United released their 2025 requirements for 2026 MileagePlus elite status and it’s not great news. I’ve put two tables with the 2024 requirements and the new 2025 requirements below. For reference, PQF is Premier Qualifying Flights and PQP is Premier Qualifying Points or dollars spent. For every dollar spent on airfare with United you earn 1 PQP.
| Year | Premier Silver | Premier Gold | Premier Platinum | Premier 1K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 12 PQF and 4,000 PQP or 5,000 PQP | 24 PQF and 8,000 PQP or 10,000 PQP | 36 PQF and 12,000 PQP or 15,000 PQP | 54 PQF and 18,000 PQP or 24,000 PQP |
| 2025 | 15 PQF and 5,000 PQP or 6,000 PQP | 30 PQF and 10,000 PQP or 12,000 PQP | 45 PQF and 15,000 PQP or 18,000 PQP | 60 PQF and 22,000 PQP or 28,000 PQP |
As you can see, this comes out to 25% increase in PQF and PQP needed to qualify for each status, with some minor differences for specific ones (1K only needs 11% more PQFs with 22% more PQPs).
In an email sent to MileagePlus members, there are the following perks coming for PlusPoints, a currency that once earned, allows flyers to upgrade flights from economy to Premium Economy and Polaris (Business class).
Starting in mid-2025, PlusPoints earned upon achieving the highest tiers of
Premier status will become even more versatile. In addition to using
PlusPoints to request premium seat and cabin upgrades, you’ll soon be able
to redeem PlusPoints for new perks, including:
- Premier qualifying points (PQP) or Premier qualifying flights (PQF)
- TravelBank cash
- Bonus miles
- Gifting Premier status to other MileagePlus members
So as PlusPoints are earned next year, you’ll be able to use them in 2026 for these new “perks”. These new options seem to be in response to the general complaint I hear which is that PlusPoint upgrades rarely clear. So elite flyers are earning these points and are then unable to use them which is frustrating and deflates the value. And United would much rather having pay business class passengers in those seats rather than upgrading someone using PlusPoints so they needed a way to give the points value and these perks are what they came up with. The PlusPoints now feel like a second currency, in addition to the existing miles you earn from flying and credit card spend.
I have mixed feelings about the increase in qualifying points and flights for their respective statuses. One one hand it feels like United is trying to thin the herd of elites in their ranks. By making it harder to earn each level of status, theoretically there will be fewer elites at each of those levels. But that theory doesn’t match what United has said about the market in general, which is that business travel is way down. So with these changes are they insinuating that leisure travelers are spending so much more that they have to thin that out? If so, that’s insane because it doesn’t match the broader economic picture that everyone is painting; That we’re in an economic slump and people are saving not spending.
United clearly has overcrowding issues at their hubs, especially at Newark and San Francisco. Just go browse Threads or Twitter and you will see people complaining that their San Francisco-Newark pre-boarding call for 1Ks, who get early boarding before Group 1, was half of the plane. These are fortress hubs for United with limited competition so lots of elites are expected but with these latest requirement changes, they make it just a little harder for those flyers to earn status. Maybe it knocks that early boarding number down by 5 people per flight. United must have some data to back up their decisions, or they are simply getting very greedy.
What are my plans?
I have my doubts that these increases impact the number of elites at each level but I would love to be proven wrong. I think the spend requirements for 1K, where you get lots of PlusPoints for upgrades and generally more perks, is outrageous and don’t see my travel patterns ever meeting the $22k and 60 flight requirement to qualify. What I struggle with is where to go instead. United’s schedules out of Portland are actually quite good and my cursory searches of other carriers aren’t promising. Delta has similar schedules but they also have similar spend requirements for elite status. Alaska does not have all of the spend requirements but their schedules out of Portland are not great, especially if they don’t fly somewhere non-stop out of here. Because they lack a middle of the country or east coast hub, the connection options are limited to one of their other west coast hubs or via American Airlines and one of their hubs; American’s schedules aren’t much better.
All of this to say, I feel quite stuck. What makes this even more difficult is that I am at 1.5 million lifetime miles on United, guaranteeing lifetime Gold status. If I fly another 1.5 million miles I am guaranteed lifetime 1K. I would love to reach that milestone but just don’t know that I can do that quickly (or cheaply). So, for longhaul work flights, I think I am going to fly the better carriers when I can and credit to Alaska. For domestic travel I am thinking I’ll give preference to United but if they are outrageously priced I’ll consider other carriers. We will see how this plays out in the next few months, I have a few international work trips in the planning stages and I’ll need to make a decision.
Summary
United has raised the qualification requirements for elite status and announced some new things that elites can redeem their PlusPoints for, making up for the fact it is so hard to redeem the PlusPoints for upgrades. The qualification requirements have gone up around 25% for most status levels. If United sees a shift in the economy they can change these requirements or give bonuses and adjust next year.
Do the major companies (Accenture, EY, etc) have corp contracts that change these limits? I wonder if they are trying to weed out the small business traveler, and just work with the big corps…If it wasn’t for some sites with PZ search engines, I wouldn’t value my 1K status the way I do, however I constantly can bring friends/family with me for the price of coach to Asia and Europe, with just a small ulcer developed while searching for space 10 times a day for a month. I can’t, however, argue that upgrades are MUCH harder to come by, domestically and internationally, and unless you can get larger inventory (basically next to impossible) the only other way to solve it is to thin the ranks of the elites. I would like to see the value promised to us (skip the waitlist, anyone?!) return, so I at least feel valued as a 1K more than I have recently, but I am sure that will happen again in the next downturn.
Thanks for the comment. I know for me and for the 8-10 1Ks in my circle of close friends, upgrades have been much harder with international routes, specifically from Y to J. For me, if I cannot clear at booking and it’s a popular route, I’m probably not going to chance it.
Totally agree with you that they should implement Skip the Waitlist for international flights. They gave it a test drive then it disappeared.
As to your first question around big corps having contracts that change the limits: I don’t think they do. Most of those companies no longer work with a single airline but utilize a large corporate TA for expense tracking purposes. Maybe those agreements are in place for the C-suite but even that might be a stretch.
I can’t tell you how many odd routes I have taken in order to find something that will clear at booking. I am lucky to do my own booking, as long as I am under a cap, so lga-ord-lax-nrt-cgk (and thats a simple one) isn’t illegal as I am sure most booking engines would want me to go much more direct.