Jun 10, 2014, 5:09 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Earning miles on United flights
Spend-based mileage (RDM) earning for all UA metal flights effective March 1, 2015.
Redeemable Miles (RDM) changes highlights:
Fare multipliers based on Premier status:
For example, a 1K would earn 1100 miles for a $120 (assuming $20 in taxes/fees) ticket while a Silver would earn 700 miles for the same ticket.
As there is a maximum number of miles per ticket earned - this disincentives purchasing any ticket (excluding government taxes and fees) over the following:
A way to avoid this is booking one-ways if the fare rules permit.
Premier Qualifying Miles (PQM) are not affected by this change.
Announcement Site
Post 57: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23008349-post57.html
Answered Questions:
Spend-based mileage (RDM) earning for all UA metal flights effective March 1, 2015.
Redeemable Miles (RDM) changes highlights:
- Miles earned will now be based on the ticket price instead of the number of miles flown (see partner flights on non-016 tickets exception )
- Ticket price is defined as base fare plus carrier-imposed surcharges (same as PQDs)
- Class of service bonuses have been discontinued (e.g. X% more on A fares).
- There is a limit of 75,000 miles earned per ticket (see below for spending limits by status)
- UA flights regardless of ticket stock will use the ticket price to determine RDMs
- Partner flight on 016 ticket stock will use the ticket price to determine RDMs
- Partner flights on non-016 ticket stock will use a flight mileage-based system to determine RDMs with a fare class multiplier (see the partner page for detials
- Speciality / Bulk tickets with PQDs will use a flight mileage-based system to determine RDMs with a fare class multiplier, see Specialty tickets
Fare multipliers based on Premier status:
- x5 General Members
- x7 Silver
- x8 Gold
- x9 Plat
- x11 1K/GS
For example, a 1K would earn 1100 miles for a $120 (assuming $20 in taxes/fees) ticket while a Silver would earn 700 miles for the same ticket.
As there is a maximum number of miles per ticket earned - this disincentives purchasing any ticket (excluding government taxes and fees) over the following:
- $6818.18 for 1K/GS
- $8333.33 for Platinum
- $9375.00 for Gold
- $10714.28 for Silver
- $15000.00 for General Members
A way to avoid this is booking one-ways if the fare rules permit.
Premier Qualifying Miles (PQM) are not affected by this change.
www.mileageplusupdates.com
There is a tool on the site that allow you to enter how much you spent on a ticket along your premier status in order to calculate how many miles you will earn under the new system. The tool is aware of the miles per ticket limit.
There is a FAQ here: http://mileageplusupdates.com/faq.html
Relevant UA Insider posts:There is a tool on the site that allow you to enter how much you spent on a ticket along your premier status in order to calculate how many miles you will earn under the new system. The tool is aware of the miles per ticket limit.
There is a FAQ here: http://mileageplusupdates.com/faq.html
Post 57: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23008349-post57.html
Hi everyone,
Today we’re announcing changes to how MileagePlus members will earn award miles in 2015. We’ve posted complete details and a FAQ on united.com, but I wanted to share an excerpt of the key points with you directly:
As of March 1, 2015, the award miles you earn on most United and United Express tickets will be based on your ticket price (that is, base fare plus carrier-imposed surcharges) and your MileagePlus status, instead of the distance you travel. The new criteria for earning award miles will look like this:
<portion removed for brevity>
The changes to earning award miles will apply to all MileagePlus members worldwide, and will be based on status at the time of flight on or after March 1, 2015. These changes will not affect the qualification requirements for 2015 Premier status. PQM and PQS will still be based on the number of paid flight miles traveled and the fare purchased. And where applicable, PQD will still be determined by the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges.
