retiredtimetogo

I'm going to retire in the next month and I'm one of the few with money left.

So, I'm going to travel for the next year.

I think UA is the best program out there, so I'll go with it. Can somebody explain to me how I get 1k status and *G.

Here are the questions, and sorry for being rudimentary:

1) Once I fly 100k miles, do I get 1k status?
2) Once I fly 50k miles, do I get a *G card and the membership benefits?

Those are my main questions. Or do I have to wait a full year?

I know with 1k you get 6 systemwide upgrades and then 2 per 50k miles more you fly. What exactly does that mean? When do I start earning "bonus miles" for my flying? I am going to book 4 trips to Asia, and 2 to Europe by July, all in economy, so I'll have 100k miles quickly. When do the upgrades start? When can I get priority luggage handling? And also importantly, when do I get a *G membership so I can get into the lounges after a LONG flight?

And what exactly is the *G card look like?

How do the upgrades work? What is "systemwide"? How can I assure that when I book a Y fare, I'll end up in biz class? Do I get any perks at 50k miles; or do the perks really start at UA 1k?

What other perks should I be on the lookout for?

Also, if I fly on say, Air China, to China, I can use my UA # for FF so I get the miles to my UA account, right? And those will count towards my 1k status? Or do I _HAVE_ to be on UA to get the actual miles? I doubt it since they are star alliance, but I want to be positive before I book these flights.

When do deals typically occur for good flights with long distances? I am not picky on where I go - as long as a US citizen can go there - as I can find something good just about anywhere; but I'd like to go long distances to get my miles built quickly so I can start flying in biz and not eco.

Thanks for answering these questions.

Lightman7

In short, you get the status when you cross the threshold - *silver at 25K, *gold at 50K, 1K at 100K. Your SWUs won't start until the following January. Your CR1 will start accruing for every 10K miles flown on UA metal when you cross the 100K threshold. You get 25% mile bonus starting at 25K, 100% bonus at 50K.

BTW - Welcome to Flyertalk! You should read the FAQ - it will answer many questions.

FlyinHawaiian

Welcome to FlyerTalk:

A good overview of Mileage Plus Elite Levels and benefits may be found here:

http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...evels_%28UA%29

gbsfo

Congrats on the retirement. This would be your first error IMHO, but it all depends on what you want out of it.

In answer to the Q's:

1) Yes, 1K at 100k Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM)
2) Yes, Premier Executive (1P) which is also *G at 50k EQM.

You can earn EQM on any *A operated flight provided your ticket is in an earning booking class. See united.com for details.

If you want fast *G, there are easier ways. If you want upgrades you mainly need to stay with UA. If you want full access to reward flights in first/business, you are best off with a program which does not limit access to them (UA does, search for STARNET).

Enjoy.

retiredtimetogo

Thanks for responding.

So I won't get ANY upgrades even if I have 100k miles and am UA 1k member? If i understand correctly, I get the UA 1k status and a *gold card once I hit 50k, but all that gives me is the lounges, and the priority boarding/luggage?

What is CR1?

If I fly on other star alliance airlines, I can use my UA number and get the points in my UA account, right?

Will I get the 100% mileage bonus immediately - once I pass 50k miles? That will make things MUCH easier.

Does UA historically have any great deals at any certain time to go somewhere nice - if you are willing to fly on a short notice or whatnot? Like I said, where I go doesn't really matter.

Oh, and if I get the Chase CC that is apart of UA, will those points count as miles for status, or just for "upgrades".

Finally, (assuming I can do this without waiting the year?) say I have 120k miles in my account and I want to upgrade, and the upgrade is 50k miles. I upgrade. Do I then lose UA 1k?

germansoks

this statement leads me to believe that you are misunderstanding the difference between EQM (elite qulifying miles) and RDM (redeemable miles). EQMs determine your status while RDMs are used for upgrades/awards. EQMs are accrued by flying only (with few exceptions) whereas RDMs can be accrued in many different ways including flying, credit cards, shopping at the UA mall, promotions,.... the EQM counter resets every year on Jan 1st whereas your RDMs keep accruing until you spend them. Using RDMs has no bearing on your status miles.

hope that clears things up a little bit.

retiredtimetogo

What do you think is a better mileage program? It's not Lufthansa from reading their levels, nor is it US Airways..

What does UA 1k status actually give me?

Will I get the *G card immediately upon reaching 50k miles?

What are the fast ways of getting *G?

And how will I get upgrades on UA in the next year if I have to wait a year to get the 6 systemwide upgrades on UA even though I've accrued over 100k miles?

I searched 'STARNET' - I am guessing this is how they determine upgrades. Who is fair in regards to giving you the upgrades? I thought UA is a good choice because it goes both east and west whereas US Air has so many problems, but doesn't go west, either. UA seems to also go to Dubai, so the middle east seems more of an option, as does China which I don't think US goes to at all.

I looked at LH but it seems they are very expensive, and they don't go west either (unless if you fly out of FRA, I guess)..

Thanks..

retiredtimetogo

OK, thanks. And yes it clears things up.

