United Announces 2024 Elite Status Requirements, Increased Status Earnings From Credit Card Spending, But Is Elite Status Still Worth It?

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Elite status requirements will remain unchanged:

United’s 2024 elite status requirements will remain unchanged in 2024.

That’s a very different approach than Delta, which massively hiked requirements before partially walking them back after a customer revolt.

However while American and Delta have moved to a single elite status earning metric, United will continue to operate with earning elite status via PQFs (premier qualifying flights) and PQPs (premier qualifying points).

Each flight segment on United or a partner airline will earn 1 PQF. Basic economy fares won’t earn PQFs. You will also need a minimum of 4 PQFs on United flights in order to earn status, though basic economy, does count towards that requirement.

Each dollar (except taxes) that you spend on United flights will earn 1 PQP. You will earn PQPs on basic economy fares. Additionally, economy plus seat and subscriptions, preferred seat purchases, upgrades, and upgrade award co-pays will earn 1 PQP per dollar spent.

You’ll also earn 1 PQP for every 100 miles redeemed, so if you redeem a flight for 25,000 miles, you’ll earn 250 PQPs. You will also earn 1 PQF for every award flight segment. Unfortunately, you will only earn PQFs and PQPs for United award flights, and not for award flights on other airlines.

You’ll also only earn PQFs and PQPs when you redeem United miles, and not partner miles for a flight. Additionally, award flights still won’t count towards earning lifetime status.

If you want Silver status, you’ll either need to earn 5,000 PQPs from spending $5,000 on United flights or earnings from partner flights or credit card spending, or you can get a reduced requirement of 4,000 PQPs if you also have 12 flight segments.

1K will require a whopping 24,000 PQPs or 18,000 PQPs if you also have 54 flight segments.

Even if you use the PQP only option for status, you’ll still need to fly on 4 United operated flight segments.

You’ll have from 1/1/24-12/31/24 to earn those.

You can view the benefits of having elite status here.

Bonus PQPs for current Premiers for 2024, though down from 2023

While some blogs reported that current premier would earn the same number of 2024 starter PQPs as they did in 2023, United confirmed to DansDeals that it will be half the amount that was granted in 2023.

Current premier members (who don’t have temporary trial status) will get a bonus on 2/1/24 as follows:

Earn unlimited PQPs from credit card spending.

United has dragged their feet in offering status earning via credit card spending compared to AA and Delta, but things are improving once again.

Back in 2022 you could only earn up to 5,000 PQPs from across multiple United credit cards. In 2023 that cap was increased to 15,000 PQPs.

And for 2024, that cap will be removed completely!

In 2023, you weren’t able to use PQPs from credit card spending to earn 1K status unless you also had 54 PQFs, but that restriction is removed for 2024.

Note that the requirement to fly on 4 United flights in order to earn elite status remains in place for 2024.

Earn more PQPs from credit card spending.

• The no annual fee United Gateway card does not earn PQPs.
• The United Explorer, Business, United Club Business, and Awards cards currently earn 500 PQPs for spending $12K annually or up to 1,000 PQPs for spending $24K annually.
  • Under the 2024 program these cards will earn 25 PQPs for every $500 spent, up to a maximum of 1,000 PQPs for $20,000 of 2024 spending.
• The United Quest℠ Card currently earns 500 PQPs for every $12K spent annually, up to 6,000 PQPs for spending $144K spent annually.
  • Under the 2024 program this card will earn 25 PQPs for every $500 spent, up to a maximum of 6,000 PQPs for $120,000 of 2024 spending.
• The United Club℠ Infinite Card currently earns 500 PQPs for every $12K spent annually, up to 8,000 PQPs for spending $192K spent annually.
  • Under the 2024 program this card will earn 25 PQPs for every $500 spent, up to a maximum of 10,000 PQPs for $200,000 of 2024 spending.
• The grandfathered United Select and Platinum cards currently earn 500 PQPs annually for every $12K spend, but these cards can earn up to 3,000 PQPs annually.
  • Under the 2024 program these cards will earn 25 PQPs for every $500 spent, up to a maximum of 3,000 PQPs for $60,000 of 2024 spending.
• The grandfathered United Presidential Plus cards currently earn 500 PQPs annually for every $12K spend, but these cards can earn up to 10,000 PQPs annually. Grandfathered Flex PQPs can only be applied to earn Silver, Gold, or Platinum status.
  • Under the 2024 program these cards will earn 25 PQPs for every $500 spent, up to a maximum of 10,000 PQPs for $200,000 of 2024 spending.
• That means if you don’t meet the PQF requirements, you will need to spend:
  • $100K to earn Silver status (or fly 12 segments to lower requirements)
  • $200K to earn Gold status (or fly 24 segments to lower requirements)
  • $300K for Platinum status (or fly 36 segments to lower requirements)
  • $480K for 1K status (or fly 54 segments to lower requirements)

Of course, you’ll also need to have enough United cards and spread the spending across multiple cards as each card has an earnings cap.

That’s a much higher bar than what American requires to earn status through credit card spending, though American may still raise that threshold for next year.

Of course if you fly United enough to earn the required PQFs and are just shy on the PQPs, credit card spending will come in handy at all levels.

Return of the mileage run?

In the past, some passengers would fly with extra connections to fly more miles to earn status. The need for that went down with the elimination of mileage based status, but with PQFs offering big discounts on PQP requirements and  award segments counting for status, are people going to book awards with as many connections as possible in order to qualify for higher levels of status combined with flight or credit card spending?

Does any of this matter?

Airlines love to keep passengers on the elite status hamster wheel. However airlines used to liberally give away first class seats to elite members and now they typically sell those seats at a discount to anyone, leaving few first class upgrades available to elite members.

Other elite status perks like free award redeposits and waived close-in fees are now available even if you don’t have elite status.

Sure, it’s now easier to earn status via credit card, but that comes at a major opportunity cost as you can earn many more miles by spending on non-airline branded cards.

Elite status may get you extra legroom seating and faster agent access, but it can be tough to make the case that it’s worth losing out on boatloads of miles or cash back (in addition to spending hefty annual fees) just to earn status that isn’t even a shell of what it used to be.

Will you spend more on United cards to earn status?

HT: Gvann, via DDF