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2015 MileagePlus Change - RDMs Will Be Calculated by Spend, Not Distance

Old Jun 10, 2014, 5:09 am
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Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Earning miles on United flights

Spend-based mileage (RDM) earning for all UA metal flights effective March 1, 2015.

Redeemable Miles (RDM) changes highlights:
  • Miles earned will now be based on the ticket price instead of the number of miles flown (see partner flights on non-016 tickets exception )
  • Ticket price is defined as base fare plus carrier-imposed surcharges (same as PQDs)
  • Class of service bonuses have been discontinued (e.g. X% more on A fares).
  • There is a limit of 75,000 miles earned per ticket (see below for spending limits by status)
  • UA flights regardless of ticket stock will use the ticket price to determine RDMs
  • Partner flight on 016 ticket stock will use the ticket price to determine RDMs
  • Partner flights on non-016 ticket stock will use a flight mileage-based system to determine RDMs with a fare class multiplier (see the partner page for detials
  • Speciality / Bulk tickets with PQDs will use a flight mileage-based system to determine RDMs with a fare class multiplier, see Specialty tickets

Fare multipliers based on Premier status:
  • x5 General Members
  • x7 Silver
  • x8 Gold
  • x9 Plat
  • x11 1K/GS

For example, a 1K would earn 1100 miles for a $120 (assuming $20 in taxes/fees) ticket while a Silver would earn 700 miles for the same ticket.

As there is a maximum number of miles per ticket earned - this disincentives purchasing any ticket (excluding government taxes and fees) over the following:
  • $6818.18 for 1K/GS
  • $8333.33 for Platinum
  • $9375.00 for Gold
  • $10714.28 for Silver
  • $15000.00 for General Members

A way to avoid this is booking one-ways if the fare rules permit.

Premier Qualifying Miles (PQM) are not affected by this change.

Announcement Site
www.mileageplusupdates.com
There is a tool on the site that allow you to enter how much you spent on a ticket along your premier status in order to calculate how many miles you will earn under the new system. The tool is aware of the miles per ticket limit.

There is a FAQ here: http://mileageplusupdates.com/faq.html
Relevant UA Insider posts:

Post 57: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23008349-post57.html
Originally Posted by UA Insider
Hi everyone,

Today were announcing changes to how MileagePlus members will earn award miles in 2015. Weve posted complete details and a FAQ on united.com, but I wanted to share an excerpt of the key points with you directly:

As of March 1, 2015, the award miles you earn on most United and United Express tickets will be based on your ticket price (that is, base fare plus carrier-imposed surcharges) and your MileagePlus status, instead of the distance you travel. The new criteria for earning award miles will look like this:

<portion removed for brevity>

The changes to earning award miles will apply to all MileagePlus members worldwide, and will be based on status at the time of flight on or after March 1, 2015. These changes will not affect the qualification requirements for 2015 Premier status. PQM and PQS will still be based on the number of paid flight miles traveled and the fare purchased. And where applicable, PQD will still be determined by the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges.
Answered Questions:

Originally Posted by SunLover
So a 1K purchasing a $5,000 EWR-NRT ticket would earn 55,000 miles plus the 1K additional RDMs?
Class of service bonuses have been discontinued under the new system. There is already an adjustment for 1K over general members.
Originally Posted by ckidder331

LAX-Intl Location in Business Class as a Premier Gold

Would a $5,000 ticket in Business class to Asia earn:

5000 x 8 = 40,000 (Premier Gold earning)
5000 x .75 = 3750 (Class of Service bonus)
43,750 Total
For tickets that will earn award miles based on ticket price, the class-of-service bonus and Premier bonus will be included in the number of award miles you earn per dollar. Basically COS has been removed.
Originally Posted by mikelcf
...On the mileageplus announcement site and FAQ site it lists only 1K's. With respect to most mileage levels, etc. UA usually treats GS the same as 1K, so I assume that's the case here, but has anyone seen anything specific to GS?
E-mail received by GS lists 1K and GS together.
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2015 MileagePlus Change - RDMs Will Be Calculated by Spend, Not Distance

Old Aug 22, 2014, 5:51 pm
  #2131  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
If Mileage Plus were gone tomorrow, how many of you would remain loyal to United if you could choose VX, B6, WN, SQ, KE, BA, AF or BR for the same price? Can anyone here honestly articulate the value proposition offered by United when compared with the value proposition offered by SQ on a cabin-to-cabin comparison?
Compared to the foreign carriers listed, UA has the key advantage of affordable knee-room.

