Questions and Answers

Hello dear Friends.

I would like to ask for your help on how to get back my Premier Elite status in United.

I have over 200k miles in United but since all were done via Star Alliance partners, those are not eligable to status and I was recently back to “basic” status although I fly almost every week.

United rule is 4 flights via United in 1 calendar year and I dont fly to USA any more, only to Europe (From Israel) but I still place all my miles on United (Usually I fly Turkish, SWISS, Austrian, Luftansa).

I still keep placing my miles on United and didnt move to other star-alliance company since it seems United is still the best option to use your miles and charge lowest tax even when I book via any other partner.

E.g. Luftansa charge more than double tax for same reward tickets.

Please your help how to proceed and get back my Elite status:

1. Any suggestions how to have Elite and still stay on United without flying to USA?

2. Should I leave United program and move to other? Which one you recommend if I use my miles?

Thank you very much for your help

Premier Elite is not a status on UA, you have Silver, Gold, 1K, and Global Services. If you were Gold or 1K maybe try to get it back, but you do have to fly 4 segments on a UA airplane. They have a fifth freedom route you could fly (SIN-HKG) or fly out of Guam. My recommendation would be to do a mileage run to the USA or Guam for four segments. If you were silver I wouldn’t get it back.

You will not get it back for the rest of 2017 until you earn it, although you could call and ask UA for a status challenge and maybe get it back for 90 days.

Hi Brad

Thank you for your answer.
You are correct. I was indeed 1k, than down to Gold and now with no status.
So per your reply, there is no way to get back my status and the only option is have 4 flights with UA.

So my next question, out of all StarAliance partners, which one is most recommended in Europe region? Recommended for issuing bonus tickets via miles.

Thx
Asaf

If you are most concerned with fuel surcharges it may be best to fly to the USA and back on united which ultimately may be cheaper, DUB-EWR-CLE-EWR-DUB would get four segments in a weekend and most of the time DUB flights are cheap. Which could be cheaper than paying fuel surcharges.

If you can qualify for LH Senator that is a great status but they have hefty fuel surcharges but it is hard to get Miles and More miles other than with flying or their credit card.

Thx Brad. Didnt really understand why you suggest I take flight from Dublin (I live in Israel) but I understand there is no real option and will need to wait until I fly to the states and get 4 flights via united.

[USER=2694]@Asaf[/USER], he probably suggested it because you mentioned you travel to Europe and a quick round trip from there would be a relatively easier and maybe cheaper way to get the four UA metal segments.

That is what I was suggesting as often UA has cheap fares out of DUB and you can usually cheaply get to DUB from most places in Europe, however from Israel it may be more expensive.