Prev: BA overbooking - a bad experience
Next: Portable hard drive through airport security?
From: veg_all on 14 Mar 2007 00:43
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!

From: Louis Krupp on 14 Mar 2007 02:11
veg_all(a)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
From: veg_all on 14 Mar 2007 08:22
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!

From: Mike Hunt on 14 Mar 2007 12:54
veg_all(a)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
From: PTravel on 14 Mar 2007 12:56

<veg_all(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1173847392.660993.304360(a)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.



>

 |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2 3
Prev: BA overbooking - a bad experience
Next: Portable hard drive through airport security?