aacharya

^

doug42

Hi there - long time listener, first time caller.

Just a quick question about the 500 minimum PQM. As far as I can tell, UA members get that on some, but not all, SA member airlines. I've got a Q class Thai flight coming up with two short legs, and I'm curious as to whether I'll get the actual miles or 500 per leg. I'm cutting it close on platinum this year so this will determine whether I need to book another short mileage run.

dcfromdc

Welcome to FT! If you enter: United Thai into Google, I think you'll find what you're looking for. But, unfortunately, there is no 500 mile minimum on offer for flying TG. And worse, if you're flying on a deep discount fare like W (like I did from BKK to HKT), you earn 0 award miles and 0 PQM.

doug42

I was smart enough to check the fare class and made sure not to make that mistake - though it's not obvious on the Thai air website since they don't mention fare classes when they give you options on what kind of tickets you're buying. But where did you find the info on the 500 mile PQM. I checked the United.com page about Thai airways and it doesn't mention this details. Or does the fact that it's not mentioned on that page mean it's not offered?

dcfromdc

Convention experience has been the latter. If it's not mentioned, it's not offered.

While there are quite a few *A carriers that do feature the 500 PQM minimum for UA MP members (LH, LX, OS, TK are the ones that I fly that have it), unfortunately some carriers such as TG do not.

fumje

I have received a 500mi.-min. PQM credit for H-fared tickets issued by TG; seems like Q should give the same.

WineCountryUA

A relevant question is when?

This has changed with time and post-March 2015 fewer *A carriers offer the the 500 mile min. Presently the UA MP earning for TG page does not list the existence of the minimum -- so the best assumption is it not available for TG operated flights.

jsloan

Agreed, although I received a 500-mile minimum for a segment in TG C for a ticket purchased and flown in March of this year. Personally, I wouldn't count on it until it posts, however. OP, If you need a few extra miles to hit a threshold, I'd suggest crafting a backup plan.

televisor

Beware: if the PQM earning rate is 25% or 50%, the 500PQM minimum is also seemingly reduced to 125PQM of 250PQM.

United make this clear on *some* partner pages, IIRC that's SN, OS, LH. But for LX they simply state 500PQM minimum for *all* classes, without any caveats, and still awarded only 250PQM for one of my flights (the United agents I contacted were useless in fixing this).

mduell

Yes, the 500 min applies to the starting point for the calculation, not the end of it.

This works against you on cheap tickets that earn partial, works for you on expensive tickets that earn >100%.

I got 875 PQM (175%) for a 314 mi flight once. And 125 PQM (25%) on the same flight another time.

fumje

In June, but—
—also agreed, wouldn't rely on it, given that there is no statement that that's how they credit.

doug42

After emailing them, they did indeed confirm that the 500 PQM minimum does not (any longer?) apply to Thai Airways. Kind of annoying that these kinds of things aren't explicitly mentioned on each partner's page (and that you have to interpret no mention as that it is not done).

Thankfully United still give 100% PQM on most Thai Air fare classes (well, thankfully on the discount fares - it seems a little cheap on the biz-class fires).

emcampbe

Last time I flew TG was in 2014, but at that time, 500 minimum was given on BKK-KBV, and also earlier than that did BKK-CNX got 500. Things change, though.

IIRC, PMUA even only mentioned the 500 mile minimum when it applied, and never mentioned "no 500 mile minimum given" if it isn't - this always appears now under a section that is titled something like 'premier benefits' on each partner page - for all * partners it says *G benefits apply, and for the ones with minimum, it says it there. It's been like that for years, at least, anyway.

Where there has been a change from PMUA is with the fares that don't earn - including award classes - it used to specifically mention those as earning nothing - now they just are not listed at all (I.e., if the fare isn't listed, you don't get miles). IME, For Thai specifically, most domestic fares within Thailand, even discount, still earn UA miles, while the lower few classes for international travel on Thai don't. I know when flying ex-India I've done TG fares (on purpose) where I don't earn miles on UA because it wasn't going to get me over the next status hump and the higher fare just wasn't worth it, and other trips where I did need it and it was worth it, so I paid for the higher, mileage-earning fare.

oldretiredguy

I'm new to flyertalk. This has probably been answered, but I can't find it on the United sites, and don't see it on the United Forum list. In the process of changing to fare based PQMs, did United eliminate the minimum 500 miles for all flights. I'm getting ready to book a trip, and the ticketing details are listing about 700 miles for one flight of about 150 miles and one of about 600 miles. Earlier this year I got about 2700 PQMs for the RT.

Kacee

Welcome to FT!

Premiers get 500 mile PQM minimum on all UA operated flights. Various fare class bonuses may also be applicable.