Nov 15, 2015, 11:28 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Million Miler Program
With United's change to PQPs and PQFs, UA no longer provides information on flight / "BIS" mile
United no longer shows the BIS mileage. For now, the app is showing segment miles during booking -- but united.com is not.
Presently using UA's timetable to research the flight, the flight miles are provided
Alternatively, you can use third-party tools like, gcmap to get a number. It may differ from UA's number by a few miles
Building a UA city pair BIS table
And finally, you can trust UA to track your miles (There have been very, very few instances of issues and less recently)
Post-merge, COPA flights also accumulated UA lifetime miles, that ceased in July 2015 when COPA left MileagePlus.
What if I use miles to purchase the trip? Does that earn Lifetime Miles?
MileagePlus Million Mile (and Beyond) Flyer Benefits [2014 forward]
Million Miler companion benefit
Building a UA city pair BIS table
Archive: [url=https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/2150272-how-lifetime-miles-calculated-mileageplus-archive.html]How are "lifetime miles" calculated for MileagePlus? {Archive}
Related thread: Lifetime status by airline -- attempted summary
Mileage accrual for Million Miler qualification is based on the flight distance of United- and United Express-operated flights.
United no longer shows the BIS mileage.
Presently using UA's timetable to research the flight, the flight miles are provided
Alternatively, you can use third-party tools like, gcmap to get a number. It may differ from UA's number by a few miles
Building a UA city pair BIS table
And finally, you can trust UA to track your miles (There have been very, very few instances of issues and less recently)
- For elites, there is 500 lifetime mile minimum for UA/UX flights. (still true in 2020 and PQP/PQF era)
- There is no elite bonus or class of service bonus.
- BIS miles
= PQMs for 100% fares - Bus operated land connections booked as UA flight numbers earn lifetime miles
- No partner flights earn UA lifetime miles.
- Flight number / codeshare / ticket stock does not matter -- as long as it is a United-operated flight that is being credited to UA MP program.
- No credit card activity earns UA lifetime miles
- Only paid flights (including BULK / most consolidator tickets), no credit for award flights
- There is no method for purchasing lifetime miles
Basic Economy segments are non-mileage earning and do not earn lifetime milesIn the second iteration of BE (2018Q4),LT mileage earning appears to have been restored (100%50%of BIS)- Lapchild tickets are non-mileage earning including lifetime miles
Post-merge, COPA flights also accumulated UA lifetime miles, that ceased in July 2015 when COPA left MileagePlus.
What if I use miles to purchase the trip? Does that earn Lifetime Miles?
Depends
If you are using just UA miles and only paying cash for the taxes, as an award trip, it does not qualify for Lifetime miles
However
If you are using points from a credit card to purchase a ticket on their site, then the trip qualifies
If you are booking an economy ticket but using miles to upgrade, then the trip qualifies
If you are using the Money+Miles payment option, then the trip qualifies (regardless of the amount paid by miles)
If you are purchasing with a Chase creditcard and then using miles as a statement credit, then the trip qualifies
What about purchasing with "Money+Miles"?If you are using just UA miles and only paying cash for the taxes, as an award trip, it does not qualify for Lifetime miles
However
If you are using points from a credit card to purchase a ticket on their site, then the trip qualifies
If you are booking an economy ticket but using miles to upgrade, then the trip qualifies
If you are using the Money+Miles payment option, then the trip qualifies (regardless of the amount paid by miles)
If you are purchasing with a Chase creditcard and then using miles as a statement credit, then the trip qualifies
100% Lifetime Miles earning
see What is the "Book with Money and Miles" option ?
Related Threadssee What is the "Book with Money and Miles" option ?
MileagePlus Million Mile (and Beyond) Flyer Benefits [2014 forward]
Million Miler companion benefit
Building a UA city pair BIS table
Archive: [url=https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/2150272-how-lifetime-miles-calculated-mileageplus-archive.html]How are "lifetime miles" calculated for MileagePlus? {Archive}
Related thread: Lifetime status by airline -- attempted summary
How are "lifetime miles" calculated for MileagePlus?
Mar 22, 2024, 6:46 am
#301
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: EWR
Programs: UA 1.65M , Platinum, 1K Emeritus, UC Lifetime , HHonors Gold, Presidential Plus card holder
Posts: 697
Mar 22, 2024, 6:54 am
#302
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
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Mar 22, 2024, 7:26 am
#303
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: EWR
Programs: UA 1.65M , Platinum, 1K Emeritus, UC Lifetime , HHonors Gold, Presidential Plus card holder
Posts: 697
I must admit that since Continental merged with United I have had only one instance of a connection with the same flight number. For that 1 sample I did get full LT credit for each segment, the actual flight distance for that segment was only 199 miles and I got the Premier minimum of 500. This was in 2018.
