morelegroom

I have always asked the agent to document any glitch that prevented completion on the website. with that Never had any trouble getting full PQM credit.

UA1K_no_more

Good to know; didn't think of that.
Thanks.
I checked my Chase PQM postings from last year as well, and it appears that I received PQMs for all of my onboard food/drink purchases. I guess I got lucky. :-)
Thanks, I'll do that if the issue happens again.

emcampbe

IME, any purchase on United.com have earned PQM. I don't buy E+ myself, since I've been a gold/plat for years, but have purchased for my dad and credited like a ticket purchase. I also don't make many changes, but do know that other purchases I've made on UA.com, like Farelock, do credit. I don't do many changes - maybe 1 every couple of years or so, but since the site usually errs out at some point, I usually end up calling.

Card does say any purchase on United.com, so really, it should. The only potential exception may be purchasing mileage/award excelarafor - per another thread, those purchases are now processed by Points.com and don't count.

As for onboard, those shouldn't count as online purchases, and I can't recall getting PQM for those ever, but do get the 3 X RDM as a purchase. At one point a long time ago, pre-merger for sure, I vaguely recall United did have some sort of promotion giving a 5x RDM or PQM (can't remember which - it was too long ago) for onboard purchases. Maybe lasted a few months or a year. Long gone, though.

747FC

For a very long time, we have had the MileagePlus Select card, and have greatly benefited from the double miles on gas station, grocery, restaurant and home improvement store purchases.

Along comes the Chase Sapphire Reserve, with its triple miles on dining and travel. Now it looks like dining and travel will go on this card.

I got my CSR yesterday, and my first charge was a cruise deposit that earned me 18k more miles than what I would have earned on the MileagePlus Select card.

Are you loyal MileagePlus Select card owners moving your dining and travel spend to the CSR?

hoopics

I'm not. The $495 annual fee starting in year 1, and the earning of points that are redeemable for cash travel purchases but not things like upgrades, keep it from making sense. Just to break even on that $400 in extra fee I'd need to earn 1% more on $40,000 (or 2% more on $20k) in spend than I would have earned on the current select card. Given that most of my miles get used for things like saver J tickets, and that I'm a hub hostage who flies UA out of DCA and IAD, and the ROI for me is significantly higher than 3% on the select card almost every year.

Real world example: In the membership year just concluded, I had about $20k spend on UA. That earned me 60k RDM. I cashed them in for a one-way saver J award CDG-IAD which would have cost $6k cash, or approximately 30% cash back on my original UA spend. Now way does any card that earns points which have to be traded in for a purchase price equivalent ever get you to that sort of potential for ROI. Same holds true when you use the miles for upgrade awards.

aacharya

I am. The poster above is not factoring in the 300 yearly travel credit and the 100k bonus.

notquiteaff

I think you need to review the features of the CSR card and the UR program in more detail.

The AF is $450, not $495.

$300 per year travel spend credit reduces the AF to $150.

You don't have to use the UR points to buy travel via Chase, you can transfer them to Mileage Plus, Hyatt, ....

Lounge access, primary rental car insurance, ...

The CSR arrived yesterday, the Select card has already been mothballed in the safe. Suspect when the annual fee comes due next year I will downgrade it to a UA card without AF (it's currently my oldest card, dating back to the days of the Platinum card). The EQMs have not been useful to me personally since I reached MM status, UA introduced PQDs and I decided that Gold was good enough.

747FC

I am keeping the Select card for the double miles on groceries, gas and home improvement store purchases. I value the miles at $0.02 (at a minimum). Therefore, the breakeven would be spending $2375 in these categories ($46/week). Very easy for me. In reality, the miles are worth much more than that if one uses it to acquire GF or J seats.

So, why would you mothball that card?

notquiteaff

Fair points (pun intended). I guess the Select anniversary bonus of 5k miles is worth something, too.

I often get double or triple bonus point promos from Citi or Barclays for gas or grocery categories on my AA cards (one of those needs to go, too). E.g. right now I earn 3x on gas and groceries, capped at 2500 miles bonus.

I have been thinking about shifting at least part of my spend over to a no fee 2X cash back card while I whittle away my miles and points. Finding GF or J seats with limited schedule flexibility has been a challenge.

emcampbe

Also, don't forget about hitting minimum spend on UA cards for PQD waiver, for those who need it. That is an excellent benefit the CSR will never have.

sfo3388

When $95 annual fee is due, Select card holder also gets 5000 UA bonus miles. It is to pay $0.019 for a mile. I keep this card because of 5000 annual bonus miles.

LHCVG

And given our experience with the Aviator cards* on the AA side, I'd wager that it's worth keeping a card with an annual miles "gift" until a substantively better direct substitute arises. Obviously it's "just" 5k miles, but given the other "everyday spend" bennies of the Select card, it seems to me that it would be tough to get me to dump the card without a suitable replacement.

Closest I can see there would be the 10k bonus miles after $25k annual spend on the UA Explorer, but as per above points about the CSR, I don't see the math there working to make an Explorer a better annual proposition. Only exception I see is if you're someone who either doesn't have much use for the bonus category spend, or puts it on another card.

*= For those not familiar, certain holders of the legacy Barclays USAir MC had a 10k annual benefit. As these cards were transitioned over to the new Aviator post-merger AA branding, even if you did a product change/upgrade to an Aviator Silver, the cards were "fenced" between those granted the 10k and those that don't get it.

xkr0p

You are greatly misinformed on this card. While the fee is $450, you are really only paying $150. That remaining $150 is greatly substituded by the following:

-Global Entry Reimbursement (doesn't have to be for yourself)
-Annual Priority Pass membership with free guests for lounge access practically everywhere
-Free travel insurance, towing, etc...
-100,000 UR miles which you can transfer to many programs. 100,000 UA miles is definitely worth $150
-$300 annual travel reimbursement which they are super liberal with. Even includes metrocards...

Howard

Is there any way to earn Chase PQM credit for buying up to a premium cabin using GG BUYUP? The buyup offers on united.com often cost more than a new FC ticket. If I use Change Flights on united.com, the website charges me a $200 change fee. If I call Reservations, and if I get a good agent, they will waive the change fee (per GG BUYUP), but then my buyup purchase isn't through united.com, so I don't earn the Chase PQMs.

WineCountryUA

If you do the upfare within the first 24 hours the Change Flight website does not charge a change fee and you get the PQM purchase credit.