One of many metrics you need to use to earn United Premier standing is Premier qualifying factors.
You will normally earn PQPs by flights, however you can even earn them by choose United Airways bank cards. Better of all, you’ll be able to stack PQPs from a number of United playing cards, which can change into extra helpful in 2026. Here is what you must know.
Necessities for United Premier standing
United made some modifications for 2025, making it tougher than ever to earn standing. To qualify for United Premier standing legitimate by Jan. 31, 2027, you will need to take not less than 4 United or United Specific flights and meet one of many following necessities by your exercise in 2025.
| Standing tier | Necessities to qualify by PQPs alone | Necessities to qualify by PQPs and Premier qualifying flights |
|---|---|---|
| Premier Silver | 6,000 PQPs | 5,000 PQPs and 15 PQFs |
| Premier Gold | 12,000 PQPs | 10,000 PQPs and 30 PQFs |
| Premier Platinum | 18,000 PQPs | 15,000 PQPs and 45 PQFs |
| Premier 1K | 28,000 PQPs | 22,000 PQPs and 60 PQFs |
You will get Premier Silver standing by United’s partnership with Marriott, and frequent vacationers might be able to snag lifetime United standing. However in any other case, you will need to requalify for United standing annually to proceed having fun with its advantages.
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Incomes PQPs by United bank cards
In addition to flights, you can even earn PQPs by United bank cards. United just lately overhauled a number of playing cards, so now the incomes price for PQPs and the utmost variety of PQPs you’ll be able to earn differ primarily based on card kind as follows:
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The data for the United Membership Enterprise Card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or supplied by the cardboard issuer.
That is proper: You can, in concept, earn Premier 1K standing primarily based solely on card spending with the United Membership Card or the United Membership Enterprise Card. These two playing cards carry excessive annual charges however earn PQPs on the highest charges. So, for those who resolve to give attention to incomes PQPs by spending on a United card, you may need one in every of these two playing cards.
Beginning in 2026, some United playing cards will provide card bonus PQPs annually to vacationers who have been cardmembers as of Dec. 31 of the prior 12 months. Particularly, United Quest Card members will earn 1,000 card bonus PQPs annually, whereas United Membership Card and United Membership Enterprise Card members will earn 1,500 card bonus PQPs annually. Better of all, these card bonus PQPs shall be stackable when you have a number of United playing cards.
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Backside line
You can earn all of the PQPs wanted for top-tier Premier 1K standing from bank cards alone, however doing so would require plenty of spending. To not point out, you doubtless will not get vital worth from having United Premier standing for those who do not fly with the airline sufficient to earn an honest chunk of PQPs from flying.
As such, I like to recommend incomes most of your PQPs from flying and utilizing a number of United bank cards to high off your PQP steadiness with spending (and, beginning in 2026, card bonus PQPs). When you’re involved in stacking card bonus PQPs in 2026 and past, guarantee you’ve got some mixture of the United Quest Card, the United Membership Card and the United Membership Enterprise Card in your pockets on the finish of 2025.
