Earning United Miles On Consolidator Fares

No wonder they are losing hundred of millions per quarter.

Lucky- Last time I booked via Ultimate Rewards points United showed it as "bulk". Would this fall under this group?

Does the old elite bonus still apply to these amounts? The FAQs were a little vauge.

What if you book a non-016 ticket on United-metal?

I was once Global Services. Now I am Silver and soon to be nothing. Bye-bye.

This is a terrible move by United and takes the enjoyment out of searching for and purchasing the best fare. I hope they change the name of the program from mileage plus to money plus.... since it no longer has anything to do with miles. They will lose plenty of dedicated customers.

@ Paul -- Hmmm, I would assume it wouldn't, but I could be wrong.

@ AdamH -- I believe so.

Anything that is labelled as BULK will fall under the consolidator bucket. Priceline opaque fares, some Amex fares etc. The price you pay does not equal what United gets, and they have agreements not to divulge the actual amount United received.

In the past I've shyed away from the consolidator tickets as I got burned once taking the family on a cross country on a cheap fare only to find out it earned zero miles based on the fare code (I think it was on AA several years ago). Sounds like this could be a profit making opportunity for a consolidator then if they want to go that angle, and if they're able to advertise that buying the ticket will earn x percentage miles based on the class of ticket.

Is airfare in a vacation package considered consolidator fare?

@ Al -- I think it depends where it's purchased, but sometimes.

Trade-off: Bulk tickets are not upgradable using instruments. Also, they are not eligible for PQD.

Hi Lucky, if you book a ticket on non-United ticket stock for travel on United, is it gonna be revenue based or distance based? Thank you!

It is frustrating when your company books a consolidator fare in business class to Asia and they spent $5-6 K yet United tracks it as 0 for PQD. Consolidator fares are not necessarily cheap so should qualify for some PQD in my opinion

If I purchase a ticket on Luftansa for United travel, is this a 016 ticket number or does it depend?

@ John -- If it's purchased through Lufthansa then it wouldn't be United ticket stock.

2 questions:

I fly UA but accrue miles to TK. Will I get 100% or some fraction of that as if I were flying UA?

How do you book UA flights via Lufthansa? For example, I have a flight coming up from EWR to MFE. I'd love to book it via a *A partner and get the non-UA ticket but I don't know how.

@ Steve -- If you're crediting to Turkish you would continue to earn miles per this chart:
http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/miles-and-smiles/partners/when-you-fly/mile-table-united-airlines

You can try booking a United flight via Lufthansa's website, though it will only work if it's a codeshare or on a route on which they would sell you a ticket. So it won't work for a domestic US ticket or anything.

I just finished up a feb 15 to dec 15 round trip ticket from a consolidator on ua hardware. got 50% of my miles flown based on my fare class plus the 25% bonus for being silver. got 100% premier qualifying miles. so overall more than double ff miles over what united would have given me based on the cheap price of the ticket and the same premier qualifying miles and also lifetime flight miles.