xliioper

It's still (mostly) about the dollars. Most people end up going well beyond the base PQD spend threshold's for each status level in order to also get the required segments/miles. If they awarded status purely based on the current PQD levels, they would drastically inflate the current Elite levels. The flawed assumption is that the PQD's spend levels reflect roughly the current "average" spend at each level so that those falling in status would equal those rising in status. The reality is that most Elite flyers already exceed the PQD spend threshold. Bottomline, the current PQD requirements are just a low bar to cutoff the bottom tier of spenders (and get them to spend more to keep their status). I could potentially see an additional purely spend based threshold (sort of like US letting people simply buy their status), but it would likely be significantly higher than the current base PQD thresholds.

mahasamatman

Are you aware that there are other countries in the world other than the U.S.? Whether for legal or logistical reasons, United does not or cannot calculate PQD for the vast majority of the world, so PQM is all that's left.

exerda

If you're flying paid J all the time, 1K bennies don't actually do very much for you.

matrixwalker2012

Because if I can afford to fly paid J/F every single time, I wouldn't really care about what the different loyalty programs offer me because I would get virtually every tangible premier benefit through my ticket anyways and even better, I wouldn't be tied to fly with any particular airline. Loyalty programs will never be able to fully attract those who can afford the top cabins consistently. Having traveled in a different form of Paid intl F before, I can attest to that even with no status, you're treated virtually like a Global Services pax. Plus, the last thing someone who always flys up front paid cares about are upgrades, cuz there's no where to upgrade to.

chinatraderjmr

Very few people take extra / unnecessary trips, regardless of how close they are to whatever level they would reach next. Mileage runs and the like are something that we read about and see here on FT. But if you were to bring up even the idea of taking an extra flight to the average "road warrior", they would look at you like your crazy.

sakaike

I was about to pose a strong defense to GBadger's point of view until I read this post, and now recognize that matrixwalker2012 has really gotten it right.

If you're trying to capture both buckets of travelers, this is the way to do it, right or wrong (depending on what type of traveler you are).

Baze

I am another one of those over $10K but only 51K PQM and 38.5 PQS and 1.3 million miles. Does UA like me? They haven't shown it so far since the regime change.

Plusflyer

The reason is the same as with hotels that have revenue accrual for a long time but status is for nights/stays. With PQMs you must be loyal to get status. Getting 100k PQMs takes a lot of trips and it's very hard to be top elite in many programs. With elite status based on dollars you could be elite with many programs and become a high spend kayaker that is less profitable than a loyal customer.

joshwex90

Using that logic, UA should require a combination of PQDs and PQS/PQPs instead. More segments prove loyalty over miles. Flying TATL twice a year on an expensive J ticket or flying 20 times a year shorter domestic flights in F - which one is more loyal?

mgcsinc

You can qualify through PQSs.

A lot of business mid-hauls are very locked-up and non-competitive.

UA cares most about getting marginal dollars that it wouldn't otherwise get. The best way to incentivize that is to convince folks to spend on UA for competitive routes, which are often longer hauls, each time they fly. PQMs accomplish that goal rather well.

Boogie711

I see a lot of "I have spent over $10k but only have 48k miles" posts.

That's EXACTLY the reason FF programs are based on miles. Last year, you'd be silver. Period.

Now, you're going to throw a few extra thousand dollars at United in order to get to the next tier. The only difference from last year to this year is that you're not one of the chorus of people going hoarse protesting the implementation of PQD.

CCIE_Flyer

What about when it comes time for family vaca?

gobluetwo

Thanks for the newsflash

OP asked a serious question, received some serious answers, a little bit of snark, and the usual dose of FT incredulity.

Fair question, though. Someone mentioned hotel programs - Hilton still lets you get status based solely on revenue. I've made Gold based on revenue with Hilton a couple of times, while I would've been stuck at Silver if by nights/stays only. So why NOT do it with an airline program, too? Why NOT make it possible to achieve status based solely on PQD?

Granted, if that were to happen, I honestly think the current PQD milestones are too low and they'd have to be raised. I could see solely qualifying for status based on PQD levels of $5k for Silver, $10k for Gold, $15k for Platinum, and $20k for 1K. That doesn't help me, of course, but why wouldn't that work in the US, at least?

Sidenote: Always cracks me up when I see people shorten "vacation" to "vaca". Thanks to my high school Spanish classes, I now imagining a family hoping elite benefits extend to the family cow

For that reason, I always do "vacay"

janehoya

What if UA gives me Premier Platinum status and 2 RPU's after the single $8,000 J ticket. Wouldn't that give me an incentive to fly them domestically to use up my 2 RPU's?

I am asking this because my husband is well on his way to $10K in spend but not 10k miles flown (lots of small jaunts in US plus TATL travel in Y), and status based on PQD would help him.

mgcsinc

There are lots of different incentive schemes that is could choose. They've chosen the one that incentivizes marginal spend on UA in numerous transactions rather than a couple.