Last edit by: WineCountryUA
05April 2020
FAQ
With extended status. will we automatically get additional PlusPoints in 2021 (40 for Plats and 280 for 1KsGS?
No, your existing PlusPoints will be extended 6 months but to get additional 2021 PlusPoints you will need to meet the reduced thresholds for 2020
[5 April 2020] Status extended 1 year - United Hub
- Status extended 1 year (expires 1/31/22)
- Plus Points extended 6 months
- Lower qualifying thresholds to gain 2021 status in 2020 (about 50%)
[5 April 2020] United will extend Premier status for 12 months (SF Gate):
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[7 March 2020] A message to our Premier members (email):
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MileagePlus Status Extended Until 2022
Throughout these unprecedented times, we remain committed to doing what is right and fair for all of our MileagePlus members and are pleased to share the steps we are taking to reciprocate the trust and loyalty that you have placed in United. These steps include not only Premier status updates, but also an extension of current memberships and subscriptions. The updates will happen automatically over the next few weeks — there's nothing you need to do.
The big news: If you have current 2020 Premier status, it will be extended to January 31, 2022. At a minimum, you will enjoy the same published status next year that you have today, up to Premier 1K®.
We're reducing the 2020 Premier qualifying points (PQP) and flight requirements for all tiers by 50%. You'll still need a minimum of four flight segments on United or United Express®.
We're also doubling PQP for United Explorer cards and quadrupling PQP for the United Club cards.
At the same time that we're decreasing the published program's PQP requirements, via a promotion from May 1 – December 31, 2020, we're doubling (for United Explorer cards) or quadrupling (for United Club cards) the maximum number of PQP that Cardmembers can earn during 2020 to help achieve a higher level of status than you already have.
1K® and Platinum members, we're increasing your ability to upgrade by extending PlusPoints expiration dates by six months and expanding Skip Waitlist.
Over the years, you have placed your trust and loyalty in United, and we are honored to do the same for you. We are all in this together.
Status extension to January 31, 2022, applies to all members that met the published criteria of the MileagePlus program in 2019, status associated with the United/Marriott RewardsPlus program and status offered as part of a Sales nomination. Status granted from other programs and policies may not apply.
Throughout these unprecedented times, we remain committed to doing what is right and fair for all of our MileagePlus members and are pleased to share the steps we are taking to reciprocate the trust and loyalty that you have placed in United. These steps include not only Premier status updates, but also an extension of current memberships and subscriptions. The updates will happen automatically over the next few weeks — there's nothing you need to do.
The big news: If you have current 2020 Premier status, it will be extended to January 31, 2022. At a minimum, you will enjoy the same published status next year that you have today, up to Premier 1K®.
We're reducing the 2020 Premier qualifying points (PQP) and flight requirements for all tiers by 50%. You'll still need a minimum of four flight segments on United or United Express®.
We're also doubling PQP for United Explorer cards and quadrupling PQP for the United Club cards.
At the same time that we're decreasing the published program's PQP requirements, via a promotion from May 1 – December 31, 2020, we're doubling (for United Explorer cards) or quadrupling (for United Club cards) the maximum number of PQP that Cardmembers can earn during 2020 to help achieve a higher level of status than you already have.
1K® and Platinum members, we're increasing your ability to upgrade by extending PlusPoints expiration dates by six months and expanding Skip Waitlist.
- This means a six-month extension of any PlusPoints set to expire on or before January 31, 2021.
- Last year we introduced Skip Waitlist on select flights as a benefit to 1K members, giving you more opportunities to confirm an upgrade request at the time of booking. This benefit will now be available for the rest of 2020 in a significantly expanded selection of long-haul international regions and will have expanded availability in 2021 as well.
- We want to make sure your benefits are still there when you're ready to start flying again. That's why we're extending purchased United Club℠ memberships and purchased subscriptions for Economy Plus®, United Wi-Fi℠ and checked bags by six months. You should see this reflected in your MileagePlus account soon.
- If your travel plans have been disrupted, and you have an electronic travel certificate from us for the value of your ticket, you now have two years from the date it was issued to book a new flight, as well as up to an additional 11 months to travel. This includes all currently valid and all new electronic travel certificates issued on or after April 1, 2020.
- We are currently waiving all award redeposit fees for travel through end of May 2020.
- We are now also waiving all redeposit fees for award ticket cancellations made more than 30 days before departure for the remainder of 2020.
Over the years, you have placed your trust and loyalty in United, and we are honored to do the same for you. We are all in this together.
