WineCountryUA

Yes it does

United states that for BE flights

Paulista

Thanks WineCountryUA I appreciate the answer!

jsloan

Assuming the “long flight” is either UA-operated or UA-ticketed, the additional miles you’ll earn on this flight would be 2 miles for every dollar of fare (PQP). So, if it’s an $800 flight segment, you’re talking about 1600 MileagePlus miles, which I’d value somewhere between $15 and $30.

Your upgrade chances, as a Silver, on any long flight are going to be close to zero. (First — is the flight CPU eligible? Many long flights are not. Second — unless you’re traveling at a very off-peak time, it’s rare for a Silver to get a CPU anyway. And if you’re using Miles + Money to waitlist for an upgrade, the chance that you’d clear as a Silver, but not as a general member, is slim).

The things you would get: Silver luggage allowance, free Economy Plus at check-in, Priority Access (boarding group 2).

If these things are valuable to you, by all means, buy (and fly!) a UA flight prior to your trip. But I just wanted to offer a bit of perspective.

Paulista

Yes, you are absolutely correct I appreciate the answer jsloan . I really never thought about the value of the extra miles which indeed are pretty irrelevant. On the other hand the Economy Plus is quite valuable for me as I fly long-haul (mostly EWR-GRU) quite often and most of the times in Economy, so the Economy Plus is a big plus for me on that red-eye flight.

To be fair on that flight even regular Economy has a relatively generous space (especially when compared to American and Delta), but at 6ft2 any additional space is helpful :-)

DouglasLucJones

I am close to reaching Star Alliance Gold status with United Airlines, but have come across a stumbling block – hopefully someone on this forum can help?

One of the key criteia for obtaining Gold with United is that you need to make a minimum of 4 flights with United (the remainder of flights/points can be notched up using any of the Star Alliance partners). Fair enough, I suppose – most FF programmes require this.

I have made 5 flights with United, all of which were booked via the United website, yet only 2 have been credited to my account. My hunch is this is because these 3 ‘missing’ segments were codeshare flights, albeit on a United ticket – the other 2 were on United planes.

My e-mail to United’s MileagePlus progamme asking for the segments to be added was simply replied to with a message “your miles have been added” plus a load of irrelevant infomation telling me how I should fill in the booking forms correctly. They clearly haven’t bothered to read the actual message; my miles were added almost immediately; it’s the segments I need !

Has anyone else come across anything similar – and who is right here; United, or me?! If I am denied Gold due to this loophole, it seems awfully mean (I specifically booked the flights on a United ticket via the United website to gain these segments – it would have been significantly cheaper to book on the partner plane). Sadly, I’m not in a position to just do a miles run; I’m based on the othe side of the globe !!

Any help/advice here would be gratefully received – perhaps someone knows someone senior at United ?!?!

Luc

SPN Lifer

Code shares do not count toward the four-segment minimum.

The flights must be operated by UA or UX.

jpezaris

Yes, it appears you've unfortunately misunderstood the particulars of the requirement: the flights have to be operated by United or United Express, not necessarily purchased through the United web site, and codeshare flights do not count for the requirement. You must have stepped food on an airplane that says "United" on the outside for the flight to contribute toward the 4-segment minimum.

The only good news is that despite the difficulties you might have getting to the US, you do still have some time to accomplish that before the end of the year, if an opportunity arises for you. Moreover, flying internationally on United airplanes normally counts. Toward that end, if you do book additional flights and they are in Basic Economy, you should verify that they will count, as I seem to recall there's some nuances with regard to BE, segments, and premier qualifications.

VRFast

Yes, Basic Economy flights on UA do not qualify for PQF either.
I would look for a short and cheap nonstop flight in regular economy, returning the same day, to get your last 2 segments. Segments have to be completed before the end of the calendar year.
I did that last year to achieve Gold.

kale73

That’s going to be geographically challenging for the OP.

cfischer

Ouch. That's an expensive lesson. You'll need 2 more segments with UA to satisfy the requirement.

jpezaris

To the OP, if you tell us the airports that are most convenient for you, I'm sure there will be people here who would suggest ways you might most expeditiously and/or inexpensively attain the last two segments you need, no matter where in the world you might be based. I'm often astonished at the depth and breadth of knowledge here.

mikmort

Hello,

I should have 10,000+ PQP for 2022, mostly on flights with SAS and other United partners. Unfortunately I don't yet have any flights that are 'Operated by United', hence no status at all.

I'm looking to book a roundtrip flight from CPH<>CHO (via IAD). There should be two segments on the ticket from IAD<>CHO that are United metal. However the flight would be booked via SAS, as that itinerary doesn't appear to be bookable by United.

Question -- Would these flights on United metal count as 2 of the 4 needed for Premier Platinum Status, even if ticketed by SAS? Or do the flights have to be ticketed and operated by United?

Repooc17

They would.

WineCountryUA

As long as crediting to UA MP, which likely the case here, since trying to earn status

emcampbe

While most things in life have at least an exception or two, this simple concept does not - as long as the plane you board says ‘United’ or ‘United Express’ on the outside, it’ll count. Where you book (or even if you book the flight as a codeshare SAS flight # XXXX, operated by United) makes no difference.