Today we’re announcing changes to how MileagePlus members will earn award miles in 2015. We’ve posted complete details and a FAQ on united.com, but I wanted to share an excerpt of the key points with you directly:
As of March 1, 2015, the award miles you earn on most United and United Express tickets will be based on your ticket price (that is, base fare plus carrier-imposed surcharges) and your MileagePlus status, instead of the distance you travel. The new criteria for earning award miles will look like this:
<portion removed for brevity>
The changes to earning award miles will apply to all MileagePlus members worldwide, and will be based on status at the time of flight on or after March 1, 2015. These changes will not affect the qualification requirements for 2015 Premier status. PQM and PQS will still be based on the number of paid flight miles traveled and the fare purchased. And where applicable, PQD will still be determined by the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges.
Class of service bonuses have been discontinued under the new system. There is already an adjustment for 1K over general members.
For tickets that will earn award miles based on ticket price, the class-of-service bonus and Premier bonus will be included in the number of award miles you earn per dollar. Basically COS has been removed.
E-mail received by GS lists 1K and GS together.
2015 MileagePlus Change - RDMs Will Be Calculated by Spend, Not Distance
Mar 2, 2015, 7:27 pm
#2881
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Bangkok or San Francisco
Programs: United 1k, Marriott Lifetime PE, Former DL Gold, Former SQ Solitaire, HH Gold
Posts: 11,886
"The letter of employer's policy has been that miles earned on business travel are property of the employer but that has not been enforced....yet."
Probably can't do this. The M+ TC prohibit ypu from sharing access to your account with anyone, so if you employer "forced you " to port miles to a third party the airline could close the account and forfeit the miles.
To me the takeaway is that if you are buying premium tickets then you aren't losing under the new program. Which only makes sense. $$$ > BIS
Mar 2, 2015, 7:59 pm
#2882
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K MM, Accor Plat, Htz PC, Natl ExEm, other random status
Posts: 2,876
I'm guessing, though, that for ~$2500 DEN-FRA-DEN, the OP wasn't buying a premium ticket. He was buying an expensive coach ticket.
I may be the beneficiary of that when I fly my expensive flights up and down the west coast, but will be a loser when I fly to the east coast and Europe.
To be honest, I was actually being a bit mean to the OP by rubbing salt in the wound that he's not doing as well as he thought he was.
Greg
Mar 2, 2015, 7:59 pm
#2883
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,938
Mar 2, 2015, 8:30 pm
#2884
Join Date: May 2001
Location: TPA 50%/BKK 30%/HKG 20%
Programs: UA 1K MM - AF G – TK G – AZ Ex – Hilton D – Marriott G – IHG P
Posts: 1,989
Mar 2, 2015, 10:07 pm
#2885
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: COS, DEN
Programs: UA GS, Marriott LT Plat
Posts: 172
I understand the concept.
I'm guessing, though, that for ~$2500 DEN-FRA-DEN, the OP wasn't buying a premium ticket. He was buying an expensive coach ticket.
I may be the beneficiary of that when I fly my expensive flights up and down the west coast, but will be a loser when I fly to the east coast and Europe.
To be honest, I was actually being a bit mean to the OP by rubbing salt in the wound that he's not doing as well as he thought he was.
Greg
I'm guessing, though, that for ~$2500 DEN-FRA-DEN, the OP wasn't buying a premium ticket. He was buying an expensive coach ticket.
I may be the beneficiary of that when I fly my expensive flights up and down the west coast, but will be a loser when I fly to the east coast and Europe.
To be honest, I was actually being a bit mean to the OP by rubbing salt in the wound that he's not doing as well as he thought he was.
Greg
The surcharges are supposed to count, so you should get 11 x $2326 = 25,586. (I'm not sure where your other dollar came from).
However -- I'm not sure how you calculated the amount you "would have earned." It looks like you either omitted the return or forgot to include your 1K bonus. Either way, the total roundtrip distance is 12,188 miles; adding a 100% bonus would have given you 24,376.
So, in this case, you get approximately 5% more miles than you would have earned otherwise.
However -- I'm not sure how you calculated the amount you "would have earned." It looks like you either omitted the return or forgot to include your 1K bonus. Either way, the total roundtrip distance is 12,188 miles; adding a 100% bonus would have given you 24,376.
So, in this case, you get approximately 5% more miles than you would have earned otherwise.
. I usually spend around $1,800 for DEN-IAD-FRA if I can get a week advance notice. That would be a major loss in RDMs.
