HighZ

Hi - I am looking to make a trip to Bangalore, India next month and was hoping to find a flight with United to earn PQM. Air India has direct flights to India from Chicago at a lower cost, but I don't believe I can earn PQM via that alliance partner.

I determined the best departure point from the US to DEL or BOM is from EWR. What is strange is the difference in PQM that is calculated depending on how I book the flights.

When I did a search first from EWR to DEL, the leg PQM was 10,985 with 1.5 segments at a cost of $2577 RT. The fare classes are: J9 JN9 C0 D0 Z0 ZN0 P0 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V7 W2 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9 XN0 X0

If I then search for ORD-EWR, its the standard 719 PQM, 1 segment for $215. So if I book these separately, the cost is $2800 RT with 11,704 PQM each way.

But if I search for the entire flight from ORD to DEL direct, the PQM is only 8042 with one segment, and first class is available. The cost is $200 less, so I save the cost of the ORD-EWR leg. The fare classes are: J9 JN9 C0 D0 Z0 ZN0 P0 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V2 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9 XN0 X0

I am just curious why such the big difference in PQM if I were to book each leg separately. And if I do book each leg separately (say first the EWR-DEL and then the ORD-EWR, do I still earn the higher PQM?

Should this flight be configured in a different manner?

Thanks!