United Mileage Plus mystery terms

My mileage plus account prominently displays three terms which I have
no idea what they mean:

Elite Qualifying Miles
Elite Qualifying Segments
Lifetime United flight miles: ( i know what this refers too, but what
use is it for )?

I don't understand why none of these are hyperlinked so I can find out
what use they are to me. Really ridiculous!

veg_all@yahoo.com wrote:
> My mileage plus account prominently displays three terms which I have
> no idea what they mean:
>
> Elite Qualifying Miles
> Elite Qualifying Segments
> Lifetime United flight miles: ( i know what this refers too, but what
> use is it for )?
>
> I don't understand why none of these are hyperlinked so I can find out
> what use they are to me. Really ridiculous!
>

Elite Qualifying miles are miles (or flight segments) which (if you
accumulate enough of them) qualify you for elite status, i.e., the
Premier Club. I think you need 25,000 miles. If you fly enough
segments (which I believe is a city pair on your ticket, so Los Angeles
one way to La Guardia with a connection in Denver would get you two
segments, but a direct flight with a stop might only get you one
segment), you get Premier status even if you don't have enough miles. I
don't know how many segments you need.

The Premier Club is nice. You get to stand in line with the better
classes, you can board just behind Business Class so you don't have to
hang around with all those other people, and if you book early enough,
you can sit in Economy Plus so you get a few inches more room. You have
to eat the same food as the rest of steerage; you could say that you
get the best of the worst.

If after a year or two as a Premier member you don't fly enough to
maintain your status, you get busted back to peon. On your next flight,
they'll hold a special ceremony where you board last and the gate agent
tears up your Premier Mileage Plus card in front of the entire coach
cabin and then marches you to your seat at the back of the plane while
everyone points and laughs.

The Premier Club is kind of fun while it lasts, though.

Louis

thanks for your explanation, but I am not sure i still understand how
it all works . but from what you make it out to be it is probably in
their best interest not to explain what it means since it sounds so
ridiculous!

veg_all@yahoo.com wrote:

> thanks for your explanation, but I am not sure i still understand how
> it all works . but from what you make it out to be it is probably in
> their best interest not to explain what it means since it sounds so
> ridiculous!
>

Elite Qualifying Miles - Miles toward qualifying for elite status
Elite Qualifying Segments - Segments toward qualifying for elite status

If you reach a certain mileage or segment level, you qualify for a
certain level of elite status. Do you need an explanation of elite
status? The qualificaton and benefit information for elite status is
easily found on the UA website.

I don't now about UA, but lifetime miles on AA get you benefits

1 million miles - Lifetime Gold plus free upgrades (either 4 500 mile
upgrade credit or 4 VIP upgrade credits, depending on country of residence)

2 million miles (and each additional) - 4 VIP upgrades (systemwide)

Your airline membership card (on AA) also shows how many million miles
you have.
You used to also get luggage tags, but I don't think you get them anymore.

In addition to the airlines' webpages, you can find a lot of information
on elite status at flyertalk.com

"Louis Krupp" <lkrupp@pssw.nospam.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:12vf4c6ntsu5j96@corp.supernews.com...
> veg_all@yahoo.com wrote:
>> My mileage plus account prominently displays three terms which I have
>> no idea what they mean:
>>
>> Elite Qualifying Miles
>> Elite Qualifying Segments
>> Lifetime United flight miles: ( i know what this refers too, but what
>> use is it for )?
>>
>> I don't understand why none of these are hyperlinked so I can find out
>> what use they are to me. Really ridiculous!
>>
>
> Elite Qualifying miles are miles (or flight segments) which (if you
> accumulate enough of them) qualify you for elite status, i.e., the Premier
> Club. I think you need 25,000 miles. If you fly enough segments (which I
> believe is a city pair on your ticket, so Los Angeles one way to La
> Guardia with a connection in Denver would get you two segments, but a
> direct flight with a stop might only get you one segment), you get Premier
> status even if you don't have enough miles. I don't know how many
> segments you need.
>
> The Premier Club is nice. You get to stand in line with the better
> classes, you can board just behind Business Class so you don't have to
> hang around with all those other people,

UA 1k boards with First Class. 1P, 2P and 3P board in seating group 1,
called after First and Business. Non-elites are seating group 2 or above.

> and if you book early enough, you can sit in Economy Plus so you get a few
> inches more room.

Five inches more room. You also get middle-seat blocking. You don't have
to book early -- access to E+ is reserved for elites, for non-elites who pay
$299 a year for E+ access, and for non-elites who do electronic check-in
(either on-line or at a kiosk) and are selected by the computer to be
offered an opportunity to purchase an upgrade to E+.

> You have to eat the same food as the rest of steerage; you could say
> that you get the best of the worst.

