zoqfotpik

Metal refers to the operating carrier - if you're flying solely on UA, this is useful for meeting the PQS requirement. Codeshares are partner airlines that may or may not earn the full mileage in your preferred FF program, in this case, UA..

You can do three trips from US to ICN in business (immediate turns available but expect to spend at least 3 days for each trip), available last 2 weeks in December. It costs ~$3k ex-DEN, but cheaper from other cities like LAX or NYC. I think your biggest challenge would be meeting the PQD requirement. Taxes and fees do not count towards PQD so you may have to spend more than $9k to reach Platinum. Also ICN runs require advance purchase, if you are deciding to make the first trip on 12/19, you need to purchase the ticket today as prices are set to increase 12am EST. Here's a sample itinerary: https://goo.gl/flights/njRB

dancingal

Departure Airport: ORD, MDW
Miles Needed: 1 UA segment, 782 PQM
Required Spend or Budget: None, as little as possible
Available Travel Dates: 12/4, 12/10, 12/17, 12/18, or between 5pm and 9am weekdays in December except 12/5, 12/7, 12/8, 12/16
Required Metal or Codeshares okay: Must be UA or UAX on at least 1 segment

I do not currently have status with UA (lost it this year after being plat/gold for years) so I don’t get the 500 minimum
Thanks in advance!

slash1010

Departure Airport: IAH
Miles Needed: 15,239
Required Spend or Budget: lowest.. obviously.
Available Travel Dates: prefer after 12/15
Required Metal or Codeshares okay: PQM is all that matters

Anything that gets me to SJU for 4-6 days would be even better!

HNRollins

Departure Airport: DEN or COS
Miles Needed: 12500
Required Spend or Budget: $1000
Available Travel Dates: 26 - 29 Dec
Required Metal or Codeshares okay: United metal

quackerspaniel

Looking for Platinum

Departure Airport: ORD
Miles Needed: 2,995
Required Spend or Budget: Lowest
Available Travel Dates:before 12/18
Required Metal or Codeshares okay: UA or UAX

I can stay overnight if need be.

I like SFO but maybe there are cheaper options.

Kmxu

I do not think that you can ever earn PQMs with award tickets.

HNRollins

I also could go 12-15 Dec

Don't care about where or route. Overnight ok too.

zoqfotpik

Plenty of options, same day turns to East Coast, ATL, MSP, DFW, or Cali.

zoqfotpik

DEN-ORD-HKG-SIN r/t for $971 on 12/12-15, earns ~20,500 PQM's, which is more than enough - https://goo.gl/flights/OlfX
You get more options if you have china visa. eg DEN-HGH/XIY/PEK/PVG/etc for ~$1k.

zoqfotpik

Other than SFO, you can try LAX. It wouldn't be the cheapest, but still a decent fare - https://goo.gl/flights/nDcF

bizroadie

Thank you for the suggestion; unfortunately the weekend of the 16th is the one weekend I can't travel.

quackerspaniel

That is cheaper then the flight I found to SFO. Any ideas that are indirect flights?

wh6cto

UA:$211 ORD-DCA rt 1224PQM
Sat 10 Dec
https://goo.gl/flights/rfFc

Can do a quicker turnaround for $20-ish more

Will update if I find anything better (on my tablet on the train right now).

UPDATE:

Slightly cheaper and way faster:

UA:$209 ORD-MSP rt 1002PQM (First in one direction)
Sat 10 Dec
UA1933 ORD-MSP 1235-1411 A320
UA3547 MSP-ORD 1660-1810 E170

Just search on United.com, select First in either direction...currently the same price.

wh6cto

UA:$164 ORD-PHX rt 3374PQM
Tue 13 Dec
UA725 ORD-PHX
UA235 PHX-IAH
UA1074 IAH-ORD

https://goo.gl/flights/T42B

UPDATE:

Oops...I missed this one on the same date:

UA:$109 ORD-SFO-MSP-ORD 3769-3935PQM
UA1988 ORD-SFO 0705-0955
UA5956 SFO-MSP 1100-1659
UA226 MSP-ORD 1828-2159

https://goo.gl/flights/K1j5

Sammie356

Hi looking to do my first mileage run to maintain my Gold status. What's possible?

Departure Airport: EWR
Miles Needed: 25,000
Required Spend or Budget: $1,000
Available Travel Dates: December 27th - December 31
Required Metal or Codeshares okay: United only