pnutbutrsangwich

I have one last biz trip this year and I’ve made some adjustments to my itinerary to try and earn the last 3200 or so PQPs I need for 1K. I had the genius idea to book ICN>NRT>EWR which should have done it easily but I didn’t realize that Amex GBT booked the itinerary through ANA and not United. The 1,500 cap on PQPs through partners is going to screw me up.

I chatted with Amex and asked them to rebook through United but the agent told me it was too risky since there were no other seats available in Business. They seemed to be concerned that the seat wouldn’t be returned to inventory in real time and that someone else might take it before I can rebook.

So, the options I think I have now are:

1. Call United Reservations and see if an agent can do this for me on the phone.

2. Live with the fact that I screwed this up and settle for Platinum next year.

3. Figure out some other way to earn about 1,600 PQPs by 12/31.

4. Ditch the whole plan and go back to my nonstop ICN>JFK itinerary on Korean Air that I haven’t canceled yet.

Any thoughts on how to proceed?

ani90

is NRT to EWR on United metal? If so would you not get more PQPs than the 1500 cap?

WineCountryUA

If on ANA ticket stock, UA can not do this

Is this the only routing that works?
What about EWR-SFO-ICN?

hirohito888

NRT-EWR is a UA flight, there wouldn't be a 1,500 PQP cap. PQP would depend on what you paid and what portion of that is allocated to the UA segment.

Other options would be to rebook ICN-SFO-EWR, as suggested above. Or GMP-HND-EWR on NH/UA.

pnutbutrsangwich

Yeah that route would work too and there’s inventory, but I was also sort of hoping to hit up NRT to pick up some souvenirs for the kids on the way home.

Thanks for the info on the ticket too. I guess I could try calling Amex GBT and hope that an agent on the phone would be more effective than the person manning the chat.

It is indeed on UA metal. So would that mean that I’m good? The fare is well over 4K.

Both legs are booked on the same itinerary through ANA and funny enough neither leg is on ANA equipment. It’s Asiana from ICN to NRT and UA from NRT to EWR. Really weird.

ani90

Will definitely get you more than 1500 as the bulk of the fare will be the United leg but not sure if there is a way to tell ahead of time how much PQP you will get. When is the trip? Why not take the trip and see what posts and if less than 3200 then see what you can do to meet the shortfall (assuming trip not end of December).

pnutbutrsangwich

Good call. My trip is in about 2 weeks so I’ll be able to see the results well before the end of the year.

hirohito888

I can't say if the NRT-EWR portion would earn you 3,200 PQP, I would expect it should on a $4,000 ticket though. You can go to your UA reservation, using PNR, and at the bottom under travelers details it should give you a PQP estimate.

WineCountryUA

The UA segment will be by fare (as assigned by ANA) and the ICN-NRT will be by miles and capped. Calling UA might get you an estimate but this is only of those area it hard to get an accurate pre-flight number.

The ICN-NRT will be 200-500 PQPs depending on the fare class and NRT-NRT should be the bulk of the fare but I suspect you will in the low to mid 3,000 PQPs in total

pnutbutrsangwich

Fingers crossed! As long as I can get up above 3000, I could conceivably get the last 500 on one of the United credit cards with the sign up bonus.

Thanks to all for the info shared here. It’s super helpful!

travelingdrsuz

I have no horse in this race, especially as an AA loyalist; however, I vehemently discourage option 2 in all cases but poverty. Never settle unless it's absolutely necessary!

tessy143

If you’re booked in J full fare business class and you’re currently 1K status this will earn
2183 PQP

fumje

That's not correct for this scenario. That earnings calculation is assuming the UA segment was booked as a bulk fare, but there's no indication that OP has such.

SPN Lifer

I agree with fumje. There is no statement this is a lower-earning "specialty ticket".

cfischer

United.com should show how much this earns. Agreed that it 'should' be >$3k, but YMMV. 2 weeks ago I flew BOS-LHR/MAD-MUC-BOS. UA only allocated $700 for BOS-LHR (essentially the YQ and zero fare!) and the entire rest to MAD-MUC-BOS. Made no sense whatsoever on a $4500 ticket