United PQP Calculator
United MileagePlus qualifies Premier status on Premier Qualifying Points (PQP), earned at 1 PQP per US dollar of eligible fare — base fare plus carrier surcharges, excluding government taxes. Premier tiers also require flight-segment minimums that sit outside a per-flight calculation.
Enter a route, cabin and fare below to see the PQP a flight earns, on United or Star Alliance partners.
Calculate your PQP
Add further segments and adjust detail in the full builder after calculating.
MileagePlus status tiers
| Tier | PQP required from zero |
|---|---|
| Premier Silver | 6,000 |
| Premier Gold | 12,000 |
| Premier Platinum | 18,000 |
| Premier 1K | 28,000 |
PQP-only thresholds shown. United also publishes a cheaper PQF + PQP pair at every rung: Silver 15 flights + 5,000 PQP, Gold 30 + 10,000, Platinum 45 + 15,000, 1K 60 + 22,000. Basic Economy fares earn PQP but no PQF, so they can fill the spend side and never the flight side. The window is the fixed calendar year (1 January – 31 December) and status earned in it runs to 31 January of the year after next. The Basic split is confirmed on a live fare card (31 Aug 2026): a Basic fare earns ZERO redeemable miles and zero PQF yet FULL PQP — status and redeemable earning are decoupled at Basic, so a Basic flyer still advances toward status. One accuracy caveat is open (31 Aug 2026): on the one decomposed capture — a GBP-filed transatlantic fare read against ITA Matrix — United's displayed 'Fare' line is base fare PLUS carrier-imposed surcharge (86% surcharge on that ticket), and the observed PQP was 0.920 per dollar of it rather than 1.00, a near-constant ~$19 shortfall across three economy products. Whether that is an FX step on the GBP filing or a fixed exclusion is unresolved; a UK point-of-sale capture is queued, and figures here follow United's published $1 rule in the meantime.
Frequently asked questions
- How are PQP calculated?
- PQP accrue at 1 per US dollar of eligible spend on the fare (base fare plus carrier-imposed surcharges; government taxes excluded). The cabin doesn't change the rate — a more expensive ticket simply earns more PQP.
- Is PQP the only requirement for Premier status?
- No — PQP accumulate across the calendar year, and most Premier tiers pair a PQP threshold with a minimum number of Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF), or offer a higher PQP-only route (Silver 15 PQF + 5,000 PQP or 6,000 PQP, up to 1K at 60 + 22,000 or 28,000), and every tier needs at least four flown United or United Express segments. Co-branded cards also earn PQP from spend (1 per $20, or 1 per $15 on the Club cards) with published calendar-year caps by card — from 1,000 PQP on the Explorer up to 28,000 on the Club cards; card PQP sits outside a flight calculation.
- Do partner flights earn PQP?
- Yes — partner flights on partner-issued tickets earn 1 PQP per 5 award miles on United's preferred partners (or per 6 on standard partners), capped per ticket at 1,500 PQP in First and Business and 750 in Economy and Premium Economy (1,000/500 on standard partners). Tickets issued by United (ticket numbers starting 016) earn 1 PQP per dollar instead — even on partner flights — and bulk fares earn by the operating airline rather than the ticket issuer; our figures model the partner-ticket path. Award-mile percentages come from United's published per-carrier charts, including the domestic carve-outs (Air Canada deep-discount Economy within Canada and Avianca W/S fares within Colombia earn at half the international rate).