Jan 12, 2014, 3:56 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This thread is for posting about how the PQDs for particular flown segments post to the United website. How many PQDs posted for a particular segment, the timing of the posting, and similar issues belong here.
For a more general discussion and Q&A about PQDs, use this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ad-2014-a.html
How many PQDs will post for each segment?
We're still trying to figure that out! In general, though, here's how it's supposed to work: For each fare* in your itinerary, the PQDs (airfare + YQ) for that fare will be distributed across the segments associated with that fare using an "industry standard" method that is opaque.
*Airline tickets are generally priced all the way from your origin to your destination as a single one-way or half-round-trip fare. For example, if you fly LAX-SFO-EWR-LHR-FRA//FRA-IAD-DEN-LAX, there will usually be a single half-rount-trip fare associated with the entire outbound trip, and a single half-round-trip fare associated with the entire return trip. In general, you do not pay a specific price for each segment of your trip. Understanding this simple idea is fundamental to understanding how airfare is priced. Sometimes, though, your trip will be made up of several fares all tacked together. For example, it could be that the return trip in the above example is constructed as FRA-IAD-DEN//DEN-LAX. In this case, the fare is said to "break" at DEN. It is essential to know where fare breaks occur in your itinerary in order to predict/explain PQD earnings for each segment. (You should probably learn how this stuff works anyway, because it can help you understand why some tickets cost more than others, where you can put in a free stopover, etc.)
What is the most helpful way for me to report the PQD breakdown for a trip I took?
If you want to contribute the most information possible, post the PQDs associated with each segment of your trip, and post the full fare construction of your trip.
To see the fare construction, go to the Saudi Airlines website, click on "Manage Bookings," click "eTicket," and enter your ticket number (beginning with 016). There's also a browser extension/script available to ease the Saudia link/searching: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-analysis.html.
A few notes on how contract fares can be negotiated per daniellam:
For a more general discussion and Q&A about PQDs, use this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ad-2014-a.html
How many PQDs will post for each segment?
We're still trying to figure that out! In general, though, here's how it's supposed to work: For each fare* in your itinerary, the PQDs (airfare + YQ) for that fare will be distributed across the segments associated with that fare using an "industry standard" method that is opaque.
*Airline tickets are generally priced all the way from your origin to your destination as a single one-way or half-round-trip fare. For example, if you fly LAX-SFO-EWR-LHR-FRA//FRA-IAD-DEN-LAX, there will usually be a single half-rount-trip fare associated with the entire outbound trip, and a single half-round-trip fare associated with the entire return trip. In general, you do not pay a specific price for each segment of your trip. Understanding this simple idea is fundamental to understanding how airfare is priced. Sometimes, though, your trip will be made up of several fares all tacked together. For example, it could be that the return trip in the above example is constructed as FRA-IAD-DEN//DEN-LAX. In this case, the fare is said to "break" at DEN. It is essential to know where fare breaks occur in your itinerary in order to predict/explain PQD earnings for each segment. (You should probably learn how this stuff works anyway, because it can help you understand why some tickets cost more than others, where you can put in a free stopover, etc.)
What is the most helpful way for me to report the PQD breakdown for a trip I took?
If you want to contribute the most information possible, post the PQDs associated with each segment of your trip, and post the full fare construction of your trip.
To see the fare construction, go to the Saudi Airlines website, click on "Manage Bookings," click "eTicket," and enter your ticket number (beginning with 016). There's also a browser extension/script available to ease the Saudia link/searching: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-analysis.html.
A few notes on how contract fares can be negotiated per daniellam:
Having used bulk and corporate negotiated fare tickets in the past and being familiar with the the various ticketing methods used by travel agencies, the following are three methods which I have observed and each have their own implications in terms of accounting/reimbursement by the travel agency and their corporate client ("employer") as well as the earning of PQDs.
In each of these scenarios, we will assume the following (ignoring taxes and other fees the corporate travel agency may add on top):
- The regular published fare before corporate discount is $1,000
- Negotiated corporate fare contract allows the fare to be sold for $750 (travel agent keeps $50) with the net fare being $700.
- Payment method is credit card in all cases, and the employee buying the ticket is reimbursed for the amount charged to the credit card.
Method 1 - Published Fare with Commission Method (only if contract allows this method to be used)
Fare on e-ticket receipt shows: $1,000 (this can be pulled up on united.com)
"Commission" claimed when ticket issued: $300 (travel agent keeps $50) [A special corporate code is entered onto the e-ticket]
What the e-ticket looks like to the passenger: Looks just just any other e-ticket that was purchased directly from United Airlines, with the exception of a code in the "tour code" field (not normally visible on united.com).
