Originally Posted by
IAH-OIL-TRASH
UA has plenty of domestic 1Ks who don't grind it out on $250-400 domestic tickets - they pay, or their company pays, for a seat up front. That's the whole point of PQP-based Premier levels - in general, to separate the low-yield per seat-mile customers from high-yielding ones. UA wants to reward customers who buy 10 business class tickets (say $12k+) between EWR and SFO, not someone w/ 25 economy tickets (say $7.5k). Of course, UA is happy to take both wads of money, but the reward is to those generating a far higher yield/seat-mile. There are still a number of grinders like me who travel personally on a variety of coach and P fare tickets and do get to the (pre-pandemic) $18K+segments hurdle.
Some of us cannot purchase J/F fares due to company policy.
Yesterday I bought a same-day one-way ticket from SFO to EWR, and it was still "only" $279 all-in. For context, I am usually one flying cross country and back (roundtrip) for under $200 all-in. Really have to grind to max!