Bad News: United Introduces Maximum Partner PQPs
If 2020 wasn’t already rough enough for travel, United has made another negative change to their program. After rolling out a new revenue-based Premier program for this year, United status became harder to earn for many. The one bright spot was earning elite status through partner flights. Well, this is basically no more. United has introduced maximum partner PQPs that you can earn per flight.
RELATED: United Is Going Out Of It’s Way To Hose Its Customers
United’s New Maximum Partner PQPs
Previously, we wrote about the changes to the new program, highlighting how you could actually earn status more cheaply by flying United partner airlines. You’d have to be strategic in terms of routes and fare classes, but it was possible to earn 2-3x the number of dollars spent as Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs).
However, United has now capped partner earning, which basically kills this strategy entirely. Here are the new United maximum partner PQPs:
I’m not 100% sure if this is per flight or per ticket, as United’s wording is vague:
“For flights on or after July 1, 2020, the maximum Premier qualifying points that can be earned on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines are as follows.” (Emphasis mine)
I’m taking this to mean per ticket, which is horrible. You’ll now earn a fraction of what you would previously. You can check out the changes for yourself here.
This is effective July 1, 2020 for all flights booked starting April 29, 2020. For flights booked prior to April 29, you can still request original credit. This must be processed manually. Given the current unknown status of global travel over the next few months, this makes things even harder. 🙁
A Quick Example in Practice
In a previous post I detailed how you could earn a massive 3,540 PQPs from a $1,129 Singapore Airlines premium economy ticket credited to United. This is an incredible return for your money in terms of elite credit. Plus, you’d get to fly the longest flight in the world.
The changes now cap this earning at a mere 500 PQPs, as Singapore is not a preferred partner. You’re actually earning less PQPs than if you’d purchased a premium economy ticket through United.
For deep discount economy tickets (Air Canada or Lufthansa group in particular), you might still come out ahead, as your ticket will earn a maximum of 750 PQP for these preferred partners. This is likely not as good as it was, but the loss isn’t as huge. Premium economy is getting hit the hardest for sure.
Conclusion
Leave it to United to continue to roll out negative changes. While I’ll admit that some of the partner earning was overly rich, these new caps severely penalize people looking to earn United status by flying partners. It looks like United wants to do everything they can to spend money on their own flights, which I guess is critical in the current environment.
H/T: Loyalty Lobby
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Kirby hates engaged loyalty members as much as Arne at Bonvoy. And let’s not forget that United killed off partner award charts today too, because if you’re giving loyalty members a big middle finger, why not two on the same day?