Your ultimate guide to earning PQPs with United Airlines cards

United Airlines MileagePlus members with cobranded Chase credit cards can earn Premier qualifying points toward United elite status by hitting certain card spending requirements. The airline recently announced some changes to how it credits PQPs from credit card spending, too.

Remember, you need to earn a certain number of PQPs annually to qualify for United’s coveted Premier elite status. Generally, the only way to earn PQPs is through flying or, perhaps more accurately, spending lots of money on United and Star Alliance flights.

So, is earning PQPs on a credit card through everyday spending better than breaking the bank on flights? It might be, but accruing PQPs on MileagePlus credit cards still requires a lot of spending.

Let’s look at how MileagePlus credit cards earn PQPs.

Earning PQPs on United credit cards

Effective Jan. 1, you now earn 25 PQPs per $500 spent on many of United’s cobranded cards — up to PQP maximums (which depend on the MileagePlus credit cards you have). This is notably better than before, as you had to spend at least $12,000 to earn any PQPs via United cards.

However, even with the changes, earning PQPs from credit card spending isn’t as easy as earning Loyalty Points toward American Airlines elite status with a credit card. With American, $1 spent equals 1 Loyalty Point. United is essentially awarding 1 PQP for every $20 spent — but only when you hit increments of $500 in spending. In other words, spending $499 won’t get you any PQPs, but spending one more dollar will get you 25.

In addition, there is a wide range of how many PQPs you can earn with United credit cards. Some offer none, while others offer up to 10,000 PQPs per year. In addition, many of these are no longer available to new applicants but still offer a pathway to earning PQPs.

Here’s how these cards are grouped for PQP-earning purposes:

Cards that don’t earn PQPs

There are a few no-annual-fee cards that don’t earn PQPs through credit card spending, including:

The information for the United MileagePlus Card and United TravelBank Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Cards that earn up to 1,000 PQPs

The following cards earn 25 PQPs per $500 spent, up to 1,000 PQPs in a calendar year:

The information for the United Club Business, MileagePlus Awards, MileagePlus Card with an annual fee and MileagePlus Business Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Cards that earn up to 3,000 PQPs

Only one card earns 25 PQPs per $500 spent, up to 3,000 PQPs in a calendar year:

• United MileagePlus Select Card

The information for the United MileagePlus Select Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Cards that earn up to 6,000 PQPs

In 2022, United doubled the maximum number of PQPs from this card. It still earns 25 PQPs per $500 spent, up to 6,000 PQPs in a calendar year.

Cards that earn up to 10,000 PQPs

With 25 PQPs per $500 spent, up to 10,000 PQPs in a calendar year, these cards are the golden geese for earning PQPs through credit card spending. Unfortunately, the latter two cards have been closed to new members for years.

The information for the United Presidential Plus and United Presidential Plus Business cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

How many PQPs can come from credit card spending?

Previously, you could earn up to 15,000 PQPs on eligible card spending in a calendar year per MileagePlus account. That’s no longer the case.

If you have multiple United MileagePlus credit cards, you can distribute your spending across them without being limited by a universal cap. Just remember, each card has its own specific cap for earning PQPs.

In addition, there’s a new enhancement related to United’s Premier 1K status.

Previously, unless you were earning PQPs with the United Presidential Plus Card or the United Presidential Plus Business Card, you still needed to earn the 54 Premier qualifying flights to qualify for Premier 1K status. Card-earned PQPs didn’t count toward Premier 1K status unless you met the PQF requirement, too.

However, that restriction is gone now. All card-earned PQPs will now count toward each status level, including the PQP-only requirement for Premier 1K status.

Related: What is United Airlines elite status worth?

Bottom line

You can use select United MileagePlus credit cards to earn PQPs and qualify for Premier status, and this has been enhanced for 2024. That said, earning PQPs through these cards requires a lot of annual spending. The various United credit cards have significant variations in the maximum number of PQPs you can earn.

Just remember that to qualify for any level of Premier status, you must take a minimum of four flights on United or United Express in a calendar year.