Christine ran her own business developing and managing insurance and financial services. This stoked a passion for points and miles and she now has over 2 dozen credit cards and creates in-depth, deta...
Edited by: Keri Stooksbury
With years of experience in corporate marketing and as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Qatar, Keri is now Editor-in-Chief at UP, overseeing daily content operations and r...
& Kellie Jez
Kellie’s professional experience has led her to a deep passion for compliance, data reporting, and process improvement. Kellie’s learned the ins and outs of the points and miles world and leads UP’s c...
26 comments
Agnes Nemeth
March 17, 2019
Hi! Great article. I have one quick question. Can you ever transfer lifetime miles from one airline to the other. For example, I have about 500,000 lifetime miles on AA but I switched over to United 3 years ago and now i have about 100,000 lifetime miles on United. Can i ever combine these to get to the Million Miler status on one of the airlines? Thank you.
Christine Krzyszton
March 18, 2019
Hi Agnes. Thank you for the kind words and for the question. Unfortunately, it is not possible to transfer lifetime miles from one airline to another. They’re actually not real miles, just a tally of how many miles you’ve flown with that airline. But it would be pretty sweet if you could.
jen
April 29, 2019
What about miles earned (not flown) through credit card spending? I have about 800,000 miles, none through actual flying though.
Christine Krzyszton
April 29, 2019
Hi Jen and thanks for your question. Only miles actually flown on an airline count towards Million Miler status. The miles you have earned on your credit card are redeemable miles or bonus miles, not flown miles. Delta is an exception and does offer a limited number of Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQM) for reaching specific spending levels on their branded credit card. These MQMs are counted towards the million mile total.
Fran Kehr
May 30, 2019
Question. Once I was told that being a million Miler put me first on the standby list for flight . Now they’re telling me it’s only Elite status, the million mile doesn’t count for standby order. Which is correct?
Christine Krzyszton
May 30, 2019
Hello Fran. If you are referring to the standby list for an upgrade, you can find the upgrade priority order published on the airline’s website. You’ll find the order of upgrade priority does not include million miler. However, since million miler does come with elite status, that elite status would elevate your priority on the upgrade list. So bottom line, while million miler does not count when it comes to elevating you on the standby list, the status that comes with it does.
Fernando
July 18, 2019
I’m at 825k miles on Delta and live in MSP. They are by far the most expensive carrier out of the airport. I no longer travel for business and probably accumulate no more that 25,000 MQMs per year (I usually travel once to Hawaii and once to Europe with a few domestic trips sprinkled in). At that rate it will be 7 more years before I make it. In your opinion is it worth it when i could probably save estimated $1,000-$2,000 in airfares per year. I simply ask because I have two trips I need to make (Oman and Delhi) and Qatar is much cheaper for a better product. Thanks!
Christine Krzyszton
July 18, 2019
Hi Fernando. After reaching your first one million mile threshold, you would have lifetime Silver Medallion Elite status which doesn’t get you a lot of extra benefits. I do not think it is an objective worth striving for or spending extra money to achieve. If you find yourself traveling more on Delta and getting closer to the million, you can always decide to go for it at that time.
Chris
September 03, 2019
Hi Christine! I have 1.7 million actual miles on United. Virtually all of it is business travel. I currently have lifetime Premier Gold status for me and my wife. Trying to stretch to 2 million miles. What are the rules around flying United, United Express or partner airlines? For example: Do I earn actual miles if I buy a United ticket on a Lufthansa flight?
Christine Krzyszton
September 04, 2019
Hi Chris and congrats on achieving Million Miler with United. Only flights operated by United and United Express count towards United Million Miler.
sandra
November 20, 2019
I live in Central America so made the switch to Copa when they split with United. My husband stayed with United and is getting close to his goal of a million, but I don’t see that Copa has a million miler program. Are you familiar with their new program?
Christine Krzyszton
November 20, 2019
Hi Sandra. I was unable to find any reference to a million miler program with Copa. You can access their frequent flyer program information here: https://www.copaair.com/en/web/us/connectmiles/preferprogram-qualification Thank you for reading.
Bruce B
January 14, 2020
Hi Christine, I flew so much when I was working, but am now retired. Mostly I can fly with Frequent Flier miles on my Delta flights. But I am close to lifetime Gold status. If I’m reading it right, I’m currently about 18,000 miles short of the 2 million it takes for lifetime Gold.
When I look at my current statement, it shows the rollovers from last year. And under the MQM column , I have 18,000 miles. Should those now apply to my lifetime total? Or are they already in there? (I did not think so). Or are they a different kind of MQM?
And finally, should I fly a couple of paid tickets, even though my original plan was to use FF miles after retirement, I have a lot.
Christine Krzyszton
January 14, 2020
Hi Bruce, fellow Delta lover. Congrats on approaching the 2 million mile mark. First, any MQM (Medallion Qualifying Miles) you earn will be counted in your Million Miler progress as soon as they are earned so the rollover miles will already be in your Million Miler total. They were added when you earned them last year. Being only 18K miles short, I think it would be worth it to achieve 2 million miler status and “lifetime” Gold Medallion. One tip is that certain business class flights can count up to 200% in MQMs so that might help you do it in one trip. You can find your current Million Miler total in your profile after logging in to your Delta account. You probably already know that but just throwing it in. Good luck with your quest and thank you for reading.
DT
May 02, 2020
Hi Christine,
If I reach Gold or Platinum status on American, would I then start each year thereafter with that account balance? So I would only need 50,000 miles to reach Platinum Pro, or 75,000 miles each year to reach Executive Platinum? I’m having trouble finding an answer to that question!
Christine Krzyszton
May 02, 2020
Hi DT. Million Miler status automatically grants you the associated status each calendar year. There are no elite qualifying miles, segments, or dollars granted. So regardless of your Million Miler elite status, you would still need to achieve the total amount of EQM/EQS, and EQD required for the higher levels, not just the difference.
Dan
January 16, 2022
Hi Christine,
For the United Million Miler program, at the 2 million or 3 million mile level, does one automatically receive Plus Points for upgrades each year like the old RPU/GPU’s?
Or is it necessary to requalify each year for Premier Platinum or 1K?
Appreciate the insight.
Christine Krzyszton
January 17, 2022
Hi Dan.The United website confirms that status received via Million Miler will receive Plus Points.”Yes. Members eligible to receive upgrades with their Million Miler status will receive PlusPoints in place of Regional Premier Upgrades and Global Premier Upgrades.”
Madeupname3
June 17, 2022
Do business class on fares on United accrue miles towards a million miles total at a higher rate?
Jarrod West
June 17, 2022
Unfountlatey, business class tickets don’t accrue miles any faster towards million mile status.
Brad
May 29, 2023
What about codeshare and million mile status?
If I book on United and there’s a Lufthansa flight with a United codeshare number, will those miles count toward million mile status?
Chris Hassan
May 29, 2023
No, only United and United Express flights count.
TITO TOLENTINO
July 16, 2023
Will I get AA million miler points If I used AA frequent flyer points?
Thank you.
Christine Krzyszton
July 17, 2023
Hi Tito. Unfortunately not. Million Miler miles are normally earned by flying AA on paid flights.
Abraham
July 26, 2023
Question – does air New Zealand have a million miler program?
Jarrod West
July 27, 2023
Hi Abraham,
I do not believe they do.
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