Originally Posted by
CDSEA
Thank you for the insight. I'm hoping I can hit 12 GPUs in 2018.. That would take 250 PQMs? Might be tight. I'm currently getting just over 26,000 PQM a trip. I think I can do it. That would be six rount trips after I hit the 1K requal threshold for the year which I will do in mid June.
If I can do that, I get need to look for flights with R>/=6? and PN>/=6?
Yes, you'd get to 12 GPUs at 250K PQMs for the year. However, depending upon the timing of your trip, you may not need to get 12 in a single qualification year in order to use 12 on a trip. If your trip is in January of 2019, then you could use any of your existing GPUs plus any that you earn during 2018 qualification. On the other hand, if your trip is later in 2019, your existing GPUs may have expired, but you'd have all of the ones you earn during 2018 qualification plus any that you earn during 2019 prior to the trip. Also, UA has offered the ability for members who re-qualify for 1K or GS status to extend the expiration of 2 GPUs until April 30. This offer normally comes out in November -- but, of course, there's no guarantee they'll do it this year.
As long as you're GS, you're looking for PN space; R doesn't matter. If you were to drop down to 1K, you'd be looking for R space, and that would be a much tougher nut to crack -- it's rare to see R > 0 on the longest flights like SFO-Europe, but when it is there, it's normally R1 or R2. R6 is not particularly common.* And, 1K members can't apply GPUs to award tickets. So, it's definitely in your best interest to stay GS -- it's going to save you thousands of dollars (list price, anyway) on this one trip.
But, that caveat aside, exactly -- you need PN >= 6.
Hope this helps.
* Unless you can plan your trip at the last minute; UA will sometimes open up a lot of last-minute R inventory when sales failed to meet their projections. But, even then, you might find R9 to get to LHR but no R space to get home.