I'm in that "lower levels of spend"... other than my $60K+ spend in 2019, I regularly spend in the $35K - $40K range, way more than 1K by PQP alone, not enough for GS.

In this new world where $50K isn't enough, I've been thinking of targeting 1K on United, and taking the rest of my spend elsewhere... but haven't done it yet because I'm probably not going to end up with anything more than Platinum like status anywhere else... and from the little I've read, there isn't a lot of benefit when you fall below the top tier statuses on any of the major carriers. I've also got GS status for the rest of the year, which I'd like to enjoy while I have it!

I ended last year with ~$38,000 PQP, fell to 1K but was offered a challenge, which I met in April. I'm at $23,000 PQP right now, and have a trip to DXB booked in June ($7K PQP) that will put me at $30K PQP already for 2024 by mid-June. Other than a few domestic trips, the rest of my international flying will be at my expense (roughly than half of my existing $30K PQP is my money). I'm looking at two trips right now, one cash, one Award... putting me again in the high $30's, low $40's from a spend perspective. So I will not make GS (unless something miraculous happens).

Being TPA based means I have great flexibility in carriers - there are probably just as many Delta & AA flights each day (if not more) than UA.

I flew to DXB on Air Canada in business class about 6 / 7 months before UA started flying that route (Sep 2022) and the experience was quite pleasant - this was even at the tail end of the pandemic with all the issues at YYZ, I had a few segments last year on Thai Airways (which I loved) so I've gotten a little taste of no / low status flying (*G on those carriers)...

One reason to keep my spend at UA is that I'll keep accruing miles. Even as they're being devalued, it's something like 1 free intentional RT for every 5 flown... so I spend ~$35k, get about 400,000 miles which gives me 1 RT in Business (assuming I can't find any saver space). I did Asia last year for ~200,000 miles RT! I'm also at just over 915,000 lifetime BIS miles, and was hoping to make 1MM....

The other thing is that my main domestic trip is IAD... and there are two TPA-IAD flights a day. UA has the only direct TPA-IAD route. So even if I'm a free agent, I'm booking UA for that recurring trip.

Very selfishly, I wish they'd raise the bar for 1K like they are doing with GS but make the benefits more meaningful. I don't think I'd miss GS if I could regularly find PZ space, get a handful of club passes each year and there weren't tons of 1Ks that I'd need to compete with to use that PZ space!