End of the road for top-tier airline status: Why I'm not even going to try to requalify

10.11.2023 - 20:13 / thepointsguy.com

It's the homestretch of 2023, my work trips for the year are just about over, and for the first time in ages, I'm not doing anything in November or December to try and requalify for airline elite status.

No last-minute mileage runs (which were always kind of a bad idea), no routing flights in a way to earn extra segments, no shifting all my spending to my airline cobranded credit card, no buying up to first class to earn more qualifying points on existing flights, no squeezing in more trips "for fun," nothing. I'm just letting it go.

Here's why.

Related: Is airline elite status worth it?

Let's start with the main reason I'm walking away from top-tier airline status without a fight: The requirements to earn status have just gotten too high.

I've been a United Airlines Premier 1K for the last several years, and last year, United announced increased requirements to earn status in 2023. I immediately knew right then and there my time near the top of the boarding gate food chain was probably over.

When I requalified for 1K status in 2022, the requirements were 36 flight segments plus 13,500 Premier qualifying points. That's still a lot of flying, but it was about what I do in a year if I stay pretty busy and ensure United gets virtually all of my business.

But now, just a year later, the requirements are significantly higher. For example, you need 54 individual flights (defined as a takeoff and landing) and need to spend about $18,000 with United (excluding taxes, fees, etc.) to earn 1K. That's about a 33% increase in one year in spending and a 50% increase in the number of required flights.

As I write this in early November 2023, I'm sitting at 41 segments with United and just over 13,000 PQPs. Last year, I'd be almost to 1K status with that amount of travel and would unquestionably ensure I closed the gap to earn a few hundred more PQPs with credit card spending or an extra trip. However, that hurdle to get not only 13 more flights but about $5,000 more in spending with the airline this year for the same status tier I've had is just a bridge way, way too far.

It's not just United. We all know how high Delta Air Lines raised its qualifications. While the airline backtracked on the thresholds a bit due to customer outrage, they remain much higher.

Not too long ago, airline status was awarded based on how far you flew, not how much you spent. But that all changed in the last decade.

In fact, in 2019, I wrote an article titled, "Is this the end of the runway for frequent flyer programs as we know them?" And while the pandemic slowed some of what United was trying to implement at that time shortly after the article was written, the answer to that question is yes.

I will likely end the year over 80% of the