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I just appeared on the Rudy Maxa radio show to talk about United making it harder to achieve elite status by adding a separate spending requirement on United tickets in addition to miles flown, a requirement which came into effect this year and is increasing next year.

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Rudy asked how folks should adapt to this change, and I don’t think he expected such an easy answer.

From United.com:

“Does the PQD [Scott: Premier Qualifying Dollars, the amount you must spend on United tickets] requirement apply to all MileagePlus members?

For 2014, the PQD requirement only applies to members whose primary address on their MileagePlus account is in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Members who use U.S. military or diplomatic addresses (APO, DPO or FPO) are exempt from the PQD requirement.”

Make your address on united.com an address outside the United States, and the PQM requirement vanishes.

Unfortunately, we don’t know if that will be the case next year for earning 2016 status.

The other easy way to waive the PQD requirement is to spend $25,000 in a year on your United co-branded credit card. That only waives the PQD requirement for Silver, Gold, and Platinum, though, so you can’t reach 1K status through this method unless you meet its $10,000 PQD requirement.

I think we budgeted too many minutes for the interview.

 

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