manusnd

Alright friends, first time poster, long time lurker. Is it worth it for me to go for platinum 1K?? Here'd my story: I have platinum locked in for 2022. Achieving1K will need significant CC spend and $2000 in an unplanned trip. I plan on 2-3 long haul international flights with spouse (not mileageplus member) and 9 short hall domestic flights with spouse. WIll also have 750K united miles that I would like to start spending. What are your thoughts? If I get 1K should I defer using my mile for the whole year to take advantage of free upgrades?

HNLbasedFlyer

If you are flying international, the PlusPoints difference between Platinum and 1K is substantial.

garykung

Let me know if you can really fly those...

jpezaris

As you are planning, make sure you understand that CC spending bonuses do not count for 1K status unless you have enough segments for the PQD+PQF threshold.

I haven't traveled that much this year, but it has been pretty easy thus far to get a CPU or to use PQP for an upgrade. I'm 100% on domestic CPUs thus far (but admittedly not too many segments) and have 3 INTL trips booked through the end of the year that I've successfully upgraded with PQP except for one domestic leg. For me, it isn't the time to use miles for upgrades.

united 1k flyer

Yes it�s worth it, plus points make life way easier.

Artpen100

I found it very hard to use GPUs, now Plus Points, so I wouldn�t go out of my way to get there. Other people seemed to be able to use them, but not me. A lot of them just expired. YMMV, I think it depends on your routes. (I will clearly be Plat again next year, and depending on some work projects in the second half may hit 1K, which I was prior to 2020, but don�t plan to make any special effort if I fall short.)

cfischer

long haul? As the OP indicated? Never ever been easier. So easy right now.

Kacee

$2k is a lot to spend for 1K. I personally don't find much value in it. My use of PlusPoints has been limited to occasionally saving $114 over buying F on PHX-SFO.
Burn! UA miles are a rapidly devaluing currency.
Which free upgrades are those? Many of us buy J/F a high percentage of the time because upgrades range from unlikely to uncertain.

Artpen100

I have been able to use only 20 PPs so far in 2021, and that flight was at an odd time. I have not flown international since Feb. 2020. I could not even say how many GPUs expired before 2020 (could not even use them for domestic upgrades most of the time), but it was most of them. Admittedly, I usually have to fly on specific dates for work.

porciuscato

The difference between Plat and 1K is enormous. And this year, 1K is so easily reachable. My college student son is a little short of 1K this year; so I'll do a little extra to push him over the line. It's worth it. On many of the routes he flies, 1K has 90% chances at CPUs; plat and gold not so much. That's a big slug of Plus Points too.

So I would totally go for it, particularly since you get to double your pleasure with MM. I don't know if you have kids or other relatives; I like to switch MM companions every year, so I each one gets 13 months instead of 12.

Continited

Plus points makes it worth it. Now that things are reopening I�ve planned several euro trips this year, and been able to buy economy and upgrade to business with plus points on all the long haul segments for both me and my family. Every long haul flight I�ve booked has been PZ9, so it clears immediately. Very easy and very worth it (especially since regular fare business class has been ridiculously high on those same flights lately from what I�ve seen)

seanp7

Plus Points have been useless to me this year since I found cheap biz fares before the rebound, and used up award miles. I will try to use them later in the year, but I'm not hopeful.

1K is great for UPGRADES (CPU or instruments), and I like the pre-boarding element (& free drink/snack in Y).

Artpen100

That shows how rout-specific it is. Pre-COVID, it seemed to me like when they called 1K boarding, a quarter of the plane boarded. And looking at October for a TATL business trip, no PZ on the dates I need, give or take a day, and I am moderately flexible on where to connect.

Of course, what things will be like next year, who knows.

scubadu

LOL, gotta love FT, always clear as mud.

OP, I'm going to weigh in with a not worth it vote. However, my experience on FT is that when posters ask questions such as this, they really have already decided to pursue the status and really are just looking for other parties to agree with them, so my prediction is no matter how many "not worth it" votes you get, you will nonetheless pursue 1K.

As Kacee alluded to, if you believe as a 1K you will have a "whole year to take advantage of free upgrades" you might be in for an unpleasant surprise if travel returns to more normalized levels in 2022 and beyond. Certainly, there has been a nice window for complimentary upgrades on basically all the legacy carriers over the past year, but that window will, without question, eventually close.

Regards

jsloan

Short-haul is going to depend entirely upon what routes you fly, and when.

Long-haul depends greatly upon how much flexibility you have in your travel, in addition to what routes you fly and when. If there are specific dates you need to fly, and you're only willing to fly nonstop, you're likely to find yourself sitting in the back. If you're willing to add connections, fly on alternate dates, etc., then PlusPoints can be very useful.

Whichever route you choose, use your MileagePlus miles. If you decide to go for 1K, you may be able to use your miles for some of your spouse's trips, and your PlusPoints for your own. They're depreciating rapidly; there's no sense saving them.