Can someone tell me what United's elite qualifing segments are and how do you use them?

Aloha!

It's an alternative to elite qualifying miles for reaching various status levels - I guess designed for people who fly many short flights. Generally, one flight segment equals one EQS, except for full fare and first/business fares, which I think are 1.5 per flight segment (I'd need to go look that up since I rarely, if ever, fly on those fares).

30 EQS = Premier
50 EQS = Premier Executive
100 EQS = 1K

Most airlines have a similar thing - to qualify for each level you have to fly either a certain number of segments or a certain number of miles.

Qualifying on basis of segments is not just for really short flights - my husband flies UA Boston-Chicago frequently and qualifies based on segments, but not on miles.

First level elite does not really get you much anyway - on UA the main thing is sometimes you end up with an economy plus seat, which has a little more leg room.

Basic level Premiere is 30 EQS or 25,000 EQM, so technically, if your average flight is under 833.33 miles, then you'll qualify with EQS.

[ORD-BOS is a few miles over 833, but gail's husband may be flying a few flights that are shorter than than.]

thank you all!!!

Yes, 1.5 EQS for Y or B Economy or higher fare.
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,3122,00.html

To rkkwan - I knew it! He has been slipping off to some exotic destination like Newark.

ht, i consider bill as the ua guru, and i intend to pick his brain on saturday nite.

perhaps we can convince him to join us in the warm up session at longhis, and also get some pointers on japan travels.

see you guys there. only three more days.

I will have to get the details from the GTG thread. Is longhis the g.c. that you mentioned? Am always interested in talking about Japan and FF miles!

not too sure what gc means, but a few of us(all invited) will be at longhis(at the ala moana shopping center) at 5pm for a few libations before the actual gtg at seoul garden at 6pm.

you are most welcomed to join us, and let us learn from the ua mp/nippon sensei.

You can't really "use" segments. They go towards establishing/maintaining your status level. They become useful when your travelling involves lots of short flights with connections instead of long direct flights. Once you reach one of the elite levels you can use your status to get more miles per trip or E+ seating or group 1 boarding or Premier Customer Service phone numbers, etc, etc.