milohoss

For those of you interested in the "premium qualifying dollars" game, I have some very bad news.

It seems that tickets purchased with Chase Ultimate Rewards WILL NOT earn any PQDs. Oddly, they will still earn regular miles and PQMs as normal - because, after all, they are supposed to be the same as purchasing with cash. I had a wretched call with United last night where they informed me that Ultimate Rewards tickets get slapped with a "bulk fare" label and are therefore ineligible for PQDs.

Most likely, this will also include every other credit card point system like FlexPerks, Barclays, etc...

This seems like a pretty aggressive move by United and for many of us probably bombs the utility of the Ultimate Rewards system since making that minimum spend is now radically more difficult.

I'm still holding out hope that the message will get to United about how ridiculous this is (after all, money was still spent - can't they at least give us the equivalent PQDs instead of zero?).

acswank

Not sure about the rest but I believe for Barclays (at least the Arrival) you purchase the travel with your card and submit for reimbursement rather than go through a travel agent like site similar to Chase.

Although I don't redeem my Chase/Amex points that way, it would be disappointing for those that do.

UA-NYC

This will probably get merged in the "$25K spend / bulk" thread, but...

Have you expressed your displeasure w/Chase yet? I'm curious what they have to say.

milohoss

Yeah - it's related to that other thread, but I thought it was different enough since it's about credit card points.

Anyway, oh yes, I've sent several messages to Chase. Haven't heard back yet.

I'm thinking the best solution for me is to just cash out all my rewards, and suck it up with a Mileage plus card and try to hit the $25,000 minimum. This PQD game is just dumb.

PTahCha

I would call the travel agency that works on behalf of Chase and ask them to reissue the ticket without the ticket designator, which would make it a bulk ticket. This not only impacts PQD, but also your ability to upgrade using miles/certificates as well, since bulk tickets are not upgradable. Be persistent and ask for a supervisor if necessary, since most agents are not familiar with this issue.

puls

You're talking about purchases made with UR points, right? I've already flown a few tickets purchased from UR with cash and received PQDs normally.

milohoss

Puls - really? Yeah I'm talking about the normal purchase of flights with UR points. I have always assumed this was equivalent to cash. United phone reps seem to have no understanding this and can only repeat "bulk fare" over and over getting me nowhere. Maybe I'll try again as it's good to know this worked for you!

stupidzbu

Same here. Got a flight jan 3-6 using UR points and pqd posted as expected

tods27

I'm betting this will work the same way some corporate travel does. When you use UR points, the ticket might be a bulk ticket, or it might not. It's up to the TA that issues the ticket for Chase.

goodeats21

My guess is this will be variable, just as with purchasing tickets through AMEX travel services. If the agency (Chase, AMEX, whoever) has that route available with a bulk ticket pricing...that is what you are going to get. Saves the agency some money.

If they do not have bulk ticket available, then you get a regular ticket.

The lack of transparency with this whole thing is VERY disappointing.

We are into February...you would think that UA INSIDER would have provided some type of update by now.

The silence certainly lends credence to the "we had no idea of all the impacts of PQDs...what are we going to go" position.

LaserSailor

I think this a great move. No problem with points plans bring used for travel, but they should not contribute to status over those using cash

demkr

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If true this is a gamechanger for me.

goodeats21

Unfortunately, I think the same thing is possible when using these agencies to book the travel, but paying for them in ANY manner...points to make the booking, points to offset the balance on the card, or just paying in cash.

The issue is United not allowing bulk ticket purchases to accumulate PQD PLUS the agencies not readily disclosing the BULK designation during the purchase process.

If United really wants to exclude any BULK tickets from being used to garner status...fine. Stupid, but fine. Just be up-front with the intention and let everyone know about it. Maybe take one of the kagillion emails I get about irrelevant MileagePlus things and actually provide useful info to your members?

demkr

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FYI I used points and cash on UR and PQD posted normally

djc205

I have been redeeming heavily using Thank You points (as well as Ultimate Rewards - both use the same travel vendor), in the eReceipt I have occasionally seen "BULK CHECK" as the payment method - otherwise I tend to see various last 4 digits of credit cards - probably those booked with the BULK CHECK are like you said - now I haven't flown any this year yet that were purchased with either program, my first one will be 2/21, but I just checked (because of this thread) and all my future reservations show credit card digits so hopefully I'm correct in assuming it may be limited to those BULK CHECK flights only... who knows why some are done that way while others are not.

"BULK" eTicket (FIA Card Services):


Credit Card eTicket (Thank You Network):