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.

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.