As JD mentioned in yesterday's post this month we are going to forget about burning all of the points and miles you've earned and instead focus on 31 different ways that you CAN earn miles. For beginner, and even some experienced folks like me, it's always great to lay out the different ways that you can earn miles to use for awesome trips of a lifetime. That way you can make sure you are earning the maximum miles while minimizing the money you spend to get them! We are focusing on United for the simplicity of explanation, but most of these tricks will work for all of the major airlines.
One of the easiest and most straight forward ways to earn miles on United is to.....actually fly United! Now I know that most of you are saying....wait you are suggesting actually flying to earn miles?!?! With all of the tricks of the trade that we will detail over the course of the month it is easy to see how flying is not always the best bang for your buck way to earn miles, but it is often the easiest way to earn miles when you already have to fly.
When I first entered the points and miles hobby I didn't have an airline of choice. I liked a few airlines but I was a poor college student and then a poor graduate student so I would just choose the airline that had the cheapest fare. I would also often not bother to put in my frequent flyer number when I did fly. I figured that I would never get enough miles to fly across the country...let alone across the world...so why bother?
But after researching the basic how-to's of earning miles to use around the world I saw the benefits of trying to focus my flying on one airline to maximize my earning potential. That airline for me is United and their
MileagePlus Program. I have been a member for years but since I would forget to credit my flights in college between DC and Seattle I only have about 70,000 lifetime flight miles....though I have flown much more than that on United.
United's earning through the MileagePlus program comes in two flavors. The first is Redeemable Miles (RDMs) which are the miles that you get for the miles that you fly and can be redeemed for award travel down the line. These miles are the ones that we want to focus on if you are just earning miles to redeem for award trips. The second kind, Premiere Qualifying Miles (PQMs), are used to determine elite status on the airline. These miles are the so called "butt-in-seat" miles that you earn from sitting on an airplane and flying. But for the average traveler the only number you really need to worry about is the redeemable miles that you will get from flying.
The amount of miles that you earn is determined by how far you are flying and what "fare class" your ticket is in. When you purchase your ticket there is often a random letter next to your ticket (i.e. Economy(L)). This letter shows what fare class your ticket was purchased in and in turn will tell you how many miles you will get for your trip. On the chart below you can see that for most people they will earn 100 percent of the miles that they fly on an itenirary because they will be booked in M,E,U,H,Q,V,W,S,T,L,K,G or N classes. These are the basic economy classes and the discounted economy classes. If you fly in a really high fare economy class, such as Y or B you could be earning 125 percent of the miles that you fly. That percentage goes up all the way to 250 percent for a high fare First Class ticket on a flight with a First, Business and Economy class. Unless there is a major major deal, you are willing to drop lots of cash or United's computer system goes haywire (which is actually a possibility) the average flyer will be earning miles in the lower 100 percent earning bucket.
| Eligible United fare classes | Award mile earnings | MileagePlus Premier earnings |
|---|
| Purchased fare class | Base award miles
(including class of service bonus) | Premier qualifying miles (PQM) | Premier qualifying segments (PQS) |
|---|
| F, A (3-cabin Global First) | 250% | 150% | 1.5 |
| F, A (all other) | 175% | 150% | 1.5 |
| J, C, D | 175% | 150% | 1.5 |
| Z, P | 150% | 150% | 1.5 |
| Y, B | 125% | 150% | 1.5 |
| M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L, K, G, N | 100% |
To make sure you earn these miles you will need to make sure you have a MileagePlus account (the link above has the sign up page). You also need to make sure that your MileagePlus number is registered on your ticket. You can check this by going to your reservation and looking at the passenger details. If your MileagePlus number is not show showing you can add it in at that time. United is also a member of the
Star Alliance so if you are flying on one of their airline partners (i.e. Lufthansa, Singapore, Thai, or US Airways (for now) to name a few) you might be able to earn miles on a paid flights with them as well! Make sure you check the earning charts for each airline on
United's website to make sure you are in a fare class that will earn United miles. When you book with their partners, make sure you insert your United MileagePlus number so you will earn the miles on United and not in their program.
So...it's that easy! Have an upcoming trip or planning trips for the future? Do your research (or send us a note, we would love to help) and figure out if there is an airline that works for your city or area and can become "your airline." Make sure you are a member of their airline and if it's within your budget and travel needs to fly them when you need to travel, do so and watch your mileage balance grow!
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