acunning

Hello all,

First time posting to the forum, after consulting many times over the years.

I'm a lowly grad student, currently in the midst of a long 8 month field season in Botswana. Last year I obtained MileagePlus Silver Premier Status, following a number of long field and conference flights.

I expected to have no issue retaining status this year, but as the new year looms I'm realizing this will not be a guarantee. Here's my situation:

I've met my PQS requirement for the year.
I'm at 11,574 PQM and $901 PQD...

However, I have many miles and dollars yet to post to my account. Here's the issue, and what I'm hoping to get clarity on:

On June 9, 2014 I flew Boston-Zurich-Johannesburg (roughly 14,000 miles or so, and $1,400). These were on Swiss and South African Air, fare class Y.

My returning flight on the same itinerary is not until February 10, 2015. This will be another 14,000 miles or so.

Additionally, I'm flying on December 25th, 2014 from Maun Botswana-Johannesburg-Amsterdam (6,000 miles, $1,300).

Again, my return flight is not until January 2, 2015.

As it stands, without the contribution of these miles and dollars I will not re-earn Premier Status for the calendar year. How does United/Mileage plus deal with itineraries that span calendar years? While Premier Silver does not carry much weight, the reduced baggage fees and priority security check-ins are valuable to me.

Any clarity on my situation would be greatly appreciated!

My best,
a

bmwe92fan

There are many others here that know the rules much better - but my understanding is that the PQD, PQS, and PQM all post based on your flight date - so any flight that you take that like yours in calendar year 2014 will count towards your status for the next year (2015), while your return flights - in 2015 - will count towards your status next year (2016). Note that the mileage earning requirements change next year, so qualification for you will work differently based on status...

Tchiowa

You don't get credit until after the flight is completed. Your January flight will go toward 2015 status mileage accruals.

Think about it for a second. If UA granted status credit based on scheduled miles, you'd see half of FT booking flights in January that they have no intention of taking so that they could get a status bump. Then they'd complain about the fee for cancelling.

acunning

Thank you both for your quick input! I totally understand the rationale behind the United policy and attributing each segment to the year in which travel occurs. Looks like I'll be able to maintain status both this year and likely next, based on the miles from these two itineraries. Add in more flights in 2015 and the PQD dollars should take care of themself. Time to think about Gold in the coming year.

steaminer

It looks like your June 9th flight post yet? You should follow up on that.

IADFlyer123

Are you sure the Y class you are referring to is the full fare economy class and not the class of service listed on your boarding pass? $1400 seems awfully low for full fare international economy class and that too on Swiss and SAA. If you requested the miles from your June trip and they still haven't posted, that means you were not in an eligible class that earns miles on United. What was your original fare class as listed on your itinerary and not boarding pass?

acunning

I booked via United, though the flights are on Star Alliance partner airlines as mentioned. The booking class as indicated on the eTicket/Confirmation email was class T.

I know booking through discount sites such as Kayak can be class K. Are these miles also eligible under the newest United rules?

IADFlyer123

Ideally if the class listed on United.com maps to Swiss, then yes. If T class on Swiss maps to T class on United or vv, then you should get 100% miles: https://www.united.com/cms/en-us/mar...spx?ItemId=297

Same thing with SAA. If T maps to T, then you are eligible only for 50% of the miles: https://www.united.com/CMS/en-US/Mar...spx?ItemId=316

You can call United and check with them about these segments and ask them what class it mapped to on SWISS and SAA. Possibility that it may have mapped to a non earning fare class.

Bonehead

Exactly. From the "Qualification Requirements" Exclusions page:

Codeshare and partner flights: If you purchase a ticket for a flight that is marketed by United but operated by another airline (known as a codeshare flight), the operating airline determines how many miles you earn. The fare class that appears on your ticket may differ from the fare class that the operating airline uses to determine flight miles earned. If a partner flight is not eligible to earn award miles, then it is also not eligible to earn Premier qualifying miles, segments or dollars.

acunning

Thanks so much IAD and Bonehead.

In the past I have called United even been pleased with the phone support at the MileagePlus premier customer support. It's just a less simple solution living in Botswana.

I'll try the email and missing mileage request tool again, and call when back in the States in 2015. That way I will have completed the two open itineraries as well, and can see how the miles shakeout.

transportprof

Since you're living in Botswanna, you could change your MP address to a foreign location and the PQD requirement goes away. @:-)

PVDProf

You will probably need to do this, as unless you went out of your way to book these on 016 stock, these tickets will not give you any PQD.

jacobac00

Only the redeemable mileage earning is changing. Premier qualification is staying the same as this year.

Kmxu

^^^^
This is your best solution. But do call MP to get the RDM. Happy travels.