StuckinITH

But the OP is not getting 20k reward miles per year. The OP got a little less than 20k reward miles in 2 years and a half of flying.

luv2ctheworld

If I were the OP, I'd just sign up for a UA 60K or 70K credit card and get the signing bonus.

Then combined with the the existing miles, redeem them for a 1 way in business class for next year's trip.

Pay cash for economy for this upcoming trip. Preferably with a United credit card you signed up for.

IMHO, mileage upgrades are a fool's errand for the majority of non-frequent flyers. Given the availability and competition with elites getting higher priority, you'd be awfully lucky to be successful.

EDIT: I'm going to presume that the OP has a SSN and a sufficient credit score to get a Chase UA Visa in the first place. And has the ability to get the card mailed to him/her from the States.

hotturnip

Like someone else said:

Just pick whatever flights are cheapest/best for you at the moment. But go ahead and earn miles on all of them. Eventually you'll earn enough to do something with them. If you're getting close on one, maybe nab some bonus miles with a credit card for that airline? Investigate whether it's better for you to earn on U.S. airlines, or on the European (or Asian) airlines based where you live. But pick one program for each of the major alliances, and use those numbers no matter which of the partners you're traveling on.

Status is great, but not all that it's cracked up to be if you're not a constant business flyer like most of the people here.

Just in Economy

I pretty much travel from Asia to USA. Sometimes travel within Asia, but that's on local carriers.

But then I'm right back to square one, with zero miles and no chance of getting a free flight or upgrade anytime soon. The whole idea of staying on United was to concentrate my flights all in one place so as to try to get something.

Yes indeed (hence my handle ). That's what I thought too, it's 7000 miles one way to get here. But I don't get nearly that many miles every trip. Evidently they changed the meaning of "miles" some time ago and I was the only one who didn't know.

I'm always worried about being tracked online, but it's probably just paranoia. I fly PVG Shanghai Pudong - to the States twice a year.

Problematic, as I live overseas I have no provable income in the US and anyway nobody uses credit cards here.

Yeah, I just wanted to get a free upgrade to business class for the long haul flight eventually. People are throwing around jargon like LCC, TATL, IRROP, and other ones I don't know. I appreciate that everyone here is super-knowledgeable but I wouldn't take it as an insult to be talked down to.

OK so here's 2017, the year I had the most activity:

lhrsfo

First off, you are right: the credit card is not available to non-US residents so there's no easy way to earn a chunk of miles.

Looking at your history for 2017, that will easily qualify for Premier Silver (25,000 Premier Qualifying Miles) which does at least get you free access to Economy Plus seating - about 5" more legroom which is great to have on a long-haul flight. It also allows you to earn a handful more Redeemable Miles per flight than you would otherwise, so it's not to be sniffed at, albeit it's not the greatest. There's no minimum spend requirement for non-residents.

In reality, you won't earn enough Redeemable Miles to upgrade to Business, so it would probably be better to set your sights elsewhere. With the number you are earning, a short haul redemption from time to time within Asia on a Star Alliance or partner airline or within the USA is probably the best bet. It's just worth adding that, from time to time, UA will offer an upgrade to Business at check in or before boarding and these can be rather better value. I've just been offered one for $829 for an 11 hour flight, which would be tempting but I'll instead take an entire row in E+ for myself...

VegasGambler

Make sure your foreign address is registered in your UA account. That way, you will get silver status (there is a $3000 PQD minimum for US residents; it's waived for everyone else). Silver just requires 25000 PQM (the "status qualification" miles on the right half of the picture you posted). You were well over 25k for the year you posted. PQM are based on miles flown, unlike award miles, which are based on money spent.

Long haul business class flights are expensive. You are spending relatively little money with UA each year -- all your spend combined would not buy one business ticket. So... an upgrade to business would be great, but maybe that's asking a little much.

With silver status you can choose "economy plus" (more legroom) seats for free, board a little earlier (good for overhead bins) and get 40% more redeemable miles (7 per dollar instead of 5 per dollar) and maybe even get an occasional complementary upgrade on a domestic flight (though, as silver, don't count on it unless your flight is mostly empty).

It's not the best status in the world but it's a lot better than nothing. If I'm flying economy, E+ seats are a deal-breaker for me (I'll buy them if I don't get them for free, and they are not cheap on longer flights). To me, getting them for free is one of the most valuable status benefits, so I think there is value here.

As for the award miles you are collecting -- they don't expire so if you collect 10k every year (14k as silver!) you will eventually have enough to do something useful with. Take a look at the award charts -- you might be able to grab the occasional free trip one-way Asia with a partner. If you want to save up for a free trip in business class across the pacific... you will be saving for a while.

There is a list of abbreviations somewhere on flyertalk but I can never find it.

LCC is low cost carrier (ULCC is ultra low cost carrier).

