Oct 20, 2019, 6:42 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Partner ticket PQP calculator
Beginning in 2020, if you fly a partner airline (not UA metal) and your ticket is on the stock of another airline (not 016 ticket), you will earn PQP as a fraction of the distance flown. That fraction is determined by your fare class, and can be found in the tables below. 
Other Partner Airlines (not Star Alliance)
Warning: It is strongly recommended that you consult the United earnings page for your airline and confirm the earning rate here, as they have been to known to change without notice and apply retroactively to tickets purchased before the change.
GREEN background is a "preferred" partner.
Updated PQP calculator with new per-segment earning cap
More Information on earning PQP and PQF
Archive: Earning Status (PQP) on non-016 Tickets and Partner Metal {Archive}
Partner Earning
Beginning in 2020, if you fly a partner airline (not UA metal) and your ticket is on the stock of another airline (not 016 ticket), you will earn PQP as a fraction of the distance flown. That fraction is determined by your fare class, and can be found in the tables below.
The way to derive this fraction is to go to the United earnings page for your airline and determine the RDM (not PQM) earning rate for your fare class. Then divide this number by 5 for "preferred partners" and 6 otherwise.
If the fare class of a non-016 *A partner flight allows RDM earnings (and therefore PQDs), the flight also earns Premier Qualifying Flight (PQF) credit.
Preferred Partner Airlines: AC AD AV CA CM EN EW LH LX NH NZ OS SN VA WK
Other Partner Airlines (status earning): A3 AI BR ET HO LO MS OA OU OZ SA SK SQ TG TK TP ZH
Other Partner Airlines (NO Premier credit): 3M 4B 9K EI HA UK VW
Note that for the third category you will earn RDM but no PQP, regardless of ticket stock (this is no change from before when you would not earn PQM).
For flights on or after July 1, 2020, the maximum Premier qualifying points that can be earned per flight {segment} on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines are as follows:
MileagePlus members who purchased tickets on eligible partners prior to these new rules may submit receipts showing tickets were issued prior to April 29, 2020, to [email protected] with the subject line "OA PQP Review" to be considered for PQP earning under the prior rules. Receipts should not be submitted until after travel is completed for flights on or after July 1, 2020.
UA Capping PQP Earn with Partners (update -- per flight segment)
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I fly a United-operated segment on a non-United ticket? You will earn PQP equal to the portion of the fare assignable to that segment. This information is transmitted from the ticketing carrier to United, and will be a somewhat arbitrary number between 0 and the full value of the fare component which includes that segment**. (This is the same as earning PQD on such a segment today.)
**Many reports of this not working even this well, and the potential number being outside this range.
What about codeshare segments? As before, codeshares do not matter. Only the operating carrier (metal) of each segment and the stock of the ticket determine your earnings.
How do I get a non-016 ticket? Any ticket purchased directly from another airline will be a partner-issued ticket, even if it has United segments. (Any ticket purchased from United will be an 016 ticket, even if it has no United segments.) Tickets purchased from an agency will usually have a stock of the marketing carrier of the most significant segment ("first long segment" usually).
What's the trick here? Because PQP are earned as a fraction of the distance flown, flying long distances on low-priced fares can earn more PQP than dollars spent. For any given journey, you should consider where you are earning a favorable ratio of PQP to dollars of at least 1.0 when ticketing this way, and consider ticketing with United if you are not.
What about BULK fares? Bulk fares will also earn PQP by distance, as noted in the table below. This is the only way to earn by distance on United metal.
Earnings Tables
Last updated in the image on 17-Nov-23.
To use: Determine the flight miles of your trip, then multiply by the applicable percentage based on the fare class of the ticket. That is your PQP for that segment. Example: 1000 mile flight on Air Canada booked in W fare code: PQP = 1000*.15=150).
Note that values >= 20% are rounded to the nearest 1%, and smaller values are rounded to the nearest 0.1%. If precise calculations are needed, you should always use the original source material (United website).
Star Alliance Airlines
Warning: It is strongly recommended that you consult the United earnings page for your airline and confirm the earning rate here, as they have been to known to change without notice and apply retroactively to tickets purchased before the change.
Note: There are special rules for AC branded Economy fares on 014 tickets.
GREEN background is a "preferred" partner.
Preferred Partner Airlines: AC AD AV CA CM EN EW LH LX NH NZ OS SN VA WK
Other Partner Airlines (status earning): A3 AI BR ET HO LO MS OA OU OZ SA SK SQ TG TK TP ZH
Other Partner Airlines (NO Premier credit): 3M 4B 9K EI HA UK VW
Note that for the third category you will earn RDM but no PQP, regardless of ticket stock (this is no change from before when you would not earn PQM).