But does this mean since I don't get the 6 systemwide upgrades until a full year of travel (even at UA 1k) I don't get any type of upgrades at all unless I use miles to get them? Or does UA 1k give you some other type of service for upgrades...

germansoks

you are right in that you will not receive your 6SWUs until January of 2010 if you qualify for 1K in 2009. You will however start earning domestic upgrade certs, specifically you will earn 4 500mile upgrades for every 10k miles on UA once you hit 2P status and then 2 CR1 every quarter that you fly 10k miles on UA once you reach 1K status.

And again, as others have suggested look through the UA FAQs (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=336354) and you'll find that many if not all of your questions have been asked and answered before. the FAQs contain a great wealth of information and are a great resource.

happy travels.

ZRH2SFO

Only miles until the year is up. - You will find most other answers by using the search feature on this site. And just keep on reading in here. We all keep on learning new things, no matter how long we have been doing this.
Btw, welcome to FT!

ozgirl61

You will not get 1K status until you hit 100K, you will get Prem ex at 50K. With Prem EX you will get the *A Gold Card.

gbsfo

Ok, first, you have to appreciate that when flying on a *A member you can be accruing miles to any *A FFP. You do not have to fly UA to get UA miles. You can fly LH/US/AC/SK/BD/TG/SQ and get UA miles and v.v and so forth with other *A FFP. This is the benefit of an alliance. Some *A FFP are upgrade-centred, like UA's program IMHO, others like the BD (British Midland, bmi) are award flight centered and do not hardly give out any upgrades, but are great for getting award flights with very few miles.

If you want to buy tickets to earn status and then upgrade, you will have to stick with UA, pretty much. You could go for AC, they have a decent upgrade program, but nothing like UA.

If you go with UA, one you earn 50k EQM you will get your *G card. Then you can go in lounges when traveling internationally. You will also be earning "500 mile upgrades" or e500's which can be used to upgrade flights in Region 1 (basically domestic and Canada, see united.com). If you keep earning on UA, you will get 1K status when you get 100k EQM. This will put you higher up on the priority list for upgrades, and you will also start to earn CR1 upgrades which can be confirmed well in advance of e500's (which is 100 hours before the flight for a 1k). CR1 upgrades are again only useful in Region 1. International upgrades, known as Systemwide upgrades (SWU), you will only get in the January following your ascension to 1K status. If you wanted to take advantage of 1K and SWU in 2009, you will have to earn it prior to Dec 31 this year AFAIK.

You can also redeem miles for reward ("free") flights. These flights can be on UA and on other *A partners. STARNET is the system by which UA accesses these reward flights, and it actively filters availability of these flights on other *A members. ie. you may be able to get a reward flight with LH or US miles that would not be available with UA miles.

You mainly need to decide what you want miles for, *G status, upgrades or award flights.

Ripper3785

ALL of the answers to your questions are in the United Airlines FAQ thread that is stickied at the top of this forum, and already linked to in this thread by one of our friendly moderators. There is also a mostly functional search option at the top right of the forum titled Search This Forum.

And welcome to Flyertalk, retiredtimetogo.

bostonpilot

Great summary. I'd just add a comment from my perspective.

I'd suggest that you do some critical thinking as to what you are looking for in a program and where you will be flying to enjoy it.

For me, I think the primary day to day benefits of 1k (or GS) are most beneficial if you are doing frequent travel in the US - other than SWU's. If you are looking for short term benefits, I wouldn't put the SWU's in the mix as you will have to wait until 2010 to get them.

Depending on the travel you intend, personally I am not sure you will experience the same benefits than many of us see for UA. The MP program is set up (rightfully so) to keep us coming back to UA as often as possible. So, the accrual of E500's or CR-1 upgrades are awarded based on lots of miles, but can only be used domestically.

If you are mainly looking for lounge access, you may want to consider other options, such as joining the RCC (or some other airline's club), or even getting a platinum Amex card, and then chosing your flights or airline based on other factors.

For example, in the past, I've earned my 1K and UGS status based on 5 or so biz class flights to Asia per year, plus a bunch of transcons to LAX & SFO. This has worked well for me as I am riding in C to asia anyway, and I build up a lot of upgrade instruments to fly in F domestically.

Over the past year, my travel patterns have changed and my domestic flying has gone way down while I am still going to Asia. So, I have switched mainly over to Cathay Pacific (CX) as I think their biz class product is superior to UA. Since I will not have as much of a chance to enjoy the domestic upgrades, it no longer made sense to go for the inferior C class product.

I guess my overall message is to take a good look at what you want as it is heavily dependant on what you are doing for travel. Also, take everything you read here with a HUGE grain of salt. We (me included) take this game probably a bit too seriously and we all milk the most benefit we can out of it. The vast majority of us on here are doing this in the context of very frequent employer paid business travel, so we have some unique pros & cons. My hunch is that if we were lucky enough to do what you are doing, with our own money, some of our criteria may change.

BTW - Welcome to FT and to retirment (I'm jealous!)

hobo13

Ha, for a minute I thought you were suggesting that the OP errored by retiring!