Status extension to January 31, 2022, applies to all members that met the published criteria of the MileagePlus program in 2019, status associated with the United/Marriott RewardsPlus program and status offered as part of a Sales nomination. Status granted from other programs and policies may not apply.
With extended status. will we automatically get additional PlusPoints in 2021 (40 for Plats and 280 for 1KsGS?
No, your existing PlusPoints will be extended 6 months but to get additional 2021 PlusPoints you will need to meet the reduced thresholds for 2020
[5 April 2020] Status extended 1 year - United Hub
- Status extended 1 year (expires 1/31/22)
- Plus Points extended 6 months
- Lower qualifying thresholds to gain 2021 status in 2020 (about 50%)
[5 April 2020] United will extend Premier status for 12 months (SF Gate):
United will announce on Sunday that it is extending elite status to MileagePlus Premier members through 2021 and members will retain their current status through January 2022. This follows a similar move by Delta Air Lines on April 4 to extend SkyMiles Medallion elite status to 2021.
A United spokesperson has confirmed this to SFGATE, adding: "We are also going to help both general members and members who want to reach the next status level by lowering thresholds for Premier Qualifying Points (PQP’s) for the 2021 status year."
In addition to the elite status extension, United will extend all its annual subscription options by six months, including United Club memberships, wi-fi, checked bags and EconomyPlus, according to the spokesperson.
A United spokesperson has confirmed this to SFGATE, adding: "We are also going to help both general members and members who want to reach the next status level by lowering thresholds for Premier Qualifying Points (PQP’s) for the 2021 status year."
In addition to the elite status extension, United will extend all its annual subscription options by six months, including United Club memberships, wi-fi, checked bags and EconomyPlus, according to the spokesperson.
[7 March 2020] A message to our Premier members (email):
At this time, we are not planning any changes for our 2021 Premier program but we will continue to evaluate our options as we learn more about how the current climate is affecting members' activity. In the interim though, we do plan to give members who are participating in a MileagePlus 2020 Premier Status Match Challenge promotion an additional 30 days to complete their challenge. This extension will automatically be reflected in member accounts within the next week.
There's a good (but not exhaustive) crowdsourced list of company travel restrictions here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...bWhYFM/preview .....
Hey there!
As true loyalty is best tested in challenging times, I did a bit of research on how different airlines and hotel programmes have responded:
Feel free to comment that Google Sheets file and if you have some better insights, let me know (I used only what was available on English-speaking websites and some blog posts I could find, showing emails from the programmes). ....
As true loyalty is best tested in challenging times, I did a bit of research on how different airlines and hotel programmes have responded:
- 74 airline loyalty responses (status, miles expiration extensions) and booking flexibility terms (changes and refunds)
- 18 hotel loyalty responses (status, points expiration extensions) and booking flexibility terms (changes and refunds)
Feel free to comment that Google Sheets file and if you have some better insights, let me know (I used only what was available on English-speaking websites and some blog posts I could find, showing emails from the programmes). ....
UA • CONFIRMS • Status Extension to JAN 2022; PQP Thresholds Reduced by ½ for 2020
#61
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: JAX
Programs: UA Plat MM, AA Gold MM, Marriott LTT, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 3,770
My wife's PP airfare was the lowest when I booked back in September.
#62
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH, YYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 753
Double PQP’s are already available. You just have to book on partner airlines instead of UA
#63
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: UA MP (1K, 1MM)
Posts: 268
Example, I could've flown UA SIN-SFO recently in Y on UA for ~$800, J for ~$2600, or premium economy on EVA for ~$1000. The EVA flight returned ~2600 PQPs. No brainer since I was footing the bill.
The idea with the PQP bonus would be for those flying on UA to attract them back once the travel ban is lifted.
#64
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Morris County, NJ
Programs: UA 1K/*G, Avis Pres, Marriott Plat
Posts: 2,305
Domestic is still allowed, but if anything happens here, they'll pull that so fast the air'll crackle. Better to have safe, grounded employees than spread a disease that has a mortality rate orders of magnitude greater than the usual influenza. If I'm reading the numbers right, the mortality rate is worse than even the Spanish flu pandemic.
Last thing I'm worried about is airline status - would rather still be here a year from now to worry about it.
#65
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,405
Or are they planning to put employees into plastic bubbles when (not if) it spreads?
It's way too soon for the mortality numbers to be meaningful except directionally. It remains much easier to count deaths than illnesses.
#66
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,125
Do they think that the virus is transmitted by air travel?
Or are they planning to put employees into plastic bubbles when (not if) it spreads?
