WineCountryUA

A *A partner segment on a 016 ticket can earn PQDs if it is a RDM earning fare for the partner.

UASPG

Thanks for the suggestion. All my tickets until the rest of the year are purchased, but you probably mean to call reservations and to change the fare of one of my existing ticket. I guess that this would work, but, I have to buy at least 3 domestic tickets on TG and after additional readings, it seems that they would in fact generate EQDs if I purchase them on united.com.

UASPG

I did remember right: I was not purchasing my domestic TG on united.com because of the difference in fare.

On United, the fare I paid for the BKK-CNX on TG in BC was $290.80. The fare on the TG website was THB 8,980 or $259.01 at the current exchange rate. A 12% premium, but it does accomplish the task of getting the 10 EQDs that I was missing to renew my 1K status for 2017.

Or, 'hopefully it will', since I have to wait for Thai to confirm the ticket to United (an up to 24 hrs process). I just want to see that the ticket number will, in fact, start by 016.

UASPG

2 days after having purchased the UA ticket for the TG flights:

United Confirmation Number XXXXXX

Thank you for choosing United Airlines. Your purchase is confirmed. You will be promptly notified once the internal processing of your reservation has been finalized so that you can request additional receipts, export to Microsoft Outlook, refund or change your flight, view/change seats, check-in, or email or print your itinerary.

We will hold this reservation until midnight Sun., Aug. 28, 2016 in Bangkok, TH (BKK).

I guess that I have to call United.

UASPG

I called the United 1K desk. The agent told me that his screen was indicating that I should have called after 24 hours of the booking, to have the ticket issued. I read him the conflicting message posted on my reservation on their website, regarding the facts that my purchase had been confirmed and that I will be contacted promptly by United.

He told me that he could transfer me to another desk if I had an issue with this or that he could take the credit payment information (that I had already entered at the time of the booking and "confirmed" on united.com).

I said that I did not feel that I should be in charge of reporting this United issue and gave him my credit card #. His screen indicated that united.com should handle that process, so he stated "like I said, the website is a different beast than we are". Apparently, he does not understand that those internal issues should not be the customer's problem.

The call centers are a different beast from united.com, United is still a different beast from Continental, and Munoz is said to be a different beast from Smisek, but at the end, the customers don't see much of the change that keeps being announced.

My ticket was finalized and actually confirmed.

Bottom line: united.com is not the right website to book flights on Thai Airways. I fly quite a bit on TG domestic flights, but I will not use united.com to get additional EQDs, because of the difficult annoying process and additional cost, but it helped to get those 10 needed PQDs.

BTW, the ticket came as 016, as expected.

lpro1111

I am going to end up the year 86, yes 86 miles short of 1K. The buy ups are way more than I need and I would prefer not to have to take another mileage run flight. Is it pretty much a lock that United will bump me up or is it wishful thinking?

WineCountryUA

There is no known safe zone -- while in the past, some have been bumped up, there are other reports of no joy. What will happen this year is anyone's guess. Doubt you will get any commitment from UA this early in the year.

Any possibility of use SDC to add an extra intermediate stop to an existing itin?

lpro1111

Thanks - Doubtful I can do a stop as my remaining flights are Asia and a PS flight. Dont think I want to mess with either of those. I will be completed with all travel by end of October so I guess it gives me some time to plan another quick trip if absolutely needed.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Personally, I wouldn't gamble. 2 RPUs, 6 GPUs, CPU priority, increase in RPMs seriously isn't worth the purchase? Maybe you can upfare a short segment between now and end of year to get the miles? For a couple of dollars, I take the piece of mind.

findark

If you can't sneak your way into a few more PQMs, this could be a rare instance where the Premier Accelerator for a small number of PQM is a good deal. And didn't they just have a "buy PQM" promo?

Aussienarelle

I was going to be short 25 PQD so booked a day trip SAN-SFO-SAN. It was cheaper than SAN-LAX-SAN. It was worth it for the 6 GPUs.

WineCountryUA

In recent years the min purchase for an elite has been 1,000 or more typically 2,000 PQMs. Best to try a short OW such as SFO-LAX purchase to test the offer and then cancel the flight booking. This time of the year the offer is likely to be 10-12 cpm AI -- best to see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...es-2016-a.html.

horse glasses

I have 41369 pqm right now, and only a couple short SK intra Europe flights booked going forward, but still have a few flights left to book for the rest of the year. I'm hoping there will be a way to maximize these since I am so close.

Around 11/15 I will need to fly BOS/PVD - LAS. I am not on a strict timetable with this so I can add extra legs if that makes the most sense.

Around 12/8 I will likely fly LAS-RIC, can be flexible on this as well. A few days after this I will need to go RIC-PIT.

Is it possible I can squeeze 8000ish miles out of these destinations or should I try something else?

I'm about to hit the pqd waiver with the credit card, so that's not an issue this year. Potentially planning considerable travel to Europe in 2017 so gold will definitely be worth it.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

The easiest way would be to look at P fares to/from Las Vegas.

fumje

Have you done the calculations for what a standard routing would credit for mileage? Off the top of my head, if those are round-trips, I don't think you'd have trouble finding 8,000 miles from them.