Food on airlines is a non-starter at this point. Even in F, the "meals" are
a pale shadow of what they were even just a few years ago. A blocked-middle
economy seat is, for all intents and purposes, "First class light." You
have nearly as much room as First Class and it's really quite pleasant. The
major difference is that you have to pay for your alcoholic drinks -- in F,
they're free.

>
> If after a year or two as a Premier member you don't fly enough to
> maintain your status, you get busted back to peon.

That's incorrect. You must requalify every year by flying the threshold
mileage. Even if you're a 1K, if you only fly 24,000 miles, you're dropped
back to general member the next year. There is no soft landing. If you're
within a few hundred miles of a threshold, you can usually call UA and beg
successfully for threshold level status.

The only exception to this is UGS (United Global Services) status, which is
afforded to, roughly, the top 2% (in terms of dollars spent on UA tickets)
in each market. UGS has no minimum mileage requirements, and fall above 1K
(and, sometimes, above First Class) in terms of the priority order.

> On your next flight, they'll hold a special ceremony where you board last
> and the gate agent tears up your Premier Mileage Plus card in front of the
> entire coach cabin and then marches you to your seat at the back of the
> plane while everyone points and laughs.
>
> The Premier Club is kind of fun while it lasts, though.

For anyone who flies more than a couple of times a year, there are all sorts
of ways to engineer enough miles to requalify. I've had no trouble
maintaining Premier Exec (1P) status just by concentrating my travel on UA
(which, of course, is the whole motivation behind these programs).


>
> Louis

PTravel wrote:
>
> "Louis Krupp" <lkrupp@pssw.nospam.com.invalid> wrote in message
> news:12vf4c6ntsu5j96@corp.supernews.com...
>> and if you book early enough, you can sit in Economy Plus so you get a
>> few inches more room.
>
> Five inches more room. You also get middle-seat blocking. You don't
> have to book early -- access to E+ is reserved for elites, for
> non-elites who pay $299 a year for E+ access, and for non-elites who do
> electronic check-in (either on-line or at a kiosk) and are selected by
> the computer to be offered an opportunity to purchase an upgrade to E+.

If you book too late, you run the risk of having all the good seats
taken by other E+ passengers. (It could happen.)

>
>> You have to eat the same food as the rest of steerage; you could say
>> that you get the best of the worst.
>
>> If after a year or two as a Premier member you don't fly enough to
>> maintain your status, you get busted back to peon.
>
> That's incorrect. You must requalify every year by flying the threshold
> mileage. Even if you're a 1K, if you only fly 24,000 miles, you're
> dropped back to general member the next year. There is no soft
> landing. If you're within a few hundred miles of a threshold, you can
> usually call UA and beg successfully for threshold level status.

After my first year in the Premier Club, when I didn't fly nearly enough
to qualify for another year, UAL gave me "Premier Emeritus" status. The
following year, I was busted back to full peon. This was about 15 years
ago. I would be willing to believe that "Premier Emeritus" has been
discontinued; I certainly didn't get it the second time I achieved
Premier and then fell from grace. But I don't know that, and that's why
I qualified it as "a year or two."

>
> The only exception to this is UGS (United Global Services) status, which
> is afforded to, roughly, the top 2% (in terms of dollars spent on UA
> tickets) in each market. UGS has no minimum mileage requirements, and
> fall above 1K (and, sometimes, above First Class) in terms of the
> priority order.
>
>> On your next flight, they'll hold a special ceremony where you board
>> last and the gate agent tears up your Premier Mileage Plus card in
>> front of the entire coach cabin and then marches you to your seat at
>> the back of the plane while everyone points and laughs.
>>
>> The Premier Club is kind of fun while it lasts, though.
>
> For anyone who flies more than a couple of times a year, there are all
> sorts of ways to engineer enough miles to requalify. I've had no
> trouble maintaining Premier Exec (1P) status just by concentrating my
> travel on UA (which, of course, is the whole motivation behind these
> programs).

Thanks for the info. That's the most complete description of United's
elite program I've ever read.

Louis

"Louis Krupp" <lkrupp@pssw.nospam.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:12vggue46069hc5@corp.supernews.com...
> PTravel wrote:
>>
>> "Louis Krupp" <lkrupp@pssw.nospam.com.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:12vf4c6ntsu5j96@corp.supernews.com...
>>> and if you book early enough, you can sit in Economy Plus so you get a
>>> few inches more room.
>>
>> Five inches more room. You also get middle-seat blocking. You don't
>> have to book early -- access to E+ is reserved for elites, for non-elites
>> who pay $299 a year for E+ access, and for non-elites who do electronic
>> check-in (either on-line or at a kiosk) and are selected by the computer
>> to be offered an opportunity to purchase an upgrade to E+.
>
> If you book too late, you run the risk of having all the good seats taken
> by other E+ passengers. (It could happen.)

That's quite true.