For flights on or after July 1, 2020, the maximum Premier qualifying points that can be earned per flight {segment} on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines are as follows:
MileagePlus members who purchased tickets on eligible partners prior to these new rules may submit receipts showing tickets were issued prior to April 29, 2020, to [email protected] with the subject line "OA PQP Review" to be considered for PQP earning under the prior rules. Receipts should not be submitted until after travel is completed for flights on or after July 1, 2020.
UA Capping PQP Earn with Partners (update -- per flight segment)
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I fly a United-operated segment on a non-United ticket? You will earn PQP equal to the portion of the fare assignable to that segment. This information is transmitted from the ticketing carrier to United, and will be a somewhat arbitrary number between 0 and the full value of the fare component which includes that segment**. (This is the same as earning PQD on such a segment today.)
**Many reports of this not working even this well, and the potential number being outside this range.
What about codeshare segments? As before, codeshares do not matter. Only the operating carrier (metal) of each segment and the stock of the ticket determine your earnings.
How do I get a non-016 ticket? Any ticket purchased directly from another airline will be a partner-issued ticket, even if it has United segments. (Any ticket purchased from United will be an 016 ticket, even if it has no United segments.) Tickets purchased from an agency will usually have a stock of the marketing carrier of the most significant segment ("first long segment" usually).
What's the trick here? Because PQP are earned as a fraction of the distance flown, flying long distances on low-priced fares can earn more PQP than dollars spent. For any given journey, you should consider where you are earning a favorable ratio of PQP to dollars of at least 1.0 when ticketing this way, and consider ticketing with United if you are not.
What about BULK fares? Bulk fares will also earn PQP by distance, as noted in the table below. This is the only way to earn by distance on United metal.
Earnings Tables
Last updated in the image on 17-Nov-23.
To use: Determine the flight miles of your trip, then multiply by the applicable percentage based on the fare class of the ticket. That is your PQP for that segment. Example: 1000 mile flight on Air Canada booked in W fare code: PQP = 1000*.15=150).
Note that values >= 20% are rounded to the nearest 1%, and smaller values are rounded to the nearest 0.1%. If precise calculations are needed, you should always use the original source material (United website).
Star Alliance Airlines
Warning: It is strongly recommended that you consult the United earnings page for your airline and confirm the earning rate here, as they have been to known to change without notice and apply retroactively to tickets purchased before the change.
Note: There are special rules for AC branded Economy fares on 014 tickets.
GREEN background is a "preferred" partner.
Other Partner Airlines (not Star Alliance)
Warning: It is strongly recommended that you consult the United earnings page for your airline and confirm the earning rate here, as they have been to known to change without notice and apply retroactively to tickets purchased before the change.
GREEN background is a "preferred" partner.
Updated PQP calculator with new per-segment earning cap
I created a updated version of the PQP calculator to handle the upcoming per segment PQP earning limits. It also calculates RDM:
https://pqp.economiles.com/
https://pqp.economiles.com/
More Information on earning PQP and PQF
Earning PQP on flights ticketed and operated by a Star Alliance Partner
Members can also earn Premier qualifying points on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines. Your PQP will be equal to award miles earned divided by 5 if you’re flying on a preferred partner; for other MileagePlus partner airlines, it will be award miles earned divided by 6.
Please note award miles is your base award miles earning plus your fare class bonus award miles earning, if eligible. Premier bonus miles earned are not included within this calculation and are ineligible for Premier qualifying points accrual.
For Star Alliance airlines as well as Air Dolomiti, Azul, Eurowings, Edelweiss, and Olympic:
Preferred partner PQP: Award miles divided by 5
MileagePlus partner PQP: Award miles divided by 6
For example, if you earned 360 award miles for your flight, you’ll receive 72 PQP if you flew with a preferred partner, and 60 PQP if you flew with a MileagePlus partner.
PQP Calculator with option to apply max PQP per flight:
https://pqp.economiles.com/
For flights on or after July 1, 2020, the maximum Premier qualifying points that can be earned per flight on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines are as follows:
MileagePlus members who purchased tickets on eligible partners prior to these new rules may submit receipts showing tickets were issued prior to April 29, 2020, to [email protected] with the subject line "OA PQP Review" to be considered for PQP earning under the prior rules. Receipts should not be submitted until after travel is completed for flights on or after July 1, 2020.
For more information on PQP accrual for a specific airline, visit our airline partner pages.
Members can also earn Premier qualifying points on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines. Your PQP will be equal to award miles earned divided by 5 if you’re flying on a preferred partner; for other MileagePlus partner airlines, it will be award miles earned divided by 6.
Please note award miles is your base award miles earning plus your fare class bonus award miles earning, if eligible. Premier bonus miles earned are not included within this calculation and are ineligible for Premier qualifying points accrual.
