{"id":3937,"date":"2013-10-26T21:05:57","date_gmt":"2013-10-27T04:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jett.in\/?p=3937"},"modified":"2013-11-05T03:50:40","modified_gmt":"2013-11-05T03:50:40","slug":"just-made-united-1k-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/2013\/10\/just-made-united-1k-now\/","title":{"rendered":"I Just Made United 1K. Now What?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>i&#8217;ve been slowly but surely making my way up the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.united.com\/web\/en-US\/content\/mileageplus\/premier\/default.aspx\">United elite ladder<\/a>. earlier this month i flew my 100,000th Star Alliance mile of the year and received my credentials sometime in the past two weeks while i was away in Philadelphia for work.<\/p>\n<p>the question now is, what about next year? after the introduction of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mileageplusupdates.com\/\">minimum spend requirements<\/a>\u00a0(Premier Qualifying Dollars, or PQD), there is no way i will make 1K ever again unless i somehow magically discover a money tree. the deal is you have to spend on average 10 cents per mile not including taxes and some other charges (so, your $500 ticket won&#8217;t give you $500 in qualifying dollars). i made 1K on mostly (i estimate 85-90%) personal spend, and i try not to spend more than 6 cents per mile <em>including<\/em> those taxes. without going into the ins and outs of the requirements, it will likely be pretty hard for me to keep up the amount of travel i do and spend the amount i&#8217;m willing to spend to qualify for anything other than Gold next year.<\/p>\n<p>that doesn&#8217;t mean i have no options, though. i can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>just be happy with Gold on United (lounge access and free same-day flight changes) &#8212; assuming i can make it. so far i&#8217;m not sure i can, but there&#8217;s a chance. i currently have roughly $2100 (if i&#8217;m doing the calculation correctly) in PQD booked so far.<\/li>\n<li>try and make Platinum (which would be great since i do a lot of award travel and with Platinum you get free changes\/cancels on award reservations)\n<ul>\n<li>the only way i could do this is by manufactured spend on the United credit card (if you&#8217;re not in the points game, it means you basically find ways to charge a lot and immediately pay it off) since if you put $25,000 on the card in a year you get the spend requirement waived. it&#8217;s not out of the question, and last night i had dinner with <a href=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/frugaltravellawyer\/\">Frugal Travel Lawyer<\/a>\u00a0who gave me some tips on getting started. i just need to learn about it and do it &#8212; up until this point i&#8217;ve frankly been too lazy (even though i hear it&#8217;s pretty easy).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>follow the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/milenomics\/elite-status-sunk-costs\/\">Be Your Own Elite Program<\/a>&#8221; as set forth by <a href=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/milenomics\/\">Milenomics<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>this might be the best choice since i am mostly closing myself off to Oneworld and SkyTeam (unless the deals are too good to pass up) as it stands, and my ultimate goal is\u00a0<em>not<\/em> elite status, but more travel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>give up on United and switch to another airline\/alliance (namely American) and pledge allegiance to that.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>i&#8217;ve been thinking about it for a while now, and i think this is what i&#8217;mma do, unless someone gifts me a money tree:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>for 2014: continue trying for United Gold and Platinum, only because i can&#8217;t pass up the 100% bonus i get as a 1K on redeemable miles, and i really like redeeming awards on United since the availability is good and there are no fuel surcharges.<\/li>\n<li>once 2015 hits, go Be Your Own Elite and just fly cheap, elite status be damned. the main things i enjoy as an elite are:\n<ul>\n<li>priority boarding (i can live without, especially since i mostly fly international and i don&#8217;t have to worry that much about overhead space in those cases)<\/li>\n<li>priority check-in (again, i can live without)<\/li>\n<li>lounge access (for showers; this is important &#8212; i have Priority Pass Select via Amex Platinum, and i may just take one big Star Alliance trip to get <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flyertalk.com\/forum\/aegean-airlines-miles-bonus\/1338993-faq-no-1-aegean-miles-bonus-all-you-need-know.html\">Aegean Gold<\/a>, though if i&#8217;m not primarily Star Alliance anymore, it may or may not be worth it)<\/li>\n<li>bonus redeemable miles (this is the main rub and will require some calculations &#8212; it may be that i&#8217;m traveling more\/better on cheaper tickets on non-Star Alliance so this isn&#8217;t worth it anymore)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>anyone have any other suggestions?<\/p>\n<p><del>and, as a bonus for getting this far down in the post, i&#8217;m having a little giveaway. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?in_reply_to=394314013846167552\">tweet at me<\/a> or send me an email at jonk at jonk . org. the first two (by either method) will each receive five United beverage vouchers good for one alcoholic beverage each (i&#8217;ll send them by snail mail) &#8212; i don&#8217;t drink so they&#8217;re lost on me. \ud83d\ude42 [update: they expire 1\/31\/<strong>2015<\/strong>, are good only for in-flight beverages, and one set is already taken!]<\/del>\u00a0all gone \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>i&#8217;ve been slowly but surely making my way up the United elite ladder. earlier this month i flew my 100,000th Star Alliance mile of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":4001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"I Just Made United 1K. 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