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Will UA Grant 2018 EliteStatus if I am XXX PQM/PQS/{PQD} Short of Qualifying in 2017?

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Old Sep 28, 2017, 9:31 pm

Will UA Grant 2018 EliteStatus if I am XXX PQM/PQS/{PQD} Short of Qualifying in 2017?

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Old Nov 13, 2017, 10:53 am
  #91  
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,370
Originally Posted by blink188
Towards the end of the year, i am only short on 23 miles to be Gold. I am currently silver.

Anyone can advise if there is something I can do???
I will have more flights for sure, but not this year.

Thanks
If "towards the end of the year" includes future travel, you may be able to do a same-day confirmed change for $75 to get a longer routing. Or, if there happens to be a weather waiver or delay that impacts your itinerary, you may be able to get that same change for free.

If all of your travel for the year is already complete, I concur with the other suggestions in this thread.
Aussienarelle and blink188 like this.
jsloan is offline  
Old Nov 13, 2017, 11:09 am
  #92  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum, Raddison Platinum, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 5,268
Originally Posted by blink188
I already booked a long haul and i am short after ill do it in December ( So money was already spent here...

How many flights do you have left in the year?

You may be able to do a Same Day Change ($75 for you I think) to get the extra miles.

Check through your remaining flights and see which are more flexible where you could take a longer routing.

EDIT: Yeah, do what jsloan said if you can
eng3 is offline  
Old Nov 13, 2017, 11:13 am
  #93  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 29
Thank you so much everyone!!! got some options on my plate now
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Old Nov 13, 2017, 2:27 pm
  #94  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA 1K 1MMer & LT UC (when flying UA); Hyatt Credit Cardist; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold via UA 1K
Posts: 6,956
Originally Posted by blink188
I don't pay for my flights, my employer does
The last I checked, UA doesn't restrict people from buying tickets out of their own pocket.

(Sorry....couldn't resist! )

If you decide not to work in a quick hop and take your chances, please come back in January and let us know if UA showed you mercy. The data is very helpful, even when taken with the grain of salt that what UA does one year is no guarantee of what they'll do the next year.
SS255 is offline  
Old Nov 13, 2017, 3:04 pm
  #95  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum, Raddison Platinum, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 5,268
Originally Posted by SS255
... The data is very helpful, even when taken with the grain of salt that what UA does one year is no guarantee of what they'll do the next year.
Yeah, is it really that helpful? It is interesting to hear, however unless UA starts doing it before the end of the year and/or consistently, like extending GPUs, you're still taking a pretty big risk even if you are 1 PQM short.
eng3 is offline  
Old Nov 13, 2017, 9:41 pm
  #96  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: UA MP 1K
Posts: 119
Originally Posted by cfischer
so you need 18k PQM, that's a lot. 9k in premium cabin on NZ is an option, or 18k BIS in a full earning class in coach. Use ITA to look for options would be my best idea.

Fortunately, I have an Australian address, so I am looking for the CHEAPEST flight to obtain 18K points... the ideas are limitless
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Old Nov 19, 2017, 6:14 pm
  #97  
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: New Orleans, LA
Programs: UA Platinum
Posts: 6
Does anyone know how close the PQD for 1k United and or Chase adhere? For example, if I fly 100k but my spend is less than $12k - maybe $11k or $11.5, will they really not give me 1k status?
TopRightCorner is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2017, 6:17 pm
  #98  
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,424
Originally Posted by TopRightCorner
Does anyone know how close the PQD for 1k United and or Chase adhere? For example, if I fly 100k but my spend is less than $12k - maybe $11k or $11.5, will they really not give me 1k status?
If you have less than $12K PQD, you should assume Platinum. UA may offer you an opportunity to buy-up to 1K, but it won't be cheap.
Kacee is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2017, 8:26 pm
  #99  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA 1K 1MMer & LT UC (when flying UA); Hyatt Credit Cardist; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold via UA 1K
Posts: 6,956
Originally Posted by TopRightCorner
Does anyone know how close the PQD for 1k United and or Chase adhere? For example, if I fly 100k but my spend is less than $12k - maybe $11k or $11.5, will they really not give me 1k status?
Falling $1,000 or $500 short of the published minimum is more than just a rounding error. It sucks, but that's how it is. I suggest you find a way to squeeze in one more trip before the end of the year if 1K is important to you.
SS255 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2017, 11:34 pm
  #100  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: UA S, Marriott Gold (UA), Hertz PC (UA), HH Gold (cc), Avis PP, National EC Executive
Posts: 280
My calculations put me at $12.2k PQD and 99960 PQM for the end of the year. 2017 is year 3 of 1K for me. Last year was 136k PQM and $28k PQD.