For Star Alliance airlines as well as Air Dolomiti, Azul, Eurowings, Edelweiss, and Olympic:
Preferred partner PQP: Award miles divided by 5
MileagePlus partner PQP: Award miles divided by 6
For example, if you earned 360 award miles for your flight, you’ll receive 72 PQP if you flew with a preferred partner, and 60 PQP if you flew with a MileagePlus partner.
PQP Calculator with option to apply max PQP per flight:
https://pqp.economiles.com/
For flights on or after July 1, 2020, the maximum Premier qualifying points that can be earned per flight on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines are as follows:
MileagePlus members who purchased tickets on eligible partners prior to these new rules may submit receipts showing tickets were issued prior to April 29, 2020, to [email protected] with the subject line "OA PQP Review" to be considered for PQP earning under the prior rules. Receipts should not be submitted until after travel is completed for flights on or after July 1, 2020.
For more information on PQP accrual for a specific airline, visit our airline partner pages.
Archive: Earning Status (PQP) on non-016 Tickets and Partner Metal {Archive}
Earning Status (PQP) on non-016 Tickets and Partner Metal
Aug 27, 2023, 8:51 am
#166
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seems like the outbound is on BA-marketed, AA-operated flights. Assuming this was done by a TA, and the whole thing is on one ticket, which it may or may not be, it’s going to go to IATA ticketing rules. For TAs, that’s either the operator (I think - or possibly marketer) of the first long-haul flight - as in the first flight to cross from one IATA zone into another. If that’s the case, this very well could be on AA or BA stock, even for the LH-operated, UA-marketed flights. There is zero reason, for sure, to think that that’s not possible - again, assuming it was all booked together by an agent. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I’ve refreshed myself on ticketing rules and so not sure whether if it would need to be on one ticket if possible, and then whether the ticketing would be on AA (operator) or BA (marketer) of the first TATL segment. Either way, would have zero affect on how mileage is earned.
Aug 27, 2023, 10:05 am
#167
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,386
I believe cfischer was opining that it is most likely to be on separate tickets, because combinability rules would probably preclude the use of anything except full Y/J with an off-alliance airline.
Aug 27, 2023, 10:40 am
#168
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Gold/0.744MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
Posts: 5,560
I should find out the answer tomorrow
Aug 30, 2023, 6:38 pm
#169
Join Date: May 2006
Location: PMD
Programs: UA*G, NW, AA-G. WR-P, HH-G, IHG-S, ALL. TT-GE.
Posts: 2,907
Am I going to encounter trouble after travel if CM reports me as Z which is 0%?
Aug 30, 2023, 6:54 pm
#170
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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So I finally booked a 4-seg on CM outbound L (50%) and return O (75%). I then successfully used 20 kmi for a SAUA on LAX-PTY. It needed phone agent review after which I was able to select a seat (Max flat). But now LAX-PTY’s “fare family” changed from “Economy Basic (L)” to “Economy Basic (Z)”. The other segs remain L/O/O. When I looked up the fare rule LAX-PTY still has “LAA4OZ2S”, same as PTY-XXX.
Am I going to encounter trouble after travel if CM reports me as Z which is 0%?
Am I going to encounter trouble after travel if CM reports me as Z which is 0%?
Aug 30, 2023, 7:32 pm
#171
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: USA
Programs: AS MVPG 75K, AC SE
Posts: 346
seems like the outbound is on BA-marketed, AA-operated flights. Assuming this was done by a TA, and the whole thing is on one ticket, which it may or may not be, it’s going to go to IATA ticketing rules. For TAs, that’s either the operator (I think - or possibly marketer) of the first long-haul flight - as in the first flight to cross from one IATA zone into another. If that’s the case, this very well could be on AA or BA stock, even for the LH-operated, UA-marketed flights. There is zero reason, for sure, to think that that’s not possible - again, assuming it was all booked together by an agent. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I’ve refreshed myself on ticketing rules and so not sure whether if it would need to be on one ticket if possible, and then whether the ticketing would be on AA (operator) or BA (marketer) of the first TATL segment. Either way, would have zero affect on how mileage is earned.
And in practice, assuming the TA makes no selection even the defaults are usually only a tie breaker when the price is the same, which it often isn't (small differences e.g. due to the fee LH adds).
Aug 31, 2023, 6:52 pm
#172
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Posts: 32,017
There are defaults, which you are starting to describe (details here on page 10). But they aren't rules in that sense. The rule is that the TA can choose, provided multiple options are valid per the fare rules (details here). This is how, for example, I usually put LX A TATL on 016 for more PQP - just throw a UA domestic flight on there somewhere.
And in practice, assuming the TA makes no selection even the defaults are usually only a tie breaker when the price is the same, which it often isn't (small differences e.g. due to the fee LH adds).
