Why United Premier Silver is Your Ticket to Travel Perks

If you fly extensively with United Airlines, you must have heard about United Premier Silver. It is the first step that takes you into the elite world of the United Airlines MileagePlus program. 

If you want to turn the unpleasantries of your journey into a delightful experience, you must check out United’s Premier Silver travel perks. Those joyful upgrades, seats with more legroom, faster and more convenient check-ins with the proper knowledge, you can bag all of them. 

The list of Premier Silver perks is long, but to grab these benefits, one needs to spend a generous amount of bucks. So, if you are a loyal United customer who loves flying with them, you have clicked the right page. 

Here, we will be talking about United Premier Silver, its benefits, and how you can achieve this elite status. 

United Premier Silver: What is it?

Let’s get into the Whats of United Premier Silver Status. 

When you fly with United or United Express Airlines, you earn miles and points, which get you MileagePlus® Premier® status under the United Airlines MileagePlus program. United Premier Silver is the entry tier of Premier status levels. The remaining upper levels are Premier Gold, Premier Platinum, and Premier 1K®.

Once you reach Premier Silver, you receive a plethora of benefits, ranging from complimentary premier upgrades to free checked bags, priority check-ins, and security screenings. 

For people who love traveling, United Premier Silver can turn their hectic journeys into gratifying experiences. Access to sold-out flights, VIP access to top properties, and exclusive guest perks at United Hotels are some of the things that you cannot ignore. Now, let’s talk about the benefits in detail. 

United Premier Silver: What’s in it for you?

As a United Premier Silver Elite member, you get exclusive travel perks that include free checked bags, bonus miles, preferred seats, smooth check-ins, and many more. Let’s check them out one by one.

• Preferred Seats: With Premier Silver, you can book preferred seats without any extra charges whenever they are available. Preferred seating is free for you and 8 of your travel companions.

• Free Economy Plus at check-in: You get complimentary access to Economy Plus seats for you and one of your travel companions. Extra legroom, free snacks, and drinks make the journey even nicer for you. But you must know that this benefit does not apply to Basic Economy tickets.

• Free Checked Bags: As a United Silver Elite, you get one free checked bag in Economy, which can weigh up to 70 lbs (32 kg), and three free checked bags in premium cabins. These perks are applicable only on United and United Express-operated flights. 

• Priority check-in allows you to ditch the forever-waiting, long check-in queues. You get smooth check-in, security access, and priority boarding ahead of other non-elite passengers. 

• Business check-ins: You can enjoy business check-ins on Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, Edelweiss Air, SWISS, Discover Airlines, and Air Dolomiti.

• Benefits at United Hotels: With Premier Silver status, you can receive special guest perks at United Hotels. This status ensures that you get access to top properties and amenities like free Wi-Fi, extra food and drinks, complimentary breakfast, and more. 

• Bonus Miles: As a United Premier Silver Elite, you earn seven bonus award miles on every dollar spent on base fare when flying with United, United Express, and partner airlines. Bonus award miles for non-premier is 5 per dollar spent on base fare. 

• Bonus miles on Avis and Budget car rentals: Premier Silver gives you Avis Preferred Plus status for free. This can come in handy if you rent cars a lot. You can earn up to 1,000 base miles per rental. 

How To Get Premier Silver Status?

So, how do you achieve the United Premier Silver status? Well, in one line, you just have to take more flights and collect points. But as usual, there is more to it than just flying with them. Let’s see how you can make yourself eligible for Premier Silver. 

Make an account with MileagePlus and connect your MileagePlus number while booking tickets. This will allow you to start earning miles and points on each flight you take with United. 

How many flights & points do you need to get to Premier Silver? 

• You need to fly 15 PQF (premier qualifying flights) and earn 5000 PQP (premier qualifying points) or 6000 PQP.
• To qualify for the next, you must take a minimum of 4 United or United Express flights in a calendar year.

Your status is valid from the date you qualify until the end of next year. For example, if you attained Premier Silver status in 2025, your status will expire on January 31, 2027.

Another point worth noting is that if you fly 1 million miles with United Airlines, you are rewarded for your loyalty by receiving Premier status for a lifetime.

How You Can Earn Premier Qualifying Points (PQP)

There are several ways that can get you Premier Qualifying Points. Discussing them in detail can help you reach this level quickly!

On Flights: 

• United and United Express flights: You earn PQP on every USD while flying with United® and United Express. 
• Preferred partner airlines: Flying with a preferred partner airline lands you one PQP for every five award miles. The maximum PQP you can earn is:
  • 750 PQP for Economy and Premium Economy
  • 1,500 PQP for First and Business Class.
• MileagePlus partner flights: Travelling through MileagePlus partner flights gives you one PQP per six award miles. Maximum PQP will be:
  • 500 PQP per flight in Economy and Premium Economy
  • 1,000 PQP in First and Business Class.
• Bulk Tickets: Booking bulk tickets on United flights earns one PQP for every five specialty award miles. 

On Upgrades

Whenever you upgrade to Economy Plus or use preferred seating on United flights, you get 1 PQP for each dollar spent. If you opt for Economy Plus subscriptions, you will earn 1 PQP per dollar.

However, there are some terms that you should keep in mind:

• PQPs will be counted on base fares, excluding taxes.
• You’ll get them after the completion of your trip.
• Members who are traveling will get the PQPs, not the person who booked the seat.
• The same is true for the Economy Plus subscription—PQP will go to the person receiving the subscription, not the one who buys it.

On MileagePlus Awards

You can earn PQPs by redeeming MileagePlus miles on United and United Express flights. You get 1 PQP on redeeming every 1000 MileagePlus miles and 1 PQP on redeeming every 100 miles of MileagePlus Upgrade Awards.

You must also make a note of the below conditions:

• The member who travels will receive the PQP, not the member who redeems it.
• Booking an award itinerary that includes both United and non-United flights will get you 

PQPs on United flights only.  

On Eligible Credit Cards

Spending on United Chase cards gets you:

• 1 PQP per $15 on the United Club Infinite and United Club Business cards. 
• 1 PQP for every $20 spent on all other PQP-eligible United cards.

The maximum number of PQPs that one can earn on United credit cards are:

• 15,000 PQP on United ClubSM Infinite Card
• 15,000 PQP on United ClubSM Business Card
• 9,000 PQP on United QuestSM Card 

People having First Hawaiian Bank United World Elite Business and First Hawaiian Bank United can earn: 

• 1 PQP per $20 spent up to 1,000 PQP for the year.

In addition to the above, United also deposits premier qualifying points to help its premier members achieve their goals for the coming year. The amount differs as per the premier status. Attaching the 2025 PQP deposit amount for easy understanding: 

Premier Status	PQP deposit
Premier Silver	300
Premier Gold	600
Premier Platinum	900
Premier 1K	1400

With Premier Accelerator

You can buy your way to Premier status with Premier Accelerator. It lets you buy extra Premier qualifying points (PQP) whenever you fly with United.

Collecting Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF)

You earn 1 PQF per flight when flying with United, United Express, and their partner airlines. The only catch is that United does not give PQF on Basic Economy tickets, so you have to travel by Economy, premium Economy, business, or first class. Non-United flights to Venezuela and Cuba do not qualify as PQF.

If you like flying United Premier Silver, it can be a game-changer for your travel. Premium perks like upgrades, free checked bags, and seats with more legroom are worth a try. Attaining this elite status requires some extra spending, but it is easily achievable. But once you taste this elite status, who knows, you might aspire to achieve United Premier Gold.

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