6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler: Flying Gold Status United Airlines 1 Year Review

Star Alliance Lounge LAX My Favorite Lounge in the USA

2021 and 2022 I ended up traveling a lot more than anticipated. At the end of 2021 I missed Gold Status by a small margin, 2022, I was very set on getting that status. I already had Silver Status and the Silver experience in 2022. I wanted to make sure I flew United Airlines enough in 2022 to get my status in 2023. In the end for my last flight of the year to Argentina I flew to Buenos Aires in a 3 leg flight, significantly longer than if I had flown American Airlines, and a bit more expensive.... But I knew that it would put me right at the PQP, which was $7000 at the time I believe, and PQF, which was 24 flights with United. While I discussed in this blog and on YouTube how I don't believe it is worth it to chase status as many of the benefits are cheaper to itemize, this was not such a big deal to change one flight, so I went for it, and flew a lot of 2023 with Gold Status.

Here's my quick take and my experiences with flying Gold Status:

First benefits is free checked bags, I only travel with a carry on, so no goal there.

Adjusting the seat to bed in business class
Free access to economy plus at booking for me and one person, this was a BIG DEAL. Especially since it includes the exit row for long haul flights, it saved me around $700 and I enjoyed the extra leg room for a few flights to Europe.

Much better menu in business!
Group 1 Boarding: This was another big convenience because after 2022, Group 2 was getting bigger and bigger. Since I do travel with only the carry on it was nice to know there was no way we would run out of overhead space before I boarded.
8x miles earned on every purchased flight was another great benefit as the following year I used those miles for a $10,000 upgrade to business class from Seoul to San Francisco with only 20,000 miles or so.
Business Class Lounge for international flights was very nice, the lounge at my home base airport isn't the best, but the Star Alliance Lounge in LAX is my favorite lounge in the United States at the time of writing this.

My home airport United Lounge PHX, not my favorite, but good place to start the day regardless.
Business Class Upgrades, ok this is probably the big one, I was upgraded several times, I'm a year late writing this article so unfortunately I don't remember, lets say 5 out of 25 flights. But again, this is not a reason to chase status, I was upgraded on the unpopular routes, Houston to El Salvador both ways comes to mind. You are very unlikely to get upgraded on a major route like LAX to JFK, and really heart breaking they don't upgrade all international flights, only a few, if its a wide body aircraft with the full flat beds, they probably don't upgrade. A heart breaking moment I remember going to Germany where nearly all of business class was empty and I read the fine print.

But that being said the upgrades I had were definitely nice.

So here's my final take, like silver status, don't chase it, it's great to have but every benefit of status can be purchased with individual tickets. This year (2025), Silver status is going to be 6,000 PQP and Gold will be 12,000 PQP! I may hit silver but I definitely won't be spending enough to hit Gold. I'm toying with the idea of Africa or Asia for New Years. Those would be well worth a look at business class flights, I can't get the upgrade even with Gold but I can get it with points, so I will lean more towards that. If its one more flight or a few hundred bucks at the end of the year, maybe book a last minute flight, but other than that, in my opinion it's not gonna be worth it this year.

BONUS TIP: The benefits the year I had it didn't expire until Jan 31. So especially the premium economy was worth a last minute booking.

Bed time for South Korea to San Francisco

Like many things in life, I'm happy I got to enjoy Gold Status for a year. But I accept letting it go. I will definitely continue to hang in the lounges or fly business through other ways. But as with all things with travel, even though it didn't last forever, I'm grateful for the experience it gave me.