Invoice from travel agency shows: $1,000
Payment flow:
1) Passenger is charged $1,000 on his corporate AMEX (merchant on credit card bill shows up as "United Airilnes") and the employer reimburses him $1,000 once an expense report is completed.
2) Travel Agency receives $300 "commission" from the airline and keeps $50.
3) Travel Agency cuts a check to the employer for $250.
End result: The employer pays $1,000 less $250 for a net of $750. (Note: The employer may bill the client $1,000 for the employee's travel if they can get away with it).
PQD Earned: $1,000
Implications: More accounting work needs to be done by travel agency to determine how much to pay the employer. Employer needs to pay the published fare and wait for the "rebate" from the travel agency.
Method 2 - Published Fare with Corporate Discount (only if contract allows this method to be used)
Fare on e-ticket receipt shows: $750 (this can be pulled up on united.com)
[A "ticket designator" is added to the fare basis (eg. QUP14QPN/CORP) where as an example "CORP" is the ticket designator to denote "corporate fare")]
"Commission" claimed when ticket issued: $50 (travel agent keeps $50) [A special corporate code is entered onto the e-ticket as well]
What the e-ticket looks like to the passenger: Looks just just any other e-ticket that was purchased directly from United Airlines, with the exception of a code in the "tour code" field, "ticket designator" (not normally visible on united.com) and of course a lower fare than what it would have been if purchased on united.com.
Invoice from travel agency shows: $750
Payment flow:
1) Passenger is charged $750 on his corporate AMEX (merchant on credit card bill shows up as "United Airilnes") and the employer reimburses him $750 once an expense report is completed.
2) Travel Agency receives $50 "commission" from the airline and keeps $50.
End result: The employer pays a net fare of $750. (Note: The employer may only be able to bill the client $750 in this case).
PQD Earned: $750
Implications: Less accounting work needs to be done by travel agency. Employer does not need to wait for "rebate", but can only bill the client the fare less corporate discount.
Method 3A - Bulk Ticketing with "credit card" as form of payment (perhaps this method seems to be the easiest to use when automated online booking tools such as Concur are used to automatically quote fares/issue tickets as only the "bulk" fare between specified city pairs need to be loaded into the system instead of having to program a bunch of specialized ticketing instructions into the system for each corporate contract???)
Fare on e-ticket receipt shows: "BULK" or "BT" or "IT" (this can be pulled up on united.com)
[Note: When the travel agent issues the ticket, $750 is entered as the fare with a "BULK"/"BT"/"IT" flag added so that the fare dosen't show up on the ticket. This results in the fare amount being transmitted only the the revenue accounting department of the airline, while other staff at the airline don't see the price]
"Commission" claimed when ticket issued: $50 (travel agent keeps $50) [A special corporate code is entered onto the e-ticket as well]
What the e-ticket looks like to the passenger: "BULK" / "BT" / "IT" in fare box, as well as a fare basis that may either be that of a published fare or an obscure one such as "YBULK".
Invoice from travel agency shows: $750
Payment flow:
1) Passenger is charged $750 on his corporate AMEX (merchant on credit card bill shows up as "United Airilnes") and the employer reimburses him $750 once an expense report is completed.
2) Travel Agency receives $50 "commission" from the airline and keeps $50.
End result: The employer pays a net fare of $750. (Note: The employer may only be able to bill the client $750).
PQD Earned: $0 [Because United dosen't know how much was actually paid without referring to their revenue accounting department]
Implications: Minimal accounting work needs to be done by travel agency. Employer does not need to wait for rebate. Employee does not get PQD.
Method 3B - Bulk Ticketing with "Cash" or "Invoice" as form of payment (even though payment is by credit card)
Fare on e-ticket receipt shows: "BULK" or "BT" or "IT" (this can be pulled up on united.com)
[Note: When the travel agent issues the ticket, $700 is entered as the fare with a "BULK"/"BT"/"IT" flag added so that the fare dosen't show up on the ticket. This results in the fare amount being transmitted only the the revenue accounting department of the airline, while other staff at the airline don't see the price]
"Commission" claimed when ticket issued: $0
What the e-ticket looks like to the passenger: "BULK" / "BT" / "IT" in fare box, as well as a fare basis that may either be that of a published fare or an obscure one such as "YBULK".
Invoice from travel agency shows: $750 (note the agent is basically selling that $700 ticket for $750)
Payment flow:
1) Passenger is charged $750 on his corporate AMEX (merchant on credit card bill shows up as "AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL" instead of "United Airlines") and the employer reimburses him $750 once an expense report is completed.
