Originally Posted by
jsloan
If you happen to spend $25K per year on a credit card, moving that to a United-branded Chase credit card will exempt you from the PQD requirement for Silver, Gold, and Platinum. This is extremely useful for people who get their PQMs from foreign airlines (it's often difficult, or extremely expensive, to get those on United tickets, and, as WineCountryUA pointed out, no PQDs for non-UA airlines on non-UA tickets). It's also useful for people who fly discount coach fares. The MileagePlus Explorer card has a $95/year annual fee, but it's generally waived for the first year.
What is the conversion rate on $ spending vs PQD earnings? That seems like a great way to go as I would have an issue hitting the PQD requirements for any of the statuses. Main reason is some of the routes I fly may be significantly more expensive if flown directly with United instead of a Star Alliance partner.
I will definitely apply for the MileagePlus Explorer card as it does fit my current usage as well as my roadmap of combination credit cards for the (near) future. That is great information. However, let's say that I want to fine-tune my spendings and I have certain cards for certain usages: groceries/restaurants/transportation that I would benefit more from using another card (e.g. Amex Gold, CSR). And I happen to use those more often to get a better value out of miles/points for those purchase types, do you think I still get a good enough value from the MileagePlus Explorer card? How much spending should I accrue on my MileagePlus Explorer card to make it worth it (let's say for Silver/Gold status with UA)?
Originally Posted by
jsloan
I've had flights where as little as 65% of my total cost was PQD, but those are rare. 80% is a better rule of thumb.
This kind of gives me the impression that lower % is better from what you said, but isn't it the other way around? 80% of total cost > 65% of total cost
Thank you so much!