Not that hard!
 

I have now booked enough tickets to get 24,083 PQPs. Total spend is C$14.7K = US$11.3K and everything is in biz or first class, or is upgradeable. Because I was exempt from PQD requirement, some of these partner flights were booked before the changes were announced, so no change in my buying behavior. This is what I have:

SQ JFK-SIN-JFK D class (with convoluted routing)
TK YUL-BKK-YUL J class
UA YYZ-HNL-YYZ P class (bulk fare)
UA YYZ-SIN-YYZ W class (bulk fare)
LH MXP-PVG-MXP A class
UA YVR-HKG-YVR B/R class (bulk fare)

All these "deals" were posted on FT at one point or another. I admit that it helps that I can go just about anywhere I feel like.

And I'm not done booking. I go to HNL at least twice per year, sometimes up to 4 times. :)

I'm curious: are you not worried that if United slash the conversion rate before you travel, then you might lose a lot? E.g. suppose they say, from 1 March, the PQP conversion rates will be /24 instead of /6 ... So if you book a bunch of travel perhaps several months in the future, specifically for the purpose of accruing more PQP, you might end up worse off than had you booked direct with United and resigned yourself to spending real money. They didn't seem to give much headsup to the whole PQM vs PQP change last fall. I don't suppose it will happen in a week or even a month, but I'd be nervous of arranging trips for the summer.

Great for someone based out of the Nordics. With most UA members in the US (and North America), the cost of positioning flights could easily move the needle above $2K all-in. By then, you could get a similar fare ex-US direct to Asia without additional risks, time, and effort.

EDIT:

I have this fare too I am traveling on later this month. I am crediting to AS, however. No bonuses with D fares for either program, but I can get more value on a TPAC award through AS than UA.

Coincidentally, I flew the SIN-EWR nonstop flight exactly a year ago as the upcoming fare between JFK and SIN.

I find AS miles difficult to use out of YYZ because AS does not allow combining partners. I refuse to book BA awards on over water redemptions due to their ridiculous scam charges. UA miles OTOH are very easy to use. Even with the changes on award tickets, I've been able to get to Europe for 60K miles or Asia for 80-90K miles. Naturally, it requires constant monitoring of flight availability and changing my tickets (for free thanks to 1K status) until I get what I need. So far it's working for me.

I got in on the AMD-SIN-EWR fare last year too. :)

While I applaud your diligence and creativity to reach 24000 PQP by only spending $11000, I am afraid that

1) Vast majority, 99%+ of MP members won't able to do that. It's simply unrealistic.

2) It won't be too long before UA adjusts partner PQP earnings.

Your scheme looks brilliant, but unfortunately only a tiny fraction of people can do.

I have a high level of confidence that UA is well aware of the "loophole". They are fine with it because a) very few people can really take advantage due to location/need for positioning flights, b) they are still generating revenue and not having to actually support us flying on non-UA metal. Ultimately like anything else they will adjust (most likely the factor they divide by) to make it less attractive. In the end, personally I won't seek out these options simply because my flight pattern from a non-hub makes the positioning very time consuming and expensive. Also, flying non-UA metal is counterproductive to my goal of making lifetime 1K.

They already favor JV flights in some manner, as you divide earned RDM by 5 instead of 6. I don’t think there is much whittling down from the current list.

I have to say that it is really ambitious... but how are you going to get to New York, Milan etc. from Canada? Buying separate flight tickets?

YYZ-JFK is only 5000 DL miles.
YYZ-MXP is 60K UA miles or 57.5K AC miles in biz class (or 30K miles in economy), but that ticket isn't until May, so lots of time for promo fares to come along.
YYZ-YUL is cheap on AC when they have a sale (about C$140 each way).
I'm thinking of going to HNL after YVR.

I rarely have a trip that doesn't involve 7-8 tickets pieced together (HNL being the exception). I buy good travel insurance. :)

I have about 11K PQP booked for the year, but I still have no plan to explicitly aim or plan for 1K. If I get there, it will be because I happened to fly enough on the right routes. I'm committed to just choosing what works for me.

With that said, with the job change I'm considering, 2 of my 3 likely options will probably ensure I get there. One will entail pretty regular domestic travel, which will be on UA out of SFO, and another will have a couple of trips a year to India in biz. Either will get me over the line this year at least.

Also important to note that in the last 10-12 years there have been a few times I thought I was no chance of 1K and life just intervened in my favour (in this regard) every single time. So if you're betting on me....

I'm sure UA will start doing some mileplay promotions to earn X,000 PQP by flying X number of times in some random category to appease all the people on the fence..

And, given past history if UA marketeering folks get involved later in the year, remember this thread:

UA doing some targetted MP up-status changes [May, 10, 2016]

David

This is very ambitious and impressive!
I gotta keep an eye on those fares.

1K with partner airlines
 

I assume you mean 2021?