End result: The employer pays a net fare of $750. (Note: The employer may only be able to bill the client $750).
PQD Earned: $0 [Because United dosen't know how much was actually paid without referring to their revenue accounting department]
Implications: Minimal accounting work needs to be done by travel agency. Employer does not need to wait for rebate. Employee does not get PQD.
Voucher impact on PQDs is covered in Vouchers in the PQD era In each of these scenarios, we will assume the following (ignoring taxes and other fees the corporate travel agency may add on top):
- The regular published fare before corporate discount is $1,000
- Negotiated corporate fare contract allows the fare to be sold for $750 (travel agent keeps $50) with the net fare being $700.
- Payment method is credit card in all cases, and the employee buying the ticket is reimbursed for the amount charged to the credit card.
Method 1 - Published Fare with Commission Method (only if contract allows this method to be used)
Fare on e-ticket receipt shows: $1,000 (this can be pulled up on united.com)
"Commission" claimed when ticket issued: $300 (travel agent keeps $50) [A special corporate code is entered onto the e-ticket]
What the e-ticket looks like to the passenger: Looks just just any other e-ticket that was purchased directly from United Airlines, with the exception of a code in the "tour code" field (not normally visible on united.com).
Invoice from travel agency shows: $1,000
Payment flow:
1) Passenger is charged $1,000 on his corporate AMEX (merchant on credit card bill shows up as "United Airilnes") and the employer reimburses him $1,000 once an expense report is completed.
2) Travel Agency receives $300 "commission" from the airline and keeps $50.
3) Travel Agency cuts a check to the employer for $250.
End result: The employer pays $1,000 less $250 for a net of $750. (Note: The employer may bill the client $1,000 for the employee's travel if they can get away with it).
PQD Earned: $1,000
Implications: More accounting work needs to be done by travel agency to determine how much to pay the employer. Employer needs to pay the published fare and wait for the "rebate" from the travel agency.
Method 2 - Published Fare with Corporate Discount (only if contract allows this method to be used)
Fare on e-ticket receipt shows: $750 (this can be pulled up on united.com)
[A "ticket designator" is added to the fare basis (eg. QUP14QPN/CORP) where as an example "CORP" is the ticket designator to denote "corporate fare")]
"Commission" claimed when ticket issued: $50 (travel agent keeps $50) [A special corporate code is entered onto the e-ticket as well]
What the e-ticket looks like to the passenger: Looks just just any other e-ticket that was purchased directly from United Airlines, with the exception of a code in the "tour code" field, "ticket designator" (not normally visible on united.com) and of course a lower fare than what it would have been if purchased on united.com.
Invoice from travel agency shows: $750
Payment flow:
1) Passenger is charged $750 on his corporate AMEX (merchant on credit card bill shows up as "United Airilnes") and the employer reimburses him $750 once an expense report is completed.
2) Travel Agency receives $50 "commission" from the airline and keeps $50.
End result: The employer pays a net fare of $750. (Note: The employer may only be able to bill the client $750 in this case).
PQD Earned: $750
Implications: Less accounting work needs to be done by travel agency. Employer does not need to wait for "rebate", but can only bill the client the fare less corporate discount.
Method 3A - Bulk Ticketing with "credit card" as form of payment (perhaps this method seems to be the easiest to use when automated online booking tools such as Concur are used to automatically quote fares/issue tickets as only the "bulk" fare between specified city pairs need to be loaded into the system instead of having to program a bunch of specialized ticketing instructions into the system for each corporate contract???)
Fare on e-ticket receipt shows: "BULK" or "BT" or "IT" (this can be pulled up on united.com)
[Note: When the travel agent issues the ticket, $750 is entered as the fare with a "BULK"/"BT"/"IT" flag added so that the fare dosen't show up on the ticket. This results in the fare amount being transmitted only the the revenue accounting department of the airline, while other staff at the airline don't see the price]
"Commission" claimed when ticket issued: $50 (travel agent keeps $50) [A special corporate code is entered onto the e-ticket as well]
What the e-ticket looks like to the passenger: "BULK" / "BT" / "IT" in fare box, as well as a fare basis that may either be that of a published fare or an obscure one such as "YBULK".
Invoice from travel agency shows: $750
Payment flow:
1) Passenger is charged $750 on his corporate AMEX (merchant on credit card bill shows up as "United Airilnes") and the employer reimburses him $750 once an expense report is completed.
2) Travel Agency receives $50 "commission" from the airline and keeps $50.
