Questions and Answers

Hello Ben & all,

First of all, apologies if the topic has already been addressed elsewhere. My query is regarding the new United elite qualification rules.

Out of curiosity (and cynical trepidation), I have taken a stab to see how my prior years’ UA MP flying activity would have theoretically stacked under the new UA premier qualification rules. I ran an FT and google search, albeit cursory, without result, hence my query here .

Have you heard or are you aware of others who have tried to re-run to evaluate numbers applying new qualification rules for United, or perhaps more broadly any carrier that have changed qualification models? In my case, I ran the calcs to see if my UA / *A flying this year would have theoretically qualified me under the new rules. Backsolving the numbers was a fun, but nuanced, excercise when taking into account all the fine print on definitions etc.

As it turns out, in my case, after all the excel cruncing, I ended with a similar result. For 2019, under current rules, I should end the year at 52k UA MP PQMs and retain UA Gold. When run under new rules, I would theoretically hit 10.15K PQPs under the new regime, which I think would land me in virtually the same place by the same margin. I, for one, was surprised to see that I wouldn’t have been “diluted” out of re-qualifcation.

I’d be keen to hear if others have done the same and find divergent outcomes or not. Clearly, each individual’s situation is unique, and UA is patently seeking to thin out the ranks, or at the least more closely align status with a measure more accurately aligned to revenue.

By way of background for contextualisation (yawn), my situation might be a bit nuanced, and my objectives for keeping status on UA may differ than those of others
– I am based in London, but originally from the US (16 years ago), hence my roots with UA (well Continental actually). Aside from my required 4 UA metal flights, all my qualifiation is done on *A (LH/LX/NH among others). I’m stuck with UA just in hope attaining to 1MM satus (and thus *A G for life), and restarting with LH/LX senator status is hopeless comparatively.
– UA Gold mapping to *A Gold is they key benefit as I travel often to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for lounges and security priority and the occasional u/g
– Tavel is mostly TATL, intra Europe, and Europe – Asia
– For work I fly econ UK-Europe, but biz for long haul (4h+), which mostly is Asia for work, but travel paid F/J for personal
– I also juggle to maintain my BA Gold / emerald status, so I am judicious in allocating spend across alliances
– I’m an investment banker (as I presume many of your readers are), and a number of airlines / airline holding companies / plane maker / suppliers / airport companies are clients of mine, so there is some sensitivity!

At any rate, if you’ve made it this far, I’d be curious to hear if this is anything you have heard of or thought of.

On a separte note, keep up the good work! OMAAT is a pure delight and resource trove for me!

Kind regards,
Frank