WineCountryUA thanks for the upfare option idea. I missed it...Have to make the comparison and see what would be cheaper to do.

This was my approach. I was going to miss 1K by about 4000 PQP and figured not worth even trying. Then I picked up a bunch of unexpected business and personal travel, leaving me about 500 PQP short of assuring 1K. So, I upfared one of my tickets to the tune of about $600. Now, 1K assured.

I've flown 13 legs on United in the last 12 days. Would have been 12 UA legs and 1 DL leg, but DL delayed then cancelled my flight, and couldn't/wouldn't rebook me on the only flight that would suffice to get me to where I needed to go on time (a UA flight the next morning). UA opened up a seat on an oversold flight for me, at a reasonable price, and I still made it to my meeting early enough to contribute. Things like that make it well worth upfaring for 500 PQP!

Or take an extra flight or two instead of upfaring :)

If the UA flight were oversold, it makes sense that DL couldn't put you on it… but it definitely doesn't make sense that UA was willing to open a seat on an oversold flight "at a reasonable price." 1K members are allowed to open a seat on most sold-out flights 90+ minutes prior to departure, but only on an unrestricted Y or B fare. (I'm not sure if YCA -- government -- fares would qualify or not). Generally, those tickets aren't what would would term "reasonably priced" :D For example: AUS-SFO, for departure tomorrow, the only unrestricted fare I see is the Y fare, which is $5,822.60 all-in. Everything else, even the fare I get if I do a search for fare class Y (BAA0ADEN) is restricted. There's a discount Y fare at $1,598.60 that's refundable but is still coded as ECONOMY RESTRICTED, so...

Anyway, I guess the takeaway is, either it wasn't really oversold or you got really great service that might not be repeated. :)

Yeah, I had the same thought/understanding as you described... only unrestricted Y/B fares available for 1Ks to purchase on sold-out UA flights. I was surprised myself, and it didn't make sense to me either. Here's what happened that led me to think that I got a seat on an oversold flight at a reasonable price:

When logged into my account on united.com, the flight was available for purchase. It looked completely normal. However, if I logged out on united.com and looked for the flight, it did not appear. Further, seats did not show as available on Google Flights, and three separate Delta agents also said it was full (yes, I HUCA Delta 3x trying to get them to put me on the UA flight because of DL's cancellation of my DL flight, before just buying the UA flight myself and choosing to deal with a DL refund later).

So, reflecting more on it, I went back and looked at the ticket. It is indeed a 'U' fare, not Y/B, which explains the reasonable price. What isn't clear is why I could only see/buy the U-fared flight directly from United when logged into my MP account, but it did not appear when not logged in, nor on Google Flights, nor on Delta. I do have 'expert mode' enabled, but I didn't check fare buckets. It was the middle of the night, I was tired, and really just wanted to make sure I was confirmed on the first UA flight in the morning.

Maybe it was a lucky middle-of-the-night tech glitch? Yeah, I should probably just be grateful and not count on it again.

Still, I feel good about stretching a bit for 1K!

I like that approach too! Have done it in previous years.

In this case, I have a pretty constrained scheduled through the end of the year, and also spend most of my time in a country that is served reliably by only one *A airline (two *A airlines, but I'm not counting Avianca as reliable). So, for the purpose of securing 1K for 2023, upfaring a UA flight while I was already back in the USA was a sure shot, whereas taking an extra UA/*A flight was a 'maybe.'

So I should be short 333 PQP to reach gold including all future planned flights. If I change one of my future flights to one that is more expensive, will the PQP earned be the difference of the reported PQP earnings of the two flights?

If you change to a more expensive flight, the higher fare will be reported when the flight is taken.
Fare or upgrade PQPs are not posted until post-flight

Just to double check, because I can't find the info on the websiste, does the $450 annual fee for the retired Presidential Plus card count toward PQP?

I'm about 400 short for this year.

Annual Fee Payments to Chase do not qualify for UA PQPs nor does it contribute to the $12,000 Purchase PQP credit

Thank you. I suspected as much.

Now I have to figure out how to earn 400 PQPs to have silver next year. I may be prepaying my property taxes :)

I only earned 1500 PQP for the year and have no intention to spend another dollar ;)

Unfortunately or not, collecting PQPs is not earning - just more spending. Let's see if UA ever posts what it will require for earning status going forward. DL's already said what it takes.

David

Are you concerned UA will not post requirements?
UA has waited to November many times before. yes later than some.

And as the subject of this thread is "Needing PQPs/PQFs in 2022 for Elite Status in 2023", we clearly know those requirements

Agreed with the thread focus/topic of needing PQPs/PQFs - just reacting to the comment about "earning" PQPs.

I do expect UA to post 2023 requirements eventually. However, it is "clear" that their crystal ball is really foggy right now and, rather than deal with limited info out of Wacker Drive, others are "investing" their spend elsewhere.

So, while I officially need 7395 PQPs and two PQFs to get back to 1K for 2023, I've moved my 2022 travel elsewhere since UA's unconcerned about letting me know what's next.

David