Mar 3, 2015, 1:14 am
#2886
Join Date: May 2001
Location: TPA 50%/BKK 30%/HKG 20%
Programs: UA 1K MM - AF G – TK G – AZ Ex – Hilton D – Marriott G – IHG P
Posts: 1,989
One strange thing about this is that the people who are making out the most are probably the ones who care the least and whose buying behavior won't be influenced by the windfall. I sat by one guy in F who was a traveling surgeon. We got into a chat and the gist of it was that he had well over 4 million RDMs in his account (he showed me on his phone). He said he never used them. I think United is just preaching to the choir with this change.
Last edited by TomA; Mar 3, 2015 at 1:19 am
Mar 3, 2015, 4:20 am
#2887
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: AADULtArer
Posts: 5,656
The way some employers do it is they track the miles you get and expect you to use those miles to get free tickets for business travel.
Mar 3, 2015, 8:00 am
#2888
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 96
One strange thing about this is that the people who are making out the most are probably the ones who care the least and whose buying behavior won't be influenced by the windfall. I sat by one guy in F who was a traveling surgeon. We got into a chat and the gist of it was that he had well over 4 million RDMs in his account (he showed me on his phone). He said he never used them. I think United is just preaching to the choir with this change.
Mar 3, 2015, 8:55 am
#2889
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: SUV
Programs: UA *G MM
Posts: 7,017
Regarding the 75000 mile cap, what about these scenarios:
016 issued RTW ticket. Then I assume that the cap is in place. Although, in my experience there is actually more than one ticket number when issued my LH (220).
Non-016 RTW ticket? I guess there is no cap but what if the UA segments add up to more than 75,0000?
Expensive ticket issued by other airline with UA segments. Like a friend had a ~$20,000 ticket composed of 4 one way segments issued by another *A carrier. I looked at the fare structure and found that the most expensive parts were full J class segments transpac and transatlantic on UA for about $8000 each. As a 1K each segment could be worth 88,000 miles or 178,000 miles for the 2 UA segments. (Just to be clear, this ticket was flown in the past under the old system.)
p.s. I get the idea that they do no want to reward low $/mile tickets, but why have the cap for expensive tickets? What is the risk? That these $$$$ passengers collect so many miles that they soon stop buying tickets?
016 issued RTW ticket. Then I assume that the cap is in place. Although, in my experience there is actually more than one ticket number when issued my LH (220).
Non-016 RTW ticket? I guess there is no cap but what if the UA segments add up to more than 75,0000?
Expensive ticket issued by other airline with UA segments. Like a friend had a ~$20,000 ticket composed of 4 one way segments issued by another *A carrier. I looked at the fare structure and found that the most expensive parts were full J class segments transpac and transatlantic on UA for about $8000 each. As a 1K each segment could be worth 88,000 miles or 178,000 miles for the 2 UA segments. (Just to be clear, this ticket was flown in the past under the old system.)
p.s. I get the idea that they do no want to reward low $/mile tickets, but why have the cap for expensive tickets? What is the risk? That these $$$$ passengers collect so many miles that they soon stop buying tickets?
Mar 3, 2015, 8:56 am
#2890
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 96
One other thing, and excuse me if it's been mentioned; I didn't see it yet. It seems to me that there's a defensible position in saying that RDMs should be awarded on forfeited tickets. I recognize that's surely not the case right now, but if you're basing RDM earnings on spend, and the spend occurs without the travel, it seems the earning should still occur. This wouldn't apply to PQMs, though I'd potentially argue that it should apply to PQDs.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Mar 3, 2015, 10:23 am
#2891
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: LBB
Programs: UA 1K 1MM ★G | Marriott LTT | Hilton ♦ | Hertz PC | Global Entry TSA Pre ✓
Posts: 2,820
Regarding the 75000 mile cap, what about these scenarios:
016 issued RTW ticket. Then I assume that the cap is in place. Although, in my experience there is actually more than one ticket number when issued my LH (220).
Non-016 RTW ticket? I guess there is no cap but what if the UA segments add up to more than 75,0000?
