txirish

Thanks for the invite! But, barring anything weird with my remaining international trip, I've got the PQP I need this year. Kind of too bad, back in the traditional mileage run days I always wanted to but never did a joint run or even meet a fellow runner in a lounge in some exotic airport. Maybe next year! (Not so sure about ORD, though...)

With just 175 points to go, you might consider the same strategy suggested by WineCountryUA - less time consuming, probably cheaper, and PQP are deposited immediately. My purchased (and later refunded) ticket was $100, and I got the 100 PQP for $106 offer. I don't know what formula they use for their accelerator offers, but I'd guess you might have to book a flight in the $200 range to get the offer you need. You can view the accelerator offer before final payment, so if one flight doesn't work you can try another. (Your out of pocket will be a little higher because you have to buy the regular miles to get the PQP offer.)

United has a lot of IT issues right now, but it would be nice if they added a feature to let people buy a minimal amount of PQP without going through the booking process. If a MP member has years (or decades) of loyalty, is currently Platinum, and is 50 points short of 15,000 for 1K status, why not make it easy? (Even better, gift it to them. What if instead of this convoluted process, Scott Kirby sent an email saying, "Hey, TXIrish, thanks for your loyalty! I see you are just 36 miles short of 1K status for 2023, and I'm writing to tell you not to worry about it - welcome to another year of 1K status! We appreciate you!" Dream on...)