I’m 1 Trip Away From United Gold Status — Here’s Why I’m Not Booking It

I’m this close to reaching United’s Premier Gold status. It would offer more perks than what I currently get as a Premier Silver member. I could qualify with just 1 more trip this year, but I’m not booking it.

For me, the benefits I stand to gain aren’t worth the cost or time involved. Here’s why I’m not booking another United trip before December 31 to reach Gold status.

United Premier Silver vs. Gold Status

Qualifying for United elite status can be done in 2 ways: earning a combination of Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs) and Premier Qualifying Flights (PQFs) or earning a higher number of PQPs without worrying about PQFs.

I’ve stumbled my way into qualifying for Premier Silver this year without intending to do so. I attribute that to some paid business-class fares on a few trips this year. Normally, I just take the complimentary United Silver status that comes with my Marriott Titanium Elite status and call it a day.

As the lowest elite tier in the MileagePlus program, you won’t find jaw-dropping perks with United’s Silver status. However, it’s not without a few benefits that I enjoy. Before we get too far into this, let’s understand the differences in benefits between United’s Silver and Gold tiers:

For me, the checked luggage and Marriott status don’t make a difference, and I consider the extra 1 mile per dollar spent interesting but not enough to change my travel behaviors. The benefits I’d care about at the Gold level include Star Alliance lounge access and choosing Economy Plus seats at the time of booking. Presently, I can only choose those seats during check-in, which opens 24 hours in advance.

If there’s a problem with document verification and I can’t check-in online, then I have to wait for airport check-in to choose those seats — which might fill up in the meantime. Let’s come back to these benefits after we understand how to earn them.

My Current Qualification Metrics

This year, reaching Premier Silver status requires 12 PQFs plus 4,000 PQPs; alternatively, you can earn Silver status with 5,000 PQPs. To reach the Premier Gold tier, those numbers increase to 24 PQFs plus 8,000 PQPs or earning 10,000 PQPs as a standalone metric. (United does have 2 tiers above Gold — Premier Platinum and Premier 1K — with even higher qualification requirements.)

Rather than solely showing your current earnings, United has a status tracker that even includes upcoming activity. My tracker shows that I’ve taken 17 qualifying flights this year and earned 4,387 PQPs along the way. The tracker also shows that I have 4 more flights coming up (1 round-trip ticket that has a connection in each direction) and will earn 481 PQPs from that trip to Florida to spend Christmas with my parents.

Thus, to reach Premier Gold status, I would need 3 more flight segments and 3,132 PQPs. I also could get there with a higher amount of PQPS and ignoring the PQF requirement, but I’m not considering that since PQPs are based on spending and would further increase the cost of reaching the Gold tier.

Is United Gold Elite Status Worth It?

In an ideal world, I could take a single trip with United (or one of its partners) and bump myself up to Gold status, so long as it had at least 3 flight segments (think Los Angeles to Houston to Denver to Los Angeles). Even so, the PQPs would be the tricky part.

From searching around and asking several friends with United’s top-tier 1K status, earning 2 PQPs per $1 spent is ideal. Putting that into my situation, they said I’d likely need to spend $1,566 on flights (and fly them!) by December 31 to reach the next tier.

When considering the increased benefits at the Gold tier, compared to the Silver tier, I value several of those perks at $0. Those include the increased luggage benefits, Marriott status, and the zone 1 boarding group. I don’t need any of these benefits.

After evaluating the benefits I’d get from moving up to Gold from Silver with United, I’ve valued these perks at $150 total. It’s not worth spending $1,500 for $150 in benefits. I love choosing United’s Economy Plus seats, and choosing them earlier would be nice. However, the other perks I’d get from Gold status aren’t worth enough to justify the time and money I’d need to obtain them.

Plus, that would only help me earn status in 2024 for the 2025 benefit year — understanding that earning United’s elite status will be even harder in 2025. This just reinforces my view that not being loyal to 1 airline is the best path for me and my wife.

The Value of United Gold Benefits

The perks I’d enjoy are hard to quantify, however. What’s the value of choosing seats with extra legroom at booking, instead of check-in time? I think I only had 1 United flight this year where I couldn’t get an Economy Plus seat at check-in time. Choosing that seat in advance can cost anywhere from $29 to $299 per flight, depending on distance and other factors. Let’s put the value in the middle at $150. Getting this seat benefit might be worth $150 to me.

What about visiting Star Alliance lounges when flying in economy? I already have a Priority Pass membership that gets me into some of those lounges. Options include Buenos Aires, Seoul, and Paris, among others.

Moreover, I’m not in Buenos Aires, Seoul, or Paris regularly. And the lounges I would visit more often aren’t accessible with United’s Premier Gold status. I’m talking about United Club lounges, which don’t provide access to United’s elites automatically. You’ll need access through a membership or a premium ticket on a qualifying flight. Ironically, those with Star Alliance Gold status from a foreign airline do get access to United’s lounges on domestic flights in the U.S.

And when there’s no Star Alliance or Priority Pass lounge to visit during a trip, I also have access to additional lounges through The Platinum Card^® from American Express (enrollment required for some lounge benefits). I say all of that to say this: The lounge access that comes with United Premier Gold status is worth $0 to me personally.

There’s also the fact I would move up higher on the upgrade list for flights. Given the swollen ranks of elite status, I don’t think my chances of upgrades as a Gold are much higher than they are as a Silver member. Case in point: A friend recently sent me a picture on his flight out of Washington, D.C. He has United’s top elite status (Premier 1K) and was number 61 on the upgrade list.

And that mirrors my experience with flights at my home airport, John Wayne Airport in Orange County (SNA), where United seats in first class and business class sell out on nearly every flight. Upgrades are so rare they are the stuff of folklore, so getting Gold status wouldn’t mean much on an upgrade list for 0 open seats. Even if 1 or 2 passengers get an upgrade, Gold members won’t be among them. Thus, I’ll assign the upgrade benefit a $0 value as well.

Final Thoughts

I could book 1 more trip with United by the end of the year to reach Premier Gold status, but I’m not going for it. After evaluating the costs and time involved, I can’t justify these when considering the value I realistically expect to obtain from the additional perks.