United Making It Harder To Earn Premier Status in 2027 — Here’s What’s Changing

Another one bites the dust. United is officially moving to a revenue-based elite status program and removing flight segments as a metric for earning United Premier status. Starting in 2027, you'll only need to earn Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) — United no longer cares how much time you spend in the air, but it wants you to spend as many dollars as possible on your seat.

Here's everything you need to know about United's Premier qualification changes.

United Premier Qualification Changes

Starting in 2027, United is removing one key metric for earning United Premier status. Instead of relying on both money spent and segments flown, status will be based solely on your spending on United and partner flights and on United credit cards.

This isn't all that surprising, as most airline loyalty programs have moved to spend-based elite status. In 2024, Delta removed Medallion Qualifying Miles in favor of Medallion Qualifying Dollars. A few years earlier, American replaced elite qualifying miles, segments, and dollars with Loyalty Points.

However, it stings even more each time another airline adopts a similar policy. It's especially frustrating when the announcement of a revenue-based program is paired with higher thresholds to earn status, which is exactly what's happening today.

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Current requirements to earn United Premier status

To earn United Premier status, you traditionally needed a mix of Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) and Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs). You also need to take at least four United or United Express flights.

You can earn PQPs in a variety of ways, including United- and partner-operated flights, upgrades, Economy Plus subscriptions, and even award tickets. You earn PQFs on every flight on United, United Express, and partner airlines, except on basic economy tickets.

Here's how many PQPs and PQFs you need to earn each tier of status in 2026:

• Premier Silver: 15 PQF and 5,000 PQP
• Premier Gold: 30 PQF and 10,000 PQP
• Premier Platinum: 45 PQF and 15,000 PQP
• Premier 1K: 60 PQF and 22,000 PQP

Alternatively, you can skip the PQFs and simply earn enough PQP to earn status:

• Premier Silver: 6,000 PQP
• Premier Gold: 12,000 PQP
• Premier Platinum: 18,000 PQP
• Premier 1K: 28,000 PQP

Loyal United flyers getting a lower PQP threshold in exchange for more segments flown was fantastic.

New requirements to earn United Premier status

Starting in 2027, United is removing PQFs entirely. Now, PQPs will be your sole metric. The thresholds for Silver, Gold, and Platinum are unchanged, but Premier 1K is getting even harder to reach:

• Premier Silver: 6,000 PQP
• Premier Gold: 12,000 PQP
• Premier Platinum: 18,000 PQP
• Premier 1K: 32,000 PQP

To put this into context, if you previously reached Premier 1K with a combination of PQF and PQP, you'll now need to earn 10,000 more PQP each year to retain your status — a 45% increase.

You'll still need to take at least four United or United Express flights to earn status.

United is giving eligible United cardholders who qualify for 2027 Premier status a PQP bonus of 5% of the PQP requirement for your status level:

• Start 2027 with Premier Silver, get 300 PQP
• Premier Gold, get 600 PQP
• Premier Platinum, get 900 PQP
• Premier 1K, get 1,600 PQP

This is in addition to the standard PQP bonus select cardholders receive each year. Plus, primary cardmembers can earn PQP based on their spending:

• United℠ Explorer Card: Earn 1 PQP per $20, up to 1,000 PQP
• United Quest℠ Card: Earn 1 PQP per $20, up to 18,000 PQP
• United Club℠ Card: Earn 1 PQP per $15, up to 32,000 PQP

While it's nice that United increased the PQP earning potential on the United Club to reflect the higher requirements for earning Premier 1K, it's not very realistic.

If you wanted to earn Premier 1K mainly through card spending, you'd need to spend close to $500,000 on your card each year, which isn't realistic for most travelers. Even if you could, you'd be much better off using a card with a better earning potential.

Bottom Line

Another airline has fallen victim to a revenue-based loyalty program. Gone are the days when you can earn elite status by actually spending hours in the air. With this new system, someone who books four $2,000 United Polaris flights can earn United Premier Silver status, while a savvy budget traveler who flies United once a month might end the year without any status.

The legacy airlines are in a battle to see which can become the most premium. In doing so, each airline is making it harder and harder to reach top-tier elite status in the name of exclusivity. That's fine in theory, but it's disappointing when loyal travelers are no longer rewarded for their loyalty.