And in practice, assuming the TA makes no selection even the defaults are usually only a tie breaker when the price is the same, which it often isn't (small differences e.g. due to the fee LH adds).
Aug 31, 2023, 7:26 pm
#173
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: USA
Programs: AS MVPG 75K, AC SE
Posts: 346
Sure that works with UA/LH/LX etc. The OP has airlines across alliances which adds a lot of complexity and in most cases this only works when purchasing full fare unrestricted tickets. Not a lot of 'options' in that case, but clearly if one goes for a Y/J/F ticket then it could be any ticket stock of airlines involved ... it'll just be freakingly expensive
If I were in OP's situation I'd try running the flight numbers through matrix to see the price for the cheapest fare that allows it on one ticket, but the discussion of OP's case is moot as OP presumably has had the ticket number(s) for days.
Aug 31, 2023, 10:34 pm
#174
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Gold/0.744MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
Posts: 5,560
Agreed but I didn't intend to comment on OP's case, just the post I replied to.
If I were in OP's situation I'd try running the flight numbers through matrix to see the price for the cheapest fare that allows it on one ticket, but the discussion of OP's case is moot as OP presumably has had the ticket number(s) for days.
If I were in OP's situation I'd try running the flight numbers through matrix to see the price for the cheapest fare that allows it on one ticket, but the discussion of OP's case is moot as OP presumably has had the ticket number(s) for days.
Aug 31, 2023, 11:49 pm
#175
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: DCA, IAD (not BWI if I can help it)
Programs: UA 1MM 1K, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Explorist, status-free on AA, AS, B6, DL, WN, Amtrak, etc.
Posts: 1,481
Very much a hypothetical at this point, but if Turkish Airlines offers a buy-up on my upcoming IAD-IST flight and I take them up on the offer, should I expect the PQP total for this leg to rise to 750? (I'm already on an A fare and so should get 500 PQP for that; since I'm in an eligible fare bucket, I would rather use a Star Alliance Upgrade Offer, but so far TK isn't showing upgrade inventory for this flight.)
Sep 1, 2023, 6:09 am
#176
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Join Date: Aug 2005
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Very much a hypothetical at this point, but if Turkish Airlines offers a buy-up on my upcoming IAD-IST flight and I take them up on the offer, should I expect the PQP total for this leg to rise to 750? (I'm already on an A fare and so should get 500 PQP for that; since I'm in an eligible fare bucket, I would rather use a Star Alliance Upgrade Offer, but so far TK isn't showing upgrade inventory for this flight.)
Sep 1, 2023, 10:55 am
#177
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: INN
Posts: 2,907
For LH fixed price upgrades or the bits show the upgraded booking class when crediting to MP, check-in time upgrades do not. Note that with LH you have to be careful because and upgrade could reduce your credit when you upgrade from expensive economy or premium economy fares.
Sep 4, 2023, 2:38 pm
#178
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Gold/0.744MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
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actually I don’t! The third party is being super slow so I still don’t have my answer. It’s kinda driving me nuts as I’m one who likes things planned out and this ticket departs one week from tomorrow. I did see an additional piece of documentation which showed two separate large numbers for the price (like 7k x 2), so I think it will end up as two different tickets based on that which hopefully means ua stock on the return
Edit:
Ticket option thru the rez didn't work, but going to the request a receipt area did. Confirmed 016 ticket and I can see the cost. Actually not as expensive as I was expecting (hoping?) as it won't push me over the PQP for Gold on its own and I'll end up one PQF short of the lower requirement (because UA couldn't manage to get me home from SLC last week and I had to rebook on DL which lost me 2x PQF)
Last edited by jasonvr; Sep 4, 2023 at 2:54 pm
Sep 8, 2023, 3:18 am
#179
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: IAD
Programs: UA 1K & 2MM, MR Titanium
Posts: 458
I was scheduled to fly VIE-IAD on OS in P with a UA ticket number, but due to irrops (cancellation) OS rebooked me onto VIE-MUC-IAD on LH in J class with a LH ticket number. Does that mean my UA PQP earnings for these segments will change from the spend -based amount cited in my United reservation to the formula for UA earnings on LH tickets (200% of miles flown divided by 5)? The PQP would be higher for the latter and welcome as I seek to requalify for 1K.
Sep 8, 2023, 5:22 am
#180
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,017
I was scheduled to fly VIE-IAD on OS in P with a UA ticket number, but due to irrops (cancellation) OS rebooked me onto VIE-MUC-IAD on LH in J class with a LH ticket number. Does that mean my UA PQP earnings for these segments will change from the spend -based amount cited in my United reservation to the formula for UA earnings on LH tickets (200% of miles flown divided by 5)? The PQP would be higher for the latter and welcome as I seek to requalify for 1K.