Is Premier Silver effective immediately upon reaching?
 

New to United. I’ve already met the 8 PQF requirement for Silver, and my next round trip flight will put me just 132 PQP short of the 3,000 requirement.

I’m trying to figure out if it makes sense to purchase preferred seating on this next flight to get over the threshold already. If I do, will my Silver status be effective immediately, or will I have to wait for 2023? If the latter, I’ll just wait for another flight — if the new status is effective immediately after reaching the threshold, I’ll most likely fork the money.

Seems like a basic question but I can’t find any answer online. Thanks!

immediate when your pqp hits greater than 3,000

It's effective once the PQP post to your account.

It’s pretty quick. Once the points post to put you over the threshold, it usually takes a couple (to a few) for status to propagate through the systems. But you get the benefits from then until the end of Jan the next year after. Status earned today would be valid through the end of Jan. ‘24.

Thanks all! Sounds like it may be worth spending $132 on preferred seating so I can already enjoy Silver during the trip following this upcoming one.

Interesting though, purchase the preferred seating and at check-in select E+ seating for free (better leg space). UA may refund Preferred seating fee (or may not) since you did not make use of the preferred seating. Have no idea this will work but see no downside.
Will not work as pointed out

Is UA really charging $132 for no-extra-legroom preferred seating? I think the only way to get 132 PQP on an upcoming flight via seat purchase fees would be to purchase E+, which is explicitly not refundable for a Silver member.

Also, I don’t think any seating PQP would post until after the flight is actually taken. The benefit of spending $132 on seating fees on trip A is to receive Silver benefit at checkin for upcoming trip B, instead of having to wait to earn Silver on trip B and then use it on the following trip C.

That's the idea, as per the OP.

On second thought I agree, got carried away with the gambit forgot the basic rule on seat PQPs -- UA wants to make sure you don't try something like this

yep, the PQP wouldn’t post until this flight is taken.

correct. I basically want to expedite reaching Silver — I won’t have it on this trip but the one immediately after. I place quite a bit of value on status and while Silver is pretty basic, I’m ok with forking $132 (see below for comment on the dollar value) to get it in one more trip instead of two, especially since I’ve already cleared PQF. Hopefully with business travel resuming I can make it to Gold by the end of the year as well.

nope — $132 is the dollar value required to clear the remaining PQP left for Silver. But I also misspoke, referring just to preferred seating while the purchase could also include economy plus. The trip is DEN-YVR, E+ ranges anywhere from $84-106, preferred seats are $15-27. I’ll buy a combination of two that clears PQP.

How well does this work if the following trip is already booked and relatively close to the current one?

On most airlines it takes some time for status to properly make it through the system, especially on existing reservations.

fair point — following trip not planned, let alone booked yet and not happening until the fall. I still have Platinum status on Flying Blue (matching to Platinum Medallion on Delta) and the rest of my international summer trips will be taken on Sky Team airlines. At some point I’ll have to make a decision :)

Also to clarify for everyone: I’m not expecting to reach Silver until this upcoming DEN-YVR round trip flight is taken. It’ll take both legs to clear PQP with seating purchases.

So I ended up purchasing an E+ seat bundle ($165) and reaching Silver. The E+ PQP from my return leg posted today, almost 48 hours after the flight, so factor that into your plans if you intend to take advantage of seating purchases to reach status.

Upon second thought I realized I’m actually not so sure any more about business trips on United in the fall, so it made sense to preemptively spend my own money to secure some status through all of 2023.

Welcome to United Premier Flying.:)

This is correct. The PQP for seat fees posts after the flight. It takes up to 7 days to post.