Repooc17

Elite qualification resets as of January 1 of each year ( calendar year).

You do not earn on awards redemption.

You also need at least four UA operated flights each year to qualify for any elite level. Actual elite qualifying amounts notwithstanding.

docbert

Correct on both accounts. Technically full-fare business class (J) earns 3x the miles, but I'm guessing you won't be buying a J-class ticket but one of the lower business-class levels.

OP does not appear to be talking about award flights (despite the use of the word "award")

ToddSpam

Thanks for the info on the 4 UA op flights. I was not aware of that. That means actual UA plane or does a cochaired flight (LH plane) count as well? If it has to be a UA plane, this could change things for me as the UA flight times aren't as convenient as the LH ones for myself.

sbm12

UA metal.

mahasamatman

That should be "code-share".

pnsnkr

The 4-flight minimum segment is waived if you have the United Club credit card by Chase (and I think this is waived for the Explorer card as well but I don't know for sure.) Doesn't apply for 1K qualification.

1KChinito

Four paid UA or United Express operated flights.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...r/qualify.html

jsloan

Only the Club card (and the no-longer-available Presidential Plus card) waives the 4-flight minimum. And it would apply for 1K qualification.

FlyerTalker70

Couple thoughts - United is not the only airline that has a generous mileage earn policy, you may want to look at Asiana's Mileage Club and Aegean's Miles+Bonus . Neither of these programs require flying so many segments with the airline in question, you merely need to fly the requisite number of miles on *A partners within the designated time period (24 months with Asiana and 12 months with Aegean). Asiana will even grant you the status for up to 4 years as opposed to the 12 months with United! What's compelling about Asiana's Mileage Club is that they'll give you Star Alliance Gold for life once you've logged 500,000 miles flying star alliance partners. To get a similar benefit on United, you would need to fly 1 million miles on strictly United flights (i.e. no codeshare). The downsides to Asiana and Aegean is they don't award miles as liberally as United when it comes to flying business or deep discount economy (as I typically fly). For instance, flying Business on Lufthansa in C,D,J, or Z class racks up 125% mileage with Asiana (and 0% mileage if deep discount P class).

Moving back to the question of United, you need to fulfill 3 requirements to gain any Premier status:

1. Rack up the requisite number of premier qualifying miles by flying United or its partners (i.e. 50,000 for Gold) or segments (60 for Gold)
2. Fly 4 times on flights operated by United Airlines or United Express (no codeshares)
3. If you are a US resident, spend the requisite amount of money (PQD) on tickets booked through United (i.e. $6,000 on airfares before taxes and fees for Gold)

The number of PQMs you earn per flight is dependent on the operating carrier of the flight and the fare class. Supposing it's Lufthansa we get the following result (for business class):

• Full Fare Business (J) - 300% (and 1.5 segments)
• Discount Business (Z, C, D) - 200% (and 1.5 segments)
• Deep Discount Business (P) - 200% (and 1 Segment)

You'll want to consult your flight bookings to determine which fare code you have. Surprisingly, it's possible to fly business class and earn 0 PQMs if the fare code doesn't correspond to any of the listed fares for United (i.e. certain consolidator fares book into an awkward booking class).

In my case, I did the mental arithmetic and determined that United made the most sense. I tend to book the cheapest economy tickets imaginable on major partners like AC, UA, LH and NH. I'm a Canadian resident so the spend requirement doesn't apply to me and can easily hit the 4 United flights every year. Most important, I fly United enough that the United specific benefits like complimentary Economy+ seating and extra baggage allowance make it worth it.

Hope that helps.

Safe Travels,

James

sbm12

Could also be Beaumont on the bus IIRC.

1KChinito

It starts all over again -- PQM/PQDs reset to zero!

findark

Yes. You can access the UC in EWR even if only flying SIN-SFO-EWR.