(1) What is your home airport? LAS
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Y - specifically usually K or the cheapest ticket above basic economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 80k+
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Was UA Platinum until last year, didn’t meet PQD, now no status
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Lounge access, additional luggage allowance, priority check-in and boarding, preferred seat selection
(6) Which routes do you fly most often Transpacific 3x/yr, Transatlantic 3x/yr, South Africa 1x/yr
(7) Preferred Airlines UA, NH, TG, SQ, BR, LH, LX
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Pleasure only

This request for advice is actually for my travel partner, but we fly the exact same routes.

I was able to maintain platinum status on UA last year due to the Chase PQD waiver by spending $25k on their United card; my travel partner can’t do that.

These are our stats from last year (our PQDs weren’t even close):


He’d like to have Star Gold status for a few reasons - it would help both of us with United Club access when flying domestically on UA (not often, but sometimes for a positioning flight), and on the rare occasions when we travel with other friends, we could both have a +1 in the lounge.

I think Asiana seems to be the best for him - I know that a lot of the fares we book will only give 50% mileage, but he’ll still be able to meet the 40,000 minimum within 2 years and maintain it following that.

I’d like to hear if anyone else has any other opinions.

Thank you!