Originally Posted by
risenmyth
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.
It's just a flat threshold. If you spend $25K on UA-branded cards, you get a waiver on the PQD requirement. If you spend $24,000 you still have to meet the $3K PQD requirement. An economy plus subscription does count toward PQD, though most other non-airfare spending on UA doesn't.
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)?
It also gets you RDM with various multipliers, so you will want to balance that with your other cards, and gets you reimbursement for pre-check or global entry once every 5 years (so that's basically your annual fee back every 5 years). You can get most of the silver benefits with the explorer card and an E+ subscription (total spend about $600 if you get the domestic 1 person E+ sub), and it's even slightly better because you get E+ at booking. The one thing you get from silver or above that you can't get without the BIS miles is the phone support when things go wrong. I didn't realize how valuable that was until I tried calling support (in a non-irrops situation) once after I had dropped from silver to general member. Hours trying to get anything done, while as a silver I've generally gotten what I needed in a few minutes.