United Makes Top-Tier Elite Status Harder to Earn

The news passed quietly while Skift Global Forum was in full force last month, but it was significant: United Airlines is changing the qualification criteria for earning top-tier elite status in its MileagePlus program. For the past several years, American, Delta, and United have all used a formula for calculating elite status that includes both miles flown and dollars spent in a calendar year. To earn low-level elite status, for example, a traveler must fly 25,000 miles and spend $3,000 on tickets. Earning top-tier status used to take 100,000 miles and $12,000 in spend on American and United, while those on Delta had to fly 125,000 miles and spend $15,000. Next year, however, United passengers will have to fly 100,000 miles and spend $15,000. That's an increase of 25 percent in spend year-over-