End result: The employer pays a net fare of $750. (Note: The employer may only be able to bill the client $750).
PQD Earned: $0 [Because United dosen't know how much was actually paid without referring to their revenue accounting department]
Implications: Minimal accounting work needs to be done by travel agency. Employer does not need to wait for rebate. Employee does not get PQD.
Method 3B - Bulk Ticketing with "Cash" or "Invoice" as form of payment (even though payment is by credit card)
Fare on e-ticket receipt shows: "BULK" or "BT" or "IT" (this can be pulled up on united.com)
[Note: When the travel agent issues the ticket, $700 is entered as the fare with a "BULK"/"BT"/"IT" flag added so that the fare dosen't show up on the ticket. This results in the fare amount being transmitted only the the revenue accounting department of the airline, while other staff at the airline don't see the price]
"Commission" claimed when ticket issued: $0
What the e-ticket looks like to the passenger: "BULK" / "BT" / "IT" in fare box, as well as a fare basis that may either be that of a published fare or an obscure one such as "YBULK".
Invoice from travel agency shows: $750 (note the agent is basically selling that $700 ticket for $750)
Payment flow:
1) Passenger is charged $750 on his corporate AMEX (merchant on credit card bill shows up as "AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL" instead of "United Airlines") and the employer reimburses him $750 once an expense report is completed.
End result: The employer pays a net fare of $750. (Note: The employer may only be able to bill the client $750).
PQD Earned: $0 [Because United dosen't know how much was actually paid without referring to their revenue accounting department]
Implications: Minimal accounting work needs to be done by travel agency. Employer does not need to wait for rebate. Employee does not get PQD.
It Begins: PQDs Posting on United.com
Feb 23, 2014, 8:04 am
#541
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Anaheim Hills, CA
Programs: UA 1K, 1.3mm
Posts: 918
Feb 23, 2014, 8:12 am
#542
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: UA AU (ex 10+ year 1k) 1.5MM, AS Newbie, HH ex Dia
Posts: 337
Perhaps things are getting better with LH flights posting.
OCT and I flew LH metal/016 stock to Europe last week. Nothing has posted, as others have reported here.
On Wednesday we flew the first flight of our return itinerary (LH metal BCN-FRA) and that has posted at the usual time (2 days after flying) with PQM, PQS, and PQD all as expected. If this is fixed now, the remaining LH flight will post tomorrow, and the UA leg sometime next week...
Now to start on the boarding pass scans for last week's credit.
OCT and I flew LH metal/016 stock to Europe last week. Nothing has posted, as others have reported here.
On Wednesday we flew the first flight of our return itinerary (LH metal BCN-FRA) and that has posted at the usual time (2 days after flying) with PQM, PQS, and PQD all as expected. If this is fixed now, the remaining LH flight will post tomorrow, and the UA leg sometime next week...
Now to start on the boarding pass scans for last week's credit.
Feb 23, 2014, 10:19 am
#543
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
For anyone looking to make the Saudia link/search a bit easier when finding the details of a fare construction, check out the scriptlet/extension here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-analysis.html.
Feb 23, 2014, 10:25 am
#544
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: UA PP, AA, DL, BA, CX, SPG, HHonors
Posts: 2,002
Anyone had luck getting mileage upgrade copay counted as PQD ?
Feb 23, 2014, 11:54 am
#545
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,847
Feb 24, 2014, 9:57 am
#546
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: UA1K, HH Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 212
Has anyone had any luck getting credit for an interisland flight in Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines? I had an HNL>LIH segment that was part of a LAX>HNL>LIH>LAX RT last weekend. It's on 016 stick, think it was a V fare. The website seems to say I should get credit for this but I don't even see Hawaiian listed in the "missing mileage credit" form. Did I miss a policy change? Haven't taken an interisland flight in some time.
Feb 25, 2014, 1:23 am
#547
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,854
Coming to NRT on this trip, the SFO-NRT leg was the last leg of a round-the-world ticket that originated in Tokyo, but the only one done in 2014. I paid something like $8800 for this business class ticket (books into D). So how many PQD's did I get? Less than 500!
Gotta love this new system.
Gotta love this new system.
Feb 25, 2014, 1:48 am
#548
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
Coming to NRT on this trip, the SFO-NRT leg was the last leg of a round-the-world ticket that originated in Tokyo, but the only one done in 2014. I paid something like $8800 for this business class ticket (books into D). So how many PQD's did I get? Less than 500!
Gotta love this new system.
Gotta love this new system.
