United Airlines has announced changes to their 2020 Premier program. These changes affect how you earn Premier status and what counts towards qualification. In summary, you’ll now qualify based on new Premier Qualifying Points and Premier Qualifying flights.

Here’s how to qualify for each Premier status level beginning on January 1, 2020, for status in the 2021 program year:

• Premier Silver: 12 PQF and 4,000 PQP; or 5,000 PQP
• Premier Gold 24 PQF and 8,000 PQP; or 10,000 PQP
• Premier Platinum 36 PQF and 12,000 PQP; or 15,000 PQP
• Premier 1K 54 PQF and 18,000 PQP; or 24,000 PQP

With Premier qualifying flights (PQF), every flight you take gets you closer to status. And by a flight, we mean a takeoff and landing — no more fare class multipliers and confusing segment math.

Basic Economy tickets will be eligible to earn Premier qualifying points, but will not accrue PQF. Award tickets also do not accrue PQF.

You’ll receive 1 Premier qualifying point (PQP) for each U.S. dollar you spend. Like before, only the base fare of your flight earns PQP. 

Although spend requirements for each tier are increasing, there are also more ways to earn PQP and meet your spend requirement than before:

• Base fare + surcharge
• Economy Plus seating or subscriptions
• Preferred seat purchases
• *NEW* MileagePlus Upgrade Award co-pays
• *NEW* Paid upgrades
• *NEW* Flights ticketed and operated by our Star Alliance partners

Earning with United Credit Cards: 

For program year 2020, MileagePlus members who are also primary United MileagePlus Chase Cardmembers are eligible to earn PQP based on their annual credit card spend.

• Starting on January 1, 2020, United Cardmembers who are eligible for a PQD waiver, PQM, or Flexible PQM (FPQM)² based on annual card spend will be offered ways to earn Premier qualifying points (PQP) based on annual card spend³. The ability to earn a PQD waiver, PQM, or FPQM on these cards will end on December 31, 2019.
• We’ll no longer waive the 4-segment minimum for members with eligible MileagePlus Chase Cards. Each member must take a minimum of 4 flights on United or United Express to be eligible for Premier status. Removing these waivers aligns qualification requirements for all of our members.
• The United^SM Explorer Card, United Club^SM Card, United^SM Explorer Business Card, United Club^SM Business Card, United MileagePlus^® Awards Card, United MileagePlus^® Card, and United MileagePlus^® Business Card earn 500 PQP for every $12,000 in card spend, up to 1,000 PQP in a calendar year, that can be applied up to Platinum.
• The United MileagePlus^® Select Card and United MileagePlus^® Platinum Class Visa Card earn 500 PQP for every $12,000 in card spend, up to 3,000 PQP in a calendar year, that can be applied up to 1K.
• The United^SM Presidential Plus^SM Card and United^SM Presidential Plus^SM Business Card earn 500 PQP for every $12,000 in card spend, up to 10,000 PQP in a calendar year, that can be applied up to 1K.