Originally Posted by Shareholder

Non-US resident accounts are exempt from the minimum spend requirement as these are also tied to the UA cc (except for 1K) and which is not available to members outside the USA.

And once more, let's not be coy about it, for 99% of those who fly, it is their employer (who can deduct higher cost tickets) who pays for the ticket not them. It is the company that has the loyalty based solely on the deal they cut with the airline. Around FT, a large number of elites are actually paying for their tickets out of after tax dollars with no hope of deducting from their taxes.