A new era of airline loyalty programs has arrived. United Airlines announced this week that the criteria for elite qualification in its MileagePlus loyalty program would change dramatically next year. Starting in January of 2020, United’s loyalty members will earn elite status based on Premier Qualifying Flights and Premier Qualifying Segments only. Flight miles, the traditional metric by which frequent flyers used to earn status, are no longer going to be considered.
It wasn’t too long ago that frequent flyers on American, Delta, and United earned elite status based solely on how far they fly. If a passenger flew 100,000 miles or 100 segments on any of the carriers, for example, top-tier (published) status was awarded, yielding perks such as upgrades, free checked bags, and free seat assignments.
In 2013, however, that formula changed when
Delta introduced qualifying dollars to its equation for calculating for elite status. From that point forward, frequent flyers needed to earn a baseline number of miles or segments and also spend a companion amount of cash — up to $15,000 for the top published tier — to earn the same status as before. American and United
quickly followed suit leaving only Alaska with its legacy earning structure.
Now United is taking the mileage out of the equation. MileagePlus members next year will earn status based on both Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) or Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs) along with PQPs. Premier Qualifying Points, which are effectively the same as Premier Qualifying Dollars in the current MileagePlus economy, are earned on a 1:1 basis as a function of how much is spent on a ticket (exclusive of taxes).
More at:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unite...004517128.html
Connect With Us