Originally Posted by Bonehead
Are foreign flag carriers such as the ones you list subsidized by their governments at all?
Certainly. I think you'd be challenged to find any airline that isn't subsidized by their home government.
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Old Aug 23, 2014, 12:23 am
  #2132  
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Originally Posted by Bonehead
Are foreign flag carriers such as the ones you list subsidized by their governments at all?
To some degree, yes - the only way an airline can survive long term is through some amount of government support. The business is too cyclical. The difference is who the foreign carriers are beholden - not shareholders, but customers, and thus the dramatic difference in product.
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Old Aug 23, 2014, 7:06 am
  #2133  
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Originally Posted by Bonehead
Are foreign flag carriers such as the ones you list subsidized by their governments at all?
Originally Posted by mduell
Certainly. I think you'd be challenged to find any airline that isn't subsidized by their home government.
Including US airlines.
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Old Aug 23, 2014, 10:20 am
  #2134  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
The airlines have forgotten the real reason behind frequent flyer programs - they were a magnet to hold customers loyal and captive to their weak brands and products while camouflaging those weaknesses in the form of benefits and give-aways, so customers would overlook the product weaknesses.
Spot on post.

And therein lies the opportunity for the clever US legacy carrier to eventually boost the value of their FF program by providing better mileage bonuses, better redemption value, etc. in order to best their competitors. Of course this all assumes that the new AA/US eventually goes to a revenue based rewards system as UA and DL have. Or maybe AA/US will be smart and simply leave their program as is and beat the others from day one.
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Old Aug 23, 2014, 1:43 pm
  #2135  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
...The difference is who the foreign carriers are beholden - not shareholders, but customers, and thus the dramatic difference in product.
That's where my question was leading. I think some folks forget this very salient point when they unduly criticize US carriers' premium product as compared to CX, SQ, LH, etc.
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Old Aug 24, 2014, 8:52 am
  #2136  
 
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Originally Posted by SFO777
Including US airlines.
Although I have never forgotten how frequently British Airways lost my case at LHR when I was travelling UM, they are an independent stock market company and the UK Govt if it were to want to help out, is very limited by European trading laws.
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 11:17 am
  #2137  
 
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US to Europe

Apologies in advance if this question has already been asked, but...

Aside from a non-stop, why would a non-elite wanting to earn miles fly on UA over AC or another partner where you can get 100% miles flown on discounted Y?
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 12:49 pm
  #2138  
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Originally Posted by nycflyer222
Apologies in advance if this question has already been asked, but...

Aside from a non-stop, why would a non-elite wanting to earn miles fly on UA over AC or another partner where you can get 100% miles flown on discounted Y?
Doesn't want to hear "eh" verbalized after every inflight announcement.
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 1:12 pm
  #2139  
 
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Originally Posted by RNE
Doesn't want to hear "eh" verbalized after every inflight announcement.
Huh?
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 1:19 pm
  #2140  
 
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Originally Posted by Buzzman
Huh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eh
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 1:31 pm
  #2141  
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Originally Posted by nycflyer222
Apologies in advance if this question has already been asked, but...

Aside from a non-stop, why would a non-elite wanting to earn miles fly on UA over AC or another partner where you can get 100% miles flown on discounted Y?
Well for one thing, some discounted fares on AC (as well as some other partners like LH, LX, TK, SQ, TG, AI, OS, OZ, etc.) don't get 100% miles. In some cases, they get 0 (not on AC, but SQ, LX, LH, TK, etc.). And depending on how discount the fare is, the RDM on UA based on price could be more than, say, if you only earn 50% on AC.
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 1:39 pm
  #2142  
 
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Originally Posted by RNE
Doesn't want to hear "eh" verbalized after every inflight announcement.
Dont forget how things are spelled-----centre coulour, flavour....and then there is z...err zed...
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 1:51 pm
  #2143  
 
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a serious question....

I dont have the patience to read over 150 pages.

united will be disappointed in this. Now this will allow more people to get status because some arestuck flying short haul under 1,500 miles RT where they didnt both accumilating miles...but now with points and getting $500+ RT fares they can start generating status.

Has there been any talk of if the awards system will change? so instead of it going from baseline 25K domestic RT or 60K europe RT that it changes to some other formula.

Will they still just award points on codeshares based on this formula?

How will this affect partners booking on United using miles they earned. Like AC customer booking using miles on United

Are there any rules on joining AC as a USA citizen? Living where I do I could easily fly ito europe on AC. Can I book AC miles on aunited flight as award ticket...is the pricing the same standard of 25K/60K for NA/europe.

If not AC what partner would be the best one to use on international trips?
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 2:13 pm
  #2144  
 
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I don't know if anyone brought this up. I wished that UA had introduced a hybrid system. 5 miles per dollar for all economy fares except refundable fares and 6 miles per dollar for all other fares, plus bonus (25 to 100%) based on your status.

This does not penalize those who buy higher dollar fares and at the same time the elites get their bonuses. This would a good hybrid and does not follow DL blindly.
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Old Aug 25, 2014, 2:24 pm
  #2145  
 
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Originally Posted by Buzzman
Huh?
^^^
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