(Image credit: Getty Images)Over the holidays, my uncle-in-law asked my husband and I about our big year of travel: A honeymoon across Australia and New Zealand, then a few weeks jet-setting Europe to celebrate weddings and birthdays, as well as a handful of domestic trips.He suggested we must have a lot of airlines points now, and I told him I qualified for Premier Silver at United.”What does that get you?” he asked. “Free flights?”Subscribe to Kiplinger’s Personal FinanceBe a smarter, better informed investor.
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Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-NewslettersProfit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more – straight to your e-mail.Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice – straight to your e-mail.”Nope,” I told him, “mostly it gets me three extra inches of legroom.”I’m not a business traveler, but I typically take a handful of flights each year paid out of my own pocket. I often fly United because, more often than not, they have the flight routes I need. It took the biggest — and most expensive — year of travel of my life to reach the lowest tier of United’s Premier status, and while I’m enjoying the free checked bag, I won’t be chasing status in 2025. Here’s my thinking.Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand the value of status with an airline: I was raised by a father who mocked George Clooney’s mileage aspirations in Up in the Air as low. But the reality is that while I travel what I consider a healthy amount, I’m not a consultant flying out to a client every week or booking a first-class ticket through my employer once a month. And for us lowly leisure travelers who merely fly abroad once or twice a year, I just don’t know how realistic airline status is.So, first and foremost, I won’t be pursuing airline status, or really thinking about it much at all, because I know I won’t be able to attain it.Last fall, United announced changes to how you can qualify for its Premier tiers, largely make it harder to meet the thresholds. United uses a system of Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) and Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs) to track status (more on those definitions later). In 2024, to reach Silver, you needed 4,000 PQPs and 12 PQFs, or just 5,000 PQPs. In 2025, you need 5,000 PQPs and 15 PQFs, or just 6,000 PQPs.Similar moves have happened on other airlines post-pandemic. Delta controversially increased its SkyMiles program in 2023; after overhauling its program in 2023, JetBlue is still tinkering with Mosaic.So if I barely eked in last year, I just don’t think I’ll be passing the higher thresholds this year. This all brings me to my next point…PQP, PQF, Mosaic, Medallion, Companion Pass, give me a break. There’s a lot of complication to airline status, miles and points.For United’s program, you need “Premier qualifying flights,” literally legs of a flight. So to qualify for Silver this year, you need to take 15 (qualifying) flights. PQPs refer to “points,” whic
