (as opposed to certain codeshare carriers), 25,000 miles flown in cheapest economy in a calendar year means Premier Silver status.

Once you earn Premier Silver, all additional flights flown while you retain that status earn 25% extra redeemable miles. Note these bonus miles *do not* count towards elite status (e.g., Premier Gold) or towards Million Miler status.

Become a magician, because otherwise, you ain't earning a million miles unless you fly one million miles on United aircraft. As of 3/3/2012, only BIS (butt-in-seat) miles count toward Million Miler status, and only if they're flown on United (or United Express)-operated flights.

watermen

For question number one, does have a United Explorer Credit Card count?

Thanks so much.

I added one more question after you made the post, do you know the answer to it?

jbsay

There are two types of miles: RDMs (redeemable miles) and EQMs (elite qualifying miles). RDMs determine award tickets, while EQMs determine status level. You can earn RDMs from myriad sources, including credit card spending. EQMs, on the other hand, can generally be earned only by flying United (and certain partner) flights. You can also buy EQMs for about $0.09 to $0.13 per mile, so if you really want Premier Silver, you can buy it today for about $2,500.

As for the United MileagePlus Explorer card, you can earn, at most, 5,000 EQMs per calendar year through spending on the card. That requires you to convert 50,000 RDMs to 5,000 EQMs. In other words, to earn Premier Silver, you'd still have to actually fly 20,000 miles on United, then spend enough on the credit card to generate 50,000 RDMs, then convert them to 5,000 EQMs to qualify -- and that's all in a single calendar year.

watermen

Wow...converting 50,000 RDM to 5000 EQM seems so expensive, I don't think it is worth doing it.

If I fly 10,000 miles, to and fro the same destination 10 times within 2-3 months, which will give me 100,000 miles. Do I get the Premier 1K status right after it?

Does these 100,000 miles count toward the Million Milers Status?

entropy

umm, do you want it just to brag? if you are stretching to get premier, you're not even in the same universe are earning MM.

username

Also, it is just a matter of time before UA implements a revenue based status - so, the days of getting to status with cheap mileage runs will be over soon.

Pat89339

Yes and yes. But remember you will need to requalify status each year, until you have reached 1million mile status. If you reached that point currently you will be PremierGold. What they will change that to by the time you reach that level, who knows.

sbm12

Nope. You get the status for the rest of the program year (Feb. 1 - Jan. 31) in which you earned it and also the entirety of the next program year. If you qualify today that status is yours until January 31, 2015.

watermen

Thank you everyone.

cloudybw

And Copa

watermen

Just wondering, if you are a Million Miler, how much money you had spent throughout all these years?

WineCountryUA

Been discussed before (in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ng-2012-a.html and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...13-update.html) and the number varies a lot
-- first there is the time value of money (X$ 5, 10, 15, 20, .. years ago is different then X$ today)
-- some folks are super cheap economy flyers or MRers and some fly premium full fare and many in between, so some may have done it for $50K or less, others for $100'sK (maybe as high $500K)

PDILLM

^^ Truer words have never been spoken ^^