Expensive ticket issued by other airline with UA segments. Like a friend had a ~$20,000 ticket composed of 4 one way segments issued by another *A carrier. I looked at the fare structure and found that the most expensive parts were full J class segments transpac and transatlantic on UA for about $8000 each. As a 1K each segment could be worth 88,000 miles or 178,000 miles for the 2 UA segments. (Just to be clear, this ticket was flown in the past under the old system.)
p.s. I get the idea that they do no want to reward low $/mile tickets, but why have the cap for expensive tickets? What is the risk? That these $$$$ passengers collect so many miles that they soon stop buying tickets?
016 issued RTW ticket. Then I assume that the cap is in place. Although, in my experience there is actually more than one ticket number when issued my LH (220).
Non-016 RTW ticket? I guess there is no cap but what if the UA segments add up to more than 75,0000?
Expensive ticket issued by other airline with UA segments. Like a friend had a ~$20,000 ticket composed of 4 one way segments issued by another *A carrier. I looked at the fare structure and found that the most expensive parts were full J class segments transpac and transatlantic on UA for about $8000 each. As a 1K each segment could be worth 88,000 miles or 178,000 miles for the 2 UA segments. (Just to be clear, this ticket was flown in the past under the old system.)
p.s. I get the idea that they do no want to reward low $/mile tickets, but why have the cap for expensive tickets? What is the risk? That these $$$$ passengers collect so many miles that they soon stop buying tickets?
It really is too bad that there is a 75000 RDM cap per ticket, especially for those paying more than $6800 for a single-segment ticket..... those paying for GF TPAC fares can easily exceed that.
Mar 3, 2015, 11:03 am
#2892
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: SUV
Programs: UA *G MM
Posts: 7,017
For the sake of simplicity and certainty, couldn't you just split the itinerary into separate records with one-way's? If paying full fare J class, there wouldn't be any fare difference between booking a single record round-trip vs. separate one-way tickets.
It really is too bad that there is a 75000 RDM cap per ticket, especially for those paying more than $6800 for a single-segment ticket..... those paying for GF TPAC fares can easily exceed that.
It really is too bad that there is a 75000 RDM cap per ticket, especially for those paying more than $6800 for a single-segment ticket..... those paying for GF TPAC fares can easily exceed that.
But my guess and the reason for the question, is how the cap is treated when we are dealing with UA segments from a ticket issued by another carrier. I would guess that UA treats it as segment-by-segment as they are flown. My guess is that it has to be a 016 ticket to impose a cap.
Mar 12, 2015, 5:49 pm
#2893
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.99MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,762
Now that we have gotten to the new RDM earning reality and this pre-change thread has gotten excessively long, time to close and change to the focus to the new situation. So for that there is http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-thoughts.html
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
Apr 13, 2015, 3:15 pm
#2894
Join Date: May 2004
Programs: UA 1K 2MM, BA Gold, SQ TPP
Posts: 1,487
75,000 RDM limit per itinerary
Does anyone know how this works?
(1) the appropriate RDM for each segment of the itinerary gets posted as they are flown, and when the 75,000 limit is reached, the rest of the segments get zero miles
(2) the amount spent on the ticket is scaled down proportionately so that every segment gets credit, with the total coming up to 75,000
Reason I'm asking is that if (1) is true, it makes sense to post some segments to other *A programs.
(1) the appropriate RDM for each segment of the itinerary gets posted as they are flown, and when the 75,000 limit is reached, the rest of the segments get zero miles
(2) the amount spent on the ticket is scaled down proportionately so that every segment gets credit, with the total coming up to 75,000
Reason I'm asking is that if (1) is true, it makes sense to post some segments to other *A programs.
Apr 13, 2015, 3:28 pm
#2895
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,067
That's a good question.
Also, can you book as one-ways?
Or also, can you involve non-partner carriers? Some more expensive fares allow interline connections to OALs as part of them.
Also, can you book as one-ways?
Or also, can you involve non-partner carriers? Some more expensive fares allow interline connections to OALs as part of them.
