Does UA offer "soft status landings"?
 

Question:

I will make 75K miles for Pre Platinum in Dec 2015.

This will give me Pre Platinum for 2016

IF I don't make 50K miles in 2016 for Pre Gold in 2017?

Will UA reduce me to Pre Gold or Pre Silver status for 2017?

cyrious as my options..

Peace
PIDD

Officially there are no "soft landings" so you will likely get dropped to what you earn based on prior year's flying.

Downgrade from UA Platinun Status
 

They will downgrade you to the status you make in the previous year. If you only made silver then you will stay silver. If you flew no miles then you go back to being a general member.

He might be asking about his status in 2017 though. The actual question being, if you're at Plat level in 2016 but only qualify for, say, Silver for the next year (based on 2016 PQM/PQD), would they drop you all the way to silver or give you a soft landing to Gold?

If that's the question, no, there's not likely a soft landing. He's going to end up wherever his earnings land him. Exceptions are rare.

Thanks..

If I understand correctly... I am Gold in 2015 and fly over 75K PQM I will be Platinum in 2016..If I fly less than 50K PQMs in 2016 they will drop me to Gold in 2017 because I was Gold in 2015? or
If I fly less than 50K PQMs in 2016 as a Platinum they will drop me to Sliver in 2017?

thanks again..
PIDD

You'll get the status you earn. For instance, if you fly less than 50k PQMs in 2016, you will go to Silver for 2017, which is the status you earned by flying in 2016. There is no "soft landing" from Platinum, 1K, Gold, or whatever, to the next-lowest status level, unless the airline decides to give it to you.

Your status in 2017 will be based on the miles your flew in 2016. Any previous status levels have no bearing on future status levels. So if you fly less than 50K PGM in 2016, your status will be silver (or general member if you fly less than 25K).
Of course you can regain your status if you fly enough miles in 2017; once you hit the miles and spend requirements (if applicable) then your status changes right away.

It doesn't apply to the OP, but UA has in the past soft landed GS members to 1K.

And whilst the "no soft landings" policy is clear, historically exceptions have been made. Some by request, and others just happened. I have had friends who have been 1K and soft landed to Platinum, and at the same time my son was shy of Silver by a couple thousand miles and was given Silver. YMMV

So your son who was gifted a few thousand miles to Silver status... was that before or after UA gave the opportunity to buy said status for a princely sum? Just wondering if there's really a method to the madness, an attempt to optimize immediate revenue (through selling PQMs) first.

Good question, and it WAS after. He ended the year with something like 23,813 PQMs and was given Silver for the following year, saying he was close, and they bumped him up.

Platinum to silver status change
 

Hi,

A colleague of mine had a platinum status with United. Last year he had flown with them way less (used other alliances). I told him that from what I know (happened to me a few years ago), if you don't meet the platinum level criteria, you being downgraded one level each year.

For our surprise, his status was updated to silver (skipping gold).
It that a known thing in United nowadays? Or is it a mistake?

Thanks,
Joe

Soft landings, for most, disappeared a very long time ago (decades) from most of the programs -- some ex-GS seem to soft landings, but that is pretty much it.

Sometimes calling and providing an "appropriate" (such as health, family issues), if you can weave a good story, you might get an "one time exemption" to get Gold. Especially if you are willing to say your travel will return this year and your have had a multiple year history of the old status level.

I have never heard of the "only dropping down 1 level" thing. I have always followed the "you get what you earn" idea. So if you are 1K and then don't fly UA at all for a year, you will have no status the following year.

I see. I had a while back (~10 years ago) both in Delta and in United similar scenarios, and in both cases I got soft landings.

But then we didn't have to pay for the first luggage either :-)