>
>>
>>> You have to eat the same food as the rest of steerage; you could say
>>> that you get the best of the worst.
>>
>>> If after a year or two as a Premier member you don't fly enough to
>>> maintain your status, you get busted back to peon.
>>
>> That's incorrect. You must requalify every year by flying the threshold
>> mileage. Even if you're a 1K, if you only fly 24,000 miles, you're
>> dropped back to general member the next year. There is no soft landing.
>> If you're within a few hundred miles of a threshold, you can usually call
>> UA and beg successfully for threshold level status.
>
> After my first year in the Premier Club, when I didn't fly nearly enough
> to qualify for another year, UAL gave me "Premier Emeritus" status. The
> following year, I was busted back to full peon. This was about 15 years
> ago. I would be willing to believe that "Premier Emeritus" has been
> discontinued; I certainly didn't get it the second time I achieved
> Premier and then fell from grace. But I don't know that, and that's why I
> qualified it as "a year or two."

UA doesn't do this anymore. The subject of "soft landings" comes up quite a
bit on FlyerTalk.

>
>>
>> The only exception to this is UGS (United Global Services) status, which
>> is afforded to, roughly, the top 2% (in terms of dollars spent on UA
>> tickets) in each market. UGS has no minimum mileage requirements, and
>> fall above 1K (and, sometimes, above First Class) in terms of the
>> priority order.
>>
>>> On your next flight, they'll hold a special ceremony where you board
>>> last and the gate agent tears up your Premier Mileage Plus card in front
>>> of the entire coach cabin and then marches you to your seat at the back
>>> of the plane while everyone points and laughs.
>>>
>>> The Premier Club is kind of fun while it lasts, though.
>>
>> For anyone who flies more than a couple of times a year, there are all
>> sorts of ways to engineer enough miles to requalify. I've had no trouble
>> maintaining Premier Exec (1P) status just by concentrating my travel on
>> UA (which, of course, is the whole motivation behind these programs).
>
> Thanks for the info. That's the most complete description of United's
> elite program I've ever read.

I fly a fair bit and almost all of it on UA, so I'm fairly familiar with
their program. Again, I'd recommend FlyerTalk (www.flyertalk.com) to anyone
interested in frequently flying issues -- there's a wealth of information
there, including ways to maximize the likelihood that you'll requalify for
elite status.

>
> Louis

<veg_all@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1173847392.660993.304360@p15g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...
> My mileage plus account prominently displays three terms which I have
> no idea what they mean:
>
> Elite Qualifying Miles
> Elite Qualifying Segments
> Lifetime United flight miles: ( i know what this refers too, but what
> use is it for )?
>
> I don't understand why none of these are hyperlinked so I can find out
> what use they are to me. Really ridiculous!

It's all explained at the UAL website.

EQMs are the miles needed to qualify for the various elite leves which are:

Premier: 25,000 (2P)
Premiere Executive (1P): 50,000
1K: 100,000

United also has a low level elite status called Premier Associate (3P), but
it is not earnable -- 1Ps and 1Ks who fly above a certain mileage or segment
threshold can "gift" someone with 3P status. This is useful for giving a
spouse status when he/she flies alone.

You can also qualify for elite based on the number of segments (flights)
that you make (EQS). As I recall, it is 25 segments for Premier, 50
segments for Premier Executive and 100 segments for 1K.

Lifetime miles are tracked because, at one million lifetime miles, you
receive some kind of perk from UA. I'm quite a few years away from one
million lifetime miles, so I haven't paid much attention.

Elite status on legacy carriers like United is quite valuable. You get the
following perks (there are more, but you can look them up):

- Separate check-in lines just for elites
- Separate security lines just for elites
- Priority boarding: 1Ks board with first class and have a separate boarding
line, 1Ps and 2Ps get seating group 1. Everyone else gets seating group 2
and above.
- Free access to Economy Plus -- UA's coach product that has an extra 5" of
seat pitch, which translates into significantly more room
- Middle seat blocking, as space permits, i.e. UA will not seat someone next
to you in a middle seat unless the rest of the plane is full
- Checked luggage can be up to 70 lbs each, instead of 50 lbs
- Checked luggage is tagged "priority," which means, in theory, it will get
off the plane first
- Eligibility for upgrades to first using 500-mile certs (you're given 4 for
every 10,000 miles you fly), or CR1s or SWUs (given to 1Ks) annually
- Significant discounts on membership in the Red Carpet Club
- A special phone number for reservations and customer service that,
usually, means you'll speak to someone in the US, rather than at UA's Indian
Call Center (ICC). The ICC is notorious for its ignorance of UA's systems
and policies and inability to book more than the simplest itineraries.

If you fly less than 25,000 miles a year on UA, none of this will mean
anything to you. However, if you fly 25,000 miles or more, these perks are
very valuable.

