I dropped from 1K to Premier Gold this year on United - a big change for me. Just signed up for their 1K challenge - will need to fly 35,000 qualifying miles over the next 90 days in order to “win”. I was told that if I hit 18,000 qualifying miles they’ll give me Platinum status…so that’s nice.
Have ~7,000 miles booked over the next week so I’m feeling good about this. It’s time to fly.
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swing by singapore a couple of weekends and you’re golden… or 1k’en… 
Too much work for me with domestic legs only. I reach Prem.Gold each year, but fly over 30K on other airlines because UA can’t offer me better pricing or direct routes other airlines offer me. Would love to fly UA only to get 1K, but just not worth it with their limited routes/times.
You are a status addict. I flew every week last month but only 6k EQMs…
If you weren’t ORD based, I would have recommended you status challenge over to the best domestic carrier these days, Delta.
Delta has been kicking butt, for sure, but their mileage program is garbage. While it’s hard to argue which airline is performing better at the moment (Delta), MileagePlus is the clear winner when it comes to loyalty programs.
I’ve been buying P,Y, and B fares so they’re all earning 150% PQM/PQS…certainly helps!
24,003 miles down, 10,997 to go.
Congrats! so basically you’ve got it. i mean 11K is like a trip anywhere to Europe/Latin America/Asia no?
April 6th… cherry blossom season in Tokyo… 
NRT run for a day?
understatement of the decade
Damn Mark! You just have no love for us domestic, short leg UA fliers! ;-D
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For top-tier fliers, IMO AA clearly has the best program. ExPlat is the best status in the industry by far. Domestic upgrades just about always clear, the 8 SWUs for international travel have no fare-class restriction (a huge advantage over UA and DL), and the customer service at the EXP desk is amazing. Unfortunately AA’s route network can’t come close to matching Delta or United at the moment, and AA’s fares tend to run higher.
The seat miles are becoming more painful and the time wasted in the airports more annoying.
Dorothy was right, there’s no place like home.
Last year I was both 1K and EXP. I hardly flew AA, but when I did the service level was light years ahead of UA. Now that AA will be run by US, I haven’t thought about flying with them. I’m still disgruntled from what America West did to the old US Airways to ever go back until the management team is overhauled.
Also, for ORD based fliers the AA route network doesn’t come close to UA…and I couldn’t stand connecting all the time in DFW (hate that airport).
I’ve made three trips to Seoul this year in P and Z so I have about 50k EQM already, but I wasn’t challenged either. After ten years flying 100-150k on coach tickets it’s such a relief to know I have the good seat.
Out of curiosity, where did you travel thru DFW that you couldn’t fly non-stop from ORD? I know there are a few places (PDX and SMF come to mind offhand), but most places are jointly served.
PDX is a big one for me - I do see that ORD-PDX AA service is resuming on 6/12. I also travel a lot to JAX, and AA only flies regional jets while UA services it with mainline planes.
AND MD-80’s are awful planes! Good lord please retire those beasts!
indeed they are. the 737s are coming on line but not quickly enough