It's way too soon for the mortality numbers to be meaningful except directionally. It remains much easier to count deaths than illnesses.
Or are they planning to put employees into plastic bubbles when (not if) it spreads?
It's way too soon for the mortality numbers to be meaningful except directionally. It remains much easier to count deaths than illnesses.
#67
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton ♦ , Hyatt Carbonado, Wyndham ♦, Marriott PE, "Stinking Bum" elsewhere.
Posts: 4,998
Since the latest evidence shows that it spreads aerosolly as well, just being on a plane with an infected person is a significant risk. Also, I've heard lots of folks here saying that the flu killed 61,000 in the US last year, so why worry. Well, that 61,000 death number was out of a total infected pool of more than 35,000,000. This yields a death rate of .17%. The most conservative estimates for COVID-19 are 2% or ~11.5 times greater. But, even The WHO thinks that the death rate will be higher than 3% in the end, and that is a significant risk. The spread of this disease, as evidenced by the Italian and Korean clusters is definitely being exacerbated by air travel.
Last edited by zombietooth; Feb 24, 2020 at 1:43 pm
#68
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Pacific Northwest
Programs: UA Gold 1MM, AS 75k, AA Plat, Bonvoyed Gold, Honors Dia, Hyatt Explorer, IHG Plat, ...
Posts: 16,846
It’s apparently transmitted by people being close to each other. That could be a church with 1000 of your closest friends in South Korea, in a taxi with a cabby in Japan, in a bar with friends in Italy or a workplace meeting/workshop with coworkers in Starnberg, Germany. Do you think a United Airlines sardine can with people crammed into economy seats or even premium classes would somehow be safer if a contagious person were to board it?
On top of that, there is probably also the risk of employees getting stranded abroad due to additional travel bans that corporate travel departments consider.
On top of that, there is probably also the risk of employees getting stranded abroad due to additional travel bans that corporate travel departments consider.
#69
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: 6 year GS, now 2MM Jeff-ugee, *wood LTPlt, SkyPeso PLT
Posts: 6,526
#70
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Morris County, NJ
Programs: UA 1K/*G, Avis Pres, Marriott Plat
Posts: 2,305
Do they think that the virus is transmitted by air travel?
Or are they planning to put employees into plastic bubbles when (not if) it spreads?
It's way too soon for the mortality numbers to be meaningful except directionally. It remains much easier to count deaths than illnesses.
Or are they planning to put employees into plastic bubbles when (not if) it spreads?
It's way too soon for the mortality numbers to be meaningful except directionally. It remains much easier to count deaths than illnesses.
That said, I'll take working for management that values employees' lives over business transactions any day of the week.
#71
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 171
Long haul is profitable.
A brit traveler to Singapore for a conference, then to France to ski then back to the UK. They’ve tracked at least a dozen cases back to him already...
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 24, 2020 at 7:40 pm Reason: merged consecutive posts by same member
#72
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,405
I mean, sure, that's great, but I wonder how you're going to feel when the lost revenue trickles down the employee salary or bonus pool.
#73
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 171
But the bonus only really comes in if you find a cheap premium economy fare on that partner, otherwise the cost is too high for the number of award miles you receive that then is divided by 5 or 6.
Example, I could've flown UA SIN-SFO recently in Y on UA for ~$800, J for ~$2600, or premium economy on EVA for ~$1000. The EVA flight returned ~2600 PQPs. No brainer since I was footing the bill.
The idea with the PQP bonus would be for those flying on UA to attract them back once the travel ban is lifted.
Example, I could've flown UA SIN-SFO recently in Y on UA for ~$800, J for ~$2600, or premium economy on EVA for ~$1000. The EVA flight returned ~2600 PQPs. No brainer since I was footing the bill.
The idea with the PQP bonus would be for those flying on UA to attract them back once the travel ban is lifted.
UA can pound sand with their crap 787 slim seats for Long haul.
#74
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Morris County, NJ
Programs: UA 1K/*G, Avis Pres, Marriott Plat
Posts: 2,305
Besides building "stuff" or putting hands on "stuff" - what REALLY needs to be done in person?
Face-to-face meetings are important, and develop deeper relationships with ones' clients, but - in a global pandemic - I think we can get by with doing those things virtually, without a revenue impact.
#75
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
It's really unfair to United, which has a minimum 31 inch pitch internationally, lots of E+, PP, and even high density J configurations, to blame it for virus transmission. There are A LOT of airlines out there who stuff far more people onto a plane than UA does.