TATL is transatlantic (TPAC is transpacific; TCON is transcontinental -- eg SFO-NYC)

IRROP is irregular operations (delays, cancellations, etc). These often cause higher demand for seats than there is availability (eg, if a flight gets cancelled and they are trying to move everyone to alternate flights) and elites generally get taken care of first, so they get more direct routings on earlier flights. By the time the non-elites get taken care of, the more desirable options may be gone. (though I wouldn't expect much as a silver)

WineCountryUA

Acronyms are the language of FT, fortunately, there is a generic FT Glossary link at the bottom of most FT web pages and there is a special glossary just for UA terms, "New" United Airlines Forum Glossary

It willn't take long for many to become second nature.

jhayes_1780

There is a wiki... in the sticky

"New" United Airlines Forum Glossary

luv2ctheworld

This looks like a leading a horse to water thing, but I'll suggest an option that you may not have considered, presuming again 1) you have a SSN and 2) you have someone in the US with an address you can use
You apply online, provide your income and SSN and address of your parents (presumably).
If you don't get approved, you don't get approved. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
If you do get approved, I presume you have trusting relationship with your dad; after all, he was the one recommending you collect miles. Have him charge the card for a couple of months and hit the signing bonus. Link his bank account or whatever method you both feel comfortable with to pay the balance. You get the miles under your UA account. Then stop using the card.
You'll get your 60K or 70K bonus, and then redeem for business class award.
I've suggested this to a couple of my friends living abroad; worked great for them.

Bottom line, you can achieve your business class ticket you originally hoped for; you've been provided a viable and proven option. Up to you what to do next.

Good luck...

david_oz

If I were in your place I’d go for silver (or equivalent with another airline) just for access to economy plus. On a long flight I find it makes a pretty big difference and I doubt you’d be paying much more to consolidate your loyalty to one carrier

The extra miles etc... are a nice little bonus, but as you’ve found out it will probably be some time before you can use them.

jsloan

If your travel within Asia is with United partners, that can contribute to your MileagePlus account balance. There are three major alliances: Star Alliance, OneWorld, and SkyTeam. United is in Star Alliance, along with Asian airlines Singapore Airlines, EVA Air, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Thai Airways, Asiana Airways, Air India, Shenzhen Airlines, and Air China. (They also have a special "Connecting Partner" relationship with Juneyao Airlines; I can't tell how that affects earnings, if at all). So, if you're flying with any of those airlines, you can collect miles with United.

Based out of PVG, though, I'm guessing your most frequent option is likely China Eastern. They're in SkyTeam, along with Delta, which doesn't sound like it's going to be a particularly good choice for you.

But, what are you paying for that "free" upgrade? If AA is less expensive and non-stop to boot, they seem like a much better choice for this particular trip. (I'd also point out that neither UA nor AA have particularly fantastic international economy products; if you're going to connect anyway, you might look into which airline is going to get you to your destination in the most comfort. It may not be a US airline).

The switch to spending-based redeemable miles hit some of us hard. Some foreign carriers still offer miles based upon how far you fly, but they normally apply a multiplier based upon your fare class and it ends up just as bad. For the cheapest tickets, 25% is common. Don't feel embarrassed about not knowing -- the airlines go out of their way to keep their programs confusing, because they want people making choices based upon these aspirational ideas ("eventually I'll get a free upgrade") that don't always materialize.

I'd rank airline frequent flyer programs pretty low on the list of potential privacy issues.

So, here's the problem: UA doesn't really offer a free upgrade to business class except in really extraordinary circumstances. The upgrade awards from North Asia to North America from the discount fare classes you're flying cost 30,000 miles plus a $600 co-pay -- one way. And, they often don't clear (the miles and co-pay are refundable). How flexible is your travel? Can you travel on a random Tuesday that happens to have available space? Would you transit EWR (over 1000 miles out of the way on PVG-DFW compared to SFO)? Would you add a stop?

As a contrast, right now, American Airlines upgrades are 25K + a $350 copay. Delta appears to have removed their chart, so I have no idea what upgrades cost with them, but their program is rarely generous.

As a general member, for every $6000 you spend, UA will give you the opportunity to spend another $600 (that doesn't count toward the next $6000, either) and waitlist for an upgrade. If you stick with UA and achieve silver status, they'll increase your earning rate by 40%, so that you can waitlist for an upgrade after only spending $4286. The simple fact of the matter is that airlines have decided that they're not really interested in rewarding passengers that don't spend a lot of money.

UA reports a financial metric called CASM -- Cost per Available Seat Mile. Basically, it's an average that describes how much it costs them to move one passenger one mile. Their CASM last quarter was about 13 cents. PVG-SFO is 6168 miles, so it costs UA about $800 to transport you that far. You have a flight listed with a $278 fare on that route.

Airlines make money because they balance out the $278 fare with someone who's traveling last minute and paying $1600, or flying business class and paying $5000. But the simple fact of the matter is, right now, the airlines don't feel that they need to compete for business among discount fare travelers.

findark

And, at that point, add in even a conservative valuation for your miles ($0.01 each) and now you're talking $1,800 round trip for an unlikely "free" upgrade. How much more is it to just buy Business outright? Ex-China regularly sees very low prices, and even today a random search grabbed a $2,950 PVG-DFW r/t.

PTahCha

One thing to consider is UA has a more flexible expiration policy - you can extend the life of your miles with a single activity. Other programs outside of the US often have a fixed expiration date of 3 years, which means that you will have to used up the earned miles within 3 years, with no opportunity to further extend the expiration date.

thejaredhuang

Just fly Air Canada but credit to UA, you get RDM based on distance and every international AC fare counts as 100%.

jsloan

Deep discount AC fares will credit at 50% of the flown distance. That might still be a better deal than UA, though.