Mar 22, 2024, 7:42 am
#304
Join Date: Dec 2022
Programs: UA1K
Posts: 464
It’s UA2160 - LGA-ORD-LAX. It’s only a difference of a dozen or so miles, but it made me curious as to how it posts from UA (for example, apparently you only get additional PQFs after the first stop based on some other threads on FT)
Mar 22, 2024, 7:58 am
#305
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: UA*Lifetime GS, Hyatt* Lifetime Globalist
Posts: 12,337
Under PMUA, some of the two-segment one flight number flights were counted using "direct" flight BIS.
For example, my flight # UA890 in the late 90s showed SIN-DEN (9,048 BIS) rather than SIN-NRT-LAX-DEN (3,324+5,451+862=9,637)
There are other examples such SFO-SHA when UA did not fly to SHA directly from SFO ( it was SFO-NRT-SHA).
For example, my flight # UA890 in the late 90s showed SIN-DEN (9,048 BIS) rather than SIN-NRT-LAX-DEN (3,324+5,451+862=9,637)
There are other examples such SFO-SHA when UA did not fly to SHA directly from SFO ( it was SFO-NRT-SHA).
Mar 22, 2024, 8:03 am
#306
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Yes. If it’s a direct flight—meaning the same flight number—the lifetime miles awarded are as if you flew from your original to the destination without an intermediate stop. A direct flight could even include a change of aircraft.
Mar 22, 2024, 8:55 am
#307
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,413
Including direct flights (same flight number?) I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that happening, at least not without significant work by an agent.
Mar 22, 2024, 9:07 am
#308
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Btw, if you fly EWR-ORD-SFO, it's the same as EWR-SFO nonstop.
Mar 22, 2024, 9:36 am
#309
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ContinentalFan is correct — you’ll get the great circle distance between the origin and destination airports. That can be less than your longest segment: at one point, UA’s last AUS-SFO flight of the day continued to LAS — so if you flew AUS-SFO-LAS, you got several hundred fewer lifetime miles than if you’d just flown AUS-SFO by itself.
Mar 22, 2024, 1:50 pm
#310
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: EWR
Programs: UA 1.65M , Platinum, 1K Emeritus, UC Lifetime , HHonors Gold, Presidential Plus card holder
Posts: 697
I accept that it was a one-off event but I was quite pleased at the time since it also included PQMs that almost made a difference in status.
Mar 23, 2024, 2:35 pm
#311
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BULK tickets do not count for standard Status Challenges either. They have no price associated with them and UA does not know what AMEX charged you. BULK ticket don't earn PQPs by the normal fare based approach for these same reasons. These BULK ticket issues go back to the PQD days.
Mar 23, 2024, 2:48 pm
#312
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
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Mar 23, 2024, 4:04 pm
#313
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Philadelphia, LAX, Paris
Programs: UA 1K/2MM, SPG/Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Lifetime HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, AA Exec Plat
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I must admit that since Continental merged with United I have had only one instance of a connection with the same flight number. For that 1 sample I did get full LT credit for each segment, the actual flight distance for that segment was only 199 miles and I got the Premier minimum of 500. This was in 2018.
PHL-IAH was on a A320 and the flight number was UA 1743 arriving IAH at gate C30.
IAH-LAX was on a B757 leaving IAH at gate C37 and the flight number was ALSO UA 1743.
Made no sense, but I made it to LAX without any issue, even though it left IAH about 30 minutes late due to a minor problem with a tire.
I was credited for the 2 separate flights as should be.
Mar 23, 2024, 4:37 pm
#314
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This past Wednesday 3/20/2024, I was on UA 1743 PHL-IAH-LAX.
PHL-IAH was on a A320 and the flight number was UA 1743 arriving IAH at gate C30.
IAH-LAX was on a B757 leaving IAH at gate C37 and the flight number was ALSO UA 1743.
Made no sense, but I made it to LAX without any issue, even though it left IAH about 30 minutes late due to a minor problem with a tire.
I was credited for the 2 separate flights as should be.
PHL-IAH was on a A320 and the flight number was UA 1743 arriving IAH at gate C30.
IAH-LAX was on a B757 leaving IAH at gate C37 and the flight number was ALSO UA 1743.
Made no sense, but I made it to LAX without any issue, even though it left IAH about 30 minutes late due to a minor problem with a tire.
I was credited for the 2 separate flights as should be.
Mar 23, 2024, 5:08 pm
#315
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Philadelphia, LAX, Paris
Programs: UA 1K/2MM, SPG/Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Lifetime HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, AA Exec Plat
Posts: 3,331