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United Airlines Award/Premier Accelerator Rates [2014]

United Airlines Award/Premier Accelerator Rates [2014]

Old Jan 1, 2014, 8:52 am
  #1  
RNE
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United Airlines Award/Premier Accelerator Rates [2014]

Background: Going from dirt, I qualified for Gold in 2013 and did so partially through the purchase of Accelerator PQMs. For 2014, I have paid bookings amounting to approximately 31,000 PQMs. I have five bookings, including combinations of domestic and international travel as well as paid and award travel.

RDM Price:
Varies from 2.3 to 2.6 to 2.9/mile.
The reason for the consistent 3/10 jumps is just one of the Mysteries of the Smisek.

PQM Price:
Consistent 12/mile across all bookings.

Obviously, it's early in the year and there's a lot of time for rate changes to play out, but this is where my particular rates have begun.
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 9:01 am
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by RNE
Background: Going from dirt, I qualified for Gold in 2013 and did so partially through the purchase of Accelerator PQMs. For 2014, I have paid bookings amounting to approximately 31,000 PQMs. I have five bookings, including combinations of domestic and international travel as well as paid and award travel.

RDM Price:
Varies from 2.3 to 2.6 to 2.9/mile.
The reason for the consistent 3/10 jumps is just one of the Mysteries of the Smisek.

PQM Price:
Consistent 12/mile across all bookings.

Obviously, it's early in the year and there's a lot of time for rate changes to play out, but this is where my particular rates have begun.
Same rate for me...12c/mile for PQM
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 10:10 am
  #3  
 
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I checked 2 flights for January and both show 14 cents/mile. Not worth it for me at that price.
LiftedFog is offline  
Old Jan 1, 2014, 10:50 am
  #4  
 
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United is generously offering me "Extra Extra Miles"...

13,000 Extra Extra Miles 18,000 Extra Extra Miles

PQM's at the rate of .12 each on a domestic paid (not award) itinerary.
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 11:22 am
  #5  
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But if you don't get PQD's is it worth doing it under any circumstances now, especially if going for 1k?
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 11:26 am
  #6  
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Originally Posted by RichardInSF
But if you don't get PQD's is it worth doing it under any circumstances now, especially if going for 1k?
Not everyone buys the el-cheapo tickets, so there will be a set of people who exceed the PQD requirement without making the PQM requirement. Also, PQD only appllies to US residents. Both of these groups can benefit.
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 11:44 am
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For me: Reward miles: 2.3-3.3 cpm
PQM: 14.3-15.3 cpm

The PQM's are down from around 18 cpm last night. Does anyone know if there is a pattern on the rates during the course of the year, or do the rates consistently rise?
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 11:46 am
  #8  
 
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Originally Posted by LarkSFO
United is generously offering me Extra Extra Miles"...

13,000 Extra Extra Miles 18,000 Extra Extra Miles

PQM's at the rate of .12 each on a domestic paid (not award) itinerary.
I'm being offered "Extra Extra Miles" too, LarkSFO! On a paid domestic ticket,

RDM: 3.3 c/mile
PQM: 15.3 c/mile

For the record, buying RDMs outright costs 3.7625 c/mile.
economyplusfan is offline  
Old Jan 1, 2014, 11:56 am
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Originally Posted by mahasamatman
Not everyone buys the el-cheapo tickets, so there will be a set of people who exceed the PQD requirement without making the PQM requirement. Also, PQD only appllies to US residents. Both of these groups can benefit.
This would be me. I easily spend way over the 1k threshold (> $30k in 2013) but struggle to piece together 75k miles each year. Last year I got a bump to 1k without explanation .. we'll see about the year that just ended. It's hard to make 1k on PQM when you fly only domestic and are based in CLE (so NOTHING is over 2k miles one-way).
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 12:03 pm
  #10  
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Originally Posted by RichardInSF
But if you don't get PQD's is it worth doing it under any circumstances now, especially if going for 1k?
Yes, if you are an international member.
Yes, if you meet the spend but are short the PQMs

And for those not going for 1K but meeting the credit card waiver.

So that may not be you but there are plenty of folks in the above categories.
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 12:09 pm
  #11  
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Originally Posted by RichardInSF
But if you don't get PQD's is it worth doing it under any circumstances now, especially if going for 1k?
Yeah lets hope Accelerator purchases fall off a cliff and they re-consider whether these purchases count towards PQD as well.

Let's say at their most generous, EA offers them at 10 cents a mile all-in.

So if you bought 50k RDM/PQM at $5000, you get Gold.

Isn't that the threshold UA wanted? You'll likely end up spending more than $5000 though, if you actually go ahead with the flight.

BUt the more likely scenarios is that people will have to pay at least 12 cpm all-in, so it would cost you $6000 to get 50k accelerated RDM/PQMs, which is 20% more than the threshold they wanted.

So it doesn't make sense that they'd have this huge disincentive for you to buy accelerator miles, especially the PQMs, since the reason people buy is to qualify.
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 12:30 pm
  #12  
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I'm being offered 2.3 cpm for 30 or 45k RDMs and 12 cpm for 30K PQMs on an existing itinerary, a TATL award.
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 1:55 pm
  #13  
RNE
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Originally Posted by jrockcolo
The PQM's are down from around 18 cpm last night. Does anyone know if there is a pattern on the rates during the course of the year, or do the rates consistently rise?
This January 1 drop is inconsistent with previous years. It generally took weeks after year-end to see widespread reports that rates had dropped. This delay never made sense to me because they are rightly worth less on January 1 than on December 31. This promptness is a sign UA is paying more attention to Accelerator rates, and perhaps that a rational pricing process is occurring under the hood. All good.

Now to answer your question, there is a propensity toward price inflation as the end of the calendar year approaches. However, the price can and will fluctuate throughout the preceding period. It appears the price primarily varies based on one's elite level and closeness to the next elite threshold, but other factors likely enter the fray.

As the Accelerator program goes onward, UA is doubtless learning and refining its analyses to hone an individualized rate which maximizes the price at which any given person will click the buy button. A Premier Platinum at 70K PQM for the current year will likely be willing to pay more for 5K Accelerator PQMs than will a Premier Silver at 30K. UA will make sure the former has to pay more than the latter.

Nevertheless, it is UA's prerogative to vary the price it offers to any individual at any time, and perhaps rightly so as we progress throughout elite levels during the year. Therefore, if one is shopping for RDMs or PQMs one needs to check the prices periodically.

RNE, recalling that my rates dipped to 2.3/RDM and 7/PQMs in mid-2013. I pounced. Glad I did.
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Old Jan 1, 2014, 2:06 pm
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I'm seeing the same offer. On a TATL in booking class W(R).
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Old Jan 2, 2014, 1:26 am
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Thanks RNE.
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