If you are, or are about to become, a frequent flier, I'd recommend visitng
the FlyerTalk website at www.flyertalk.com. With around 55,000 members, it
is THE source for information about flying and travel. It has a dedicated
forum for discussing UA's program.



>

I now have a somewhat better understanding of what EQM and EQS are
but it seems so stupid to have them. A mile should just be a mile.
Since when does a mile become an EQM and why should it matter what
segment I fly on. This is unncessarily complicated. As one poster
replied the 'rewards' are hardly worth it. Anyone who derives immense
satisfaction from a few inches of legroom and 'priority' boarding
needs to have their lives examined...

<veg_all@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1173895597.234797.192300@y66g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>I now have a somewhat better understanding of what EQM and EQS are
> but it seems so stupid to have them. A mile should just be a mile.
> Since when does a mile become an EQM and why should it matter what
> segment I fly on. This is unncessarily complicated. As one poster
> replied the 'rewards' are hardly worth it. Anyone who derives immense
> satisfaction from a few inches of legroom and 'priority' boarding
> needs to have their lives examined...

You are, apparently, a casual flier (and a rude one at that) and for you,
you're right -- don't bother with the UA program. I always find it amusing
when ignorance and arrogance are so closely allied.



>

PTravel wrote:
> You are, apparently, a casual flier (and a rude one at that) and
for you, > you're right -- don't bother with the UA program. I
always find it amusing > when ignorance and arrogance are so closely
allied. >
Thanks for answering my question, "Since when does a mile become an
EQM and why should it matter what segment I fly on."? I do see your
point that these things do have meaning for frequent travellers, i.e
fly every week the same airline. But for the rest of us it is Greek.
So the UA website should make it more clear what these things are at
least.

veg_all@yahoo.com wrote:

> PTravel wrote:
>
>>You are, apparently, a casual flier (and a rude one at that) and
>
> for you, > you're right -- don't bother with the UA program. I
> always find it amusing > when ignorance and arrogance are so closely
> allied. >
> Thanks for answering my question, "Since when does a mile become an
> EQM and why should it matter what segment I fly on."? I do see your
> point that these things do have meaning for frequent travellers, i.e
> fly every week the same airline. But for the rest of us it is Greek.
> So the UA website should make it more clear what these things are at
> least.
>

You don't need to fly every week on the same airline for it to matter.
Some airlines have challenges that get you to elite status sooner.
A transcontinental roundtrip in certain fare codes (and not the highest)
will get you Gold status on AA. You could also get Platinum status by
flying a roundtrip from the west coast of the US to Europe.
If your challenge starts after June 15, you would get status to Feb 28,
2009. Even normal qualification isn't that difficult for some casual
flyers. A roundtrip flight from JFK-LAX-SYD would get you nearly 20000
EQMs (on AA.. I don't fly UA). A single transcontinental would get you
the other 5K. So, 2 trips in one year would get you Gold status, without
even doing a challenge. You don't have to fly weekly on the same
carrier to get elite status.

veg_all@yahoo.com wrote:

> I now have a somewhat better understanding of what EQM and EQS are
> but it seems so stupid to have them. A mile should just be a mile.

Well, no.... For example, flying another carrier might earn you miles,
but they might not be EQMs. Buying something with a credit card might
get you miles, but are probably not EQM's.

> Since when does a mile become an EQM and why should it matter what
> segment I fly on. This is unncessarily complicated. As one poster
> replied the 'rewards' are hardly worth it. Anyone who derives immense
> satisfaction from a few inches of legroom and 'priority' boarding
> needs to have their lives examined...

Well, if your chances of really getting 5 inches of legroom for the same
price of a ticket, then I don't see how you can not see the benefit of
that. Additionally, if you ever were forced to gate check a bag, then
you might understand one main benefit of priority boarding.
I won't bother you with info on things like free trips, free lounge
access, mileage bonuses (double credit for the same trip - awards for
half the normal effort) and other perks of elite status, since you
really don't seem to give a damn. Even casual flyers can earn something,
as any activity of any kind in some accounts keep the miles alive.

During bonus periods, I have earned free tickets for not doing much of
anything. Once, I flew to Europe and got a free ticket to the Caribbean,
PLUS the double miles I usually get. Every trip I make to Europe gives
me enough miles for a free domestic US ticket.


Your right, signing up for a frequent flyer program is a waste of YOUR
time.

>Elite Qualifying Miles
>Elite Qualifying Segments

It's basically miles and segments from flights on United and Star
Alliance partners. A few arcane fares are excluded, but they're not
likely to affect you. If you fly in first class or on very expensive
fares they may credit you with more segments or miles than you
actually flew.

See http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1177,00.html

>Lifetime United flight miles: ( i know what this refers too, but what
>use is it for )?

Not much.

R's,
John