United today just announced that they will be copying Delta’s Revenue Loyalty Program by applying the same principles to their MileagePlus program.

This goes into affect on March 1, 2015 for the way you earn award miles when flying. It doesn’t change how you qualify for Premier status.

Here’s a chart of how many miles earn tier status will earn per dollar spent:

• You will still earn even more miles with a MileagePlus cobranded credit card, just as you do today.
• For tickets that will earn award miles based on ticket price, the class-of-service bonus and Premier bonus will be included in the number of award miles you earn per dollar.
• This new way of earning award miles will apply to most tickets for flights operated by United and United Express. It will also apply to tickets for flights operated by a Star Alliance™ or MileagePlus partner airline when the ticket number starts with “016.”
• You will be able to earn up to 75,000 award miles per ticket. There will not be a minimum number of award miles you can earn for a flight.
• Tickets for flights operated by a Star Allianceâ„¢or MileagePlus partner airline that aren’t issued by United (ticket numbers that don’t start with “016â€) will still earn award miles based on distance flown and the purchased fare class.You will still earn Premier® qualifying miles (PQM) based on the distance of your flight. Premier members will still earn a minimum of 500 PQM on United and United Express flights shorter than 500 miles.

In 2015, you’ll be able to redeem your miles for Economy Plus upgrades, Economy Plus annual subscriptions, checked baggage subscriptions.

We will have a much greater look at these changes later this week, but what are your initial thoughts on these United changes. Is it only a matter of time before American follow suits?