Earning Premier qualifying credit on partner airlines

For flights flown on and after January 1, 2020, MileagePlus members can earn Premier qualifying credit by flying United, United Express®, and the following partner airlines.

Preferred partners:

  • Air Canada
  • Air China
  • Air Dolomiti
  • Air New Zealand
  • All Nippon Airways
  • Austrian Airlines
  • Avianca
  • Azul Brazilian Airlines
  • Brussels Airlines
  • Copa Airlines
  • Discover Airlines
  • Edelweiss
  • Eurowings
  • Lufthansa
  • SWISS International Airlines
  • Virgin Australia

MileagePlus partners:

  • Aegean Airlines
  • Air India
  • Asiana Airlines
  • Croatia Airlines
  • EgyptAir
  • Ethiopian Airlines
  • EVA Air
  • Juneyao Air
  • LOT Polish Airlines
  • Olympic Air
  • SAS
  • Shenzhen Airlines
  • Singapore Airlines
  • South African Airways
  • TAP Air Portugal
  • Thai Airways International
  • Turkish Airlines

Premier qualifying flights

Every flight you take on an eligible partner airline1 earns you 1 Premier qualifying flight (PQF), as long as the fare class of your ticket is eligible for award mile accrual2,3,4,5.

Premier qualifying points

For ticket numbers beginning with 016, MileagePlus members will earn Premier qualifying point(s) equal to the fare3,4,5,6. For example, a MileagePlus member who purchased a $500 fare, traveling on a partner airline in a fare class eligible for award mile accrual, will earn 500 Premier qualifying points.

For ticket numbers beginning with numbers other than 016, MileagePlus members will earn Premier qualifying point(s) equal to the total award miles7 earned for the flight divided by 5 if you’re flying on a preferred partner; divided by 6 if you’re flying on another MileagePlus partner. Bulk tickets operated by MileagePlus partners will follow the Premier qualifying point formula for the airline operating your flight, not the airline that issued your ticket.

Preferred partner | Premier qualifying point(s) = Award miles / 5

MileagePlus partner | Premier qualifying point(s) = Award miles / 6

The maximum Premier qualifying points that can be earned per flight on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines are as follows:

The maximum Premier qualifying points earned per flight on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines.
Class of servicePreferred partner PQPMileagePlus partner PQP
First/Business1,5001,000
Economy/Premium Economy750500

Footnotes

  • Premier qualifying credit is not earned on Aer Lingus, Aeromar, Boutique Air, Cape Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Vistara or Silver Airways.
  • International Basic Economy tickets on Air Canada, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS are ineligible for Premier qualifying flights. International Basic Economy may be booked in various fare classes.
  • The fare is the base fare of the ticket plus carrier-imposed surcharges, excluding any government-imposed taxes and surcharges. For tickets purchased in a currency other than U.S. dollars, we will convert the purchase to U.S. dollars using an industry standard exchange rate and then calculate the number of miles you will earn. Please note that the price displayed when purchasing a ticket on united.com includes up to a 7.5% U.S. Federal Transportation Tax on the base amount of the fare on itineraries wholly within the United States. This tax also applies to certain itineraries between the United States and Canada or Mexico.
  • The award miles accrued on codeshare flights are based on the operating carrier and their equivalent fare class. This could result in differences between the purchased booking class and the booking class flown.
  • Flights to and from Cuba are not eligible for MileagePlus award miles and qualifying earn, except on commercial flights operated by United Airlines.
  • Flights to and from Venezuela are not eligible for MileagePlus award miles and qualifying earn.
  • Award miles are your base award miles earning plus your fare class bonus award miles earning, if eligible. Premier bonus miles earned are not included within this calculation and are ineligible for Premier qualifying points accrual.