Feb 25, 2014, 3:56 am
#549
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: DAY
Programs: UA 1K 1MM; Marriott LT Titanium; Amex MR; Chase UR; Hertz PC; Global Entry
Posts: 10,159
Has anyone had any luck getting credit for an interisland flight in Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines? I had an HNL>LIH segment that was part of a LAX>HNL>LIH>LAX RT last weekend. It's on 016 stick, think it was a V fare. The website seems to say I should get credit for this but I don't even see Hawaiian listed in the "missing mileage credit" form. Did I miss a policy change? Haven't taken an interisland flight in some time.
I don't believe it will earn any PQD though as it is a partner airline and not a Star Alliance member.
Feb 25, 2014, 4:10 am
#550
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Houston, TX
Programs: UA 1K, 2.3 MM
Posts: 439
Good Luck getting the PQDs! Apparently there is an issue with Lufthansa flights posting the PQDs. My husband and I had an International flight booked through United.com that had two segments on LH metal and four segments on UA metal. The flights were well over a month ago, in early January, and we still don't have the PQDs for the LH segments.
After sending in the scanned boarding passes from Lufthansa and the receipt for the ticket purchase through United three different times, we finally received the miles for the LH segments and "ineligible" posted in the PQD column. Another email asking for clarification since the LH boarding passes clearly have the United "016..." ticket numbers, I finally got a response that there is a known issue with posting the PQD for Lufthansa segments. To date, nothing has changed.
Word to the wise - do NOT throw out anything related to any Lufthansa segments. You will need them and save the scans - I suspect you will have to resend them multiple times.
Very frustrating!
We should not have to work this hard to receive credit that is due based on everything United has published around PQDs. They need to fix the program or abandon the program!
After sending in the scanned boarding passes from Lufthansa and the receipt for the ticket purchase through United three different times, we finally received the miles for the LH segments and "ineligible" posted in the PQD column. Another email asking for clarification since the LH boarding passes clearly have the United "016..." ticket numbers, I finally got a response that there is a known issue with posting the PQD for Lufthansa segments. To date, nothing has changed.
Word to the wise - do NOT throw out anything related to any Lufthansa segments. You will need them and save the scans - I suspect you will have to resend them multiple times.
Very frustrating!
We should not have to work this hard to receive credit that is due based on everything United has published around PQDs. They need to fix the program or abandon the program!
Feb 25, 2014, 6:04 am
#551
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Colorado
Programs: Lifetime UA 1K, Lifetime Hilton Diamond, Lifetime Marriott Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 1,261
After two months of this I am at $10K PQM and only 30K miles. It makes me think they should just do away with the mileage targets and make it purely based on PQD.
With upgrades going away my travel pattern has changed to more last minute expensive trips and a lot fewer international trips (which I guess is what United wants to happen). 30 international flights in coach last year did me in.
With upgrades going away my travel pattern has changed to more last minute expensive trips and a lot fewer international trips (which I guess is what United wants to happen). 30 international flights in coach last year did me in.
Feb 25, 2014, 9:54 am
#552
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: UA1K, HH Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 212
As an aside, after a second e-mail to follow up on missing LH segment PQD FRA-AMS they finally posted the $364 PQD via an "adjustment" line. The first response I got over a month ago said it was a "known issue" and would be fixed shortly. The fact that this took a follow-up e-mail and was clearly corrected via a manual process tells me that this is one more technology system with United that works just flawlessly.
Feb 25, 2014, 10:02 am
#553
Used to be 'thiti'
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA-PP 1MM, Hyatt-Globalist, Bonvoy-LT Titanium, Hertz-Pres Cir
Posts: 189
Coming to NRT on this trip, the SFO-NRT leg was the last leg of a round-the-world ticket that originated in Tokyo, but the only one done in 2014. I paid something like $8800 for this business class ticket (books into D). So how many PQD's did I get? Less than 500!
Gotta love this new system.
Gotta love this new system.
Feb 26, 2014, 3:08 pm
#554
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC or SEA depending on the week
Programs: UA 1k, Hyatt Diamond (no I will not use the new name), Marriott/ SPG lt Plat, JPM Reserve, Amex Plat
Posts: 303
PQD processing?
Has anyone else noticed an issue the past few days with PQD posting? This flight from 2/23 posted on 2/24 and since then has said "processing" for the PQD.
Feb 26, 2014, 3:44 pm
#555
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: IAH
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt/Hilton Diamond, Marriott/SPG Gold, Hertz Prez
Posts: 162
I had a flight Friday, Sat, and Sun. All 3 have posted miles/pqd at the same time.