I'm not doing much biz travel anymore, hence the substantial decrease.

The question is, do I need to add a leg to one of my upcoming trips (e.g. SFO-LAX-IAH instead of SFO-IAH)? It'll probably add 3-4 hours of time to the trip, but that's worth it for 6 GPUs. Unless, of course, UA won't begrudge me the 40 miles.
bigwings8 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2017, 11:43 pm
  #101  
Moderator: United Airlines
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,783
Originally Posted by bigwings8
.... The question is, do I need to add a leg to one of my upcoming trips (e.g. SFO-LAX-IAH instead of SFO-IAH)? It'll probably add 3-4 hours of time to the trip, but that's worth it for 6 GPUs. Unless, of course, UA won't begrudge me the 40 miles.
No one here can give you a definitive answer, the question is do you want to spin the wheel of chance? The other option is to take the chance and if it does work out, not all is lost, if you are willing to fork over the money for January buy-up (believe
the min buy for 1K has run about $1,000.)
Use SDC to add a less direct routing or purchase Premier Accellerator (may be pricy also)
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Nov 19, 2017 at 11:49 pm
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 12:06 am
  #102  
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: LAS
Programs: 3 MMer
Posts: 458
I mentioned this before, but I feel it's worth repeating. About 18 years ago I was about a thousand miles short of 1K and wrote in. No reply after a month or so, so I called, and this is what I heard, "These people work hard for that status and we don't give it out to anyone, unless you fly the proper amount of miles!"

I got the picture and qualified the hard way ever since. There will be posters telling you how they smooched their way into a level that they didn't deserve. But as W/C mentions, "Do you feel lucky?"
Two Bee is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 5:33 am
  #103  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 311
Close but not quite only happened to me once - last year. I was 182 miles short of 1K so I called up in mid December and asked. I was honest and told them I could do a very short run, but that I'd prefer not to do so, if possible. My PQD was very low - but not relevant as I am based out of the US. The IK desk told me that I had already been considered approved for the exception, just wait until the end of January to see it. I showed as soon to be downgraded to Plat on the United progress site. But sure enough, come 1 February I retained 1K.

It probably helped that I had about 30,000 miles in trips booked ahead for January.
Last edited by northpole999; Nov 20, 2017 at 5:49 am
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 7:43 pm
  #104  
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Originally Posted by findark
As jsloan noted, there is no concrete pattern, but I have seen multiple reports of UA being willing to comp Premier Gold irrespective of PQM/PQS for members who have at least 12,000 PQD.
Way back when it was called Premier Exec they did that for me a few times unsolicited. At the time it was standard for all my business travel to be full fare refundable, and a couple years in a row I was well past premier, but well short of PE. Then some time in January I'd get a letter saying they'd comped me to PE.

Now I'm here to verify that the the buy a flight, buy some PQMs, then cancel the flight still works because it looks like I'm going to come up about 35 miles short of silver for the year, and buying some PQMs will be cheaper than buying an E+ subscription.
chrisl137 is offline  
Old Nov 21, 2017, 9:37 pm
  #105  
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: New Orleans, LA
Programs: UA Platinum
Posts: 6
The question here is really in the newish reality of PQD, how short you can be and how you can buy up, if that option even exists. All of the "buy up" literature that I've seen have been based around PQMs, which I'm flush with, just not dollars as I've taken long, economical flights :-)
TopRightCorner is offline  



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