As others have noted based on your 2017 activity you would qualify for United Premier Silver since you flew over 25,000 PQMs and took 4 segments that year on United flights. What you should look at is your overall flying in a given year across all airlines and estimate the distances flown. This can usually be seen by checking your various frequent flyer programs, but tools like Webflyer also allow you to calculate what the distance is.
If you are pushing 50,000 miles per year across all airlines and if *A partners like United, Air Canada, Air China, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai are viable options in terms of price, schedule and connections then I would argue you should go for United Premier Gold. While Silver is a nice perk in terms of free E+ seating at check in and the additional checked bag allowance, it's not worth switching airline alliances and travel for. On the other hand, Premier Gold with its free E+ seating at booking, free same day changes on UA flights, complimentary lounge access flying all partners, fast-track security, check in and boarding across all partners, VIP status when you're flights get cancelled across partners makes it worth the effort. At the end of the day, you shouldn't be bending over backwards for any airline to get status, you should only go for status if it fits nicely into your travel patterns. Remember, the point of earning status is to use the status regularly and enjoy the many perks it offers!
Originally Posted by
thejaredhuang
Just fly Air Canada but credit to UA, you get RDM based on distance and every international AC fare counts as 100%.
But then OP would have to fly AC long haul! IMHO I'd take UA long haul on an E+ emergency exit row seat than a cramped middle seat on an aged AC aircraft across the Pacific
-James