United unveils big Premier status, PlusPoints changes for 2025

29.10.2024 - 14:11 / thepointsguy.com / Luc Bondar

If you're a loyal United flyer, you might want to pay attention to this one.

The Chicago-based carrier just announced a slew of changes to its Premier elite status program, and they aren't necessarily all good news.

The updates start with earning Premier status, which is getting harder next year with new increased qualifying thresholds. But once you earn status, the perks may be a little bit more exciting, especially for those who've struggled to use PlusPoints in the past.

Here's everything you need to know about United's big Premier program update.

Earning Premier status next year is going to be harder than ever before, as United is raising the thresholds required to attain elite perks.

To earn status in 2025 (valid through Jan. 31, 2027), you'll need a bunch of Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs) and Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs), as you can see in the chart below.

Note that there are two tracks to earning Premier status. The first combines PQPs and PQFs, and the second is a higher PQP-only goal. Each track requires at least four flights on United or United Express metal — i.e., not on partners.

On average, the thresholds are increasing by about 25% across the board. That's pretty significant, especially since the airline's existing thresholds weren't exactly too generous. To put some (rough) dollars to these numbers, a traveler would need spend a whopping $28,000 on United flights to earn Premier 1K status via the PQP-only track.

Luc Bondar, chief operating officer of MileagePlus, told TPG in an interview that this change is about "wanting to reward the value we get with the value we give, and make sure those two things are in balance."

It's worth noting that United hasn't raised the Premier qualifying requirements since it first introduced PQPs and PQFs in 2019. During the peak pandemic years (2020, 2021 and 2022), United temporarily reduced the status requirements due to low travel demand, but in 2023, it finally enacted the requirements it first unveiled back in 2019 but hadn't actually implemented.

Now the airline is ready to raise the thresholds once again.

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Of course, this move will sting for anyone who thinks that United's existing requirements are already a stretch. After all, higher requirements mean that you'll need to spend and fly more to achieve status.

However, the elite ranks have likely swelled in recent years. While it may feel good to unlock elite status, it's hard for airlines to deliver the elite benefits they promise when so many members are competing for the (often unavailable) first-class upgrade or extra-legroom exit row seat.

To that end, Bondar shared that "a lot of the benefits that play out through Premier