Huge changes have been announced and there are more to come as the industry continues to consolidate
Since the tag for MB states "Discussion of the latest frequent flyer & hotel program buzz...only" why not discuss various airlines, options & goals, and if it makes sense to pursue elite status with that airline, along with alternatives
Star Alliance - United
There are two major changes affecting UA in general:
The new fee structure
which I believe may be a prelude to further devaluing silver & gold elites as seen by the Premier Qualifying Dollar requirement:
There are still a lot of questions about these changes, but this is what we know
1) You can bypass the spend requirement by changing your MP address to an international address
OR
2) Spend $25k on UA CCs (ToS state they will combine personal & BIZ UA cards into one)
But, what this shows, is a clear direction to nickle & dime. I fully expect some sort of devaluation of miles soon.
This begs the question: I like Star Alliance but don't necessarily care for UA & it's new policies, what should I do?
If you are hunting for *G, then A3 seems like a good alternative, although I need to look at RDM accrual & redemption to see if it makes sense to get status and keep the miles there or get status and shift to UA
for all intents & purposes, at least for me, there is no real difference between the last 2 tiers of UA status and the PQDs make it non-desirable. I am hitting Prem Plat for under $2000 for 2014
One World - AA
If anything, history will show that things will start off not too well then progress horribly.
UA has turned a lot of people off domestically, so this begs a huge question: Is it worth pursuing AA elite status with this big unknown of what is to come, especially since we know how crappy US is?
Sky Team - Delta
Basically the people UA models after, but with horrible redemption rates, so bad we refer to it as Sky pesos.
So, if you want domestic elite, it seems like the big 3 are trying to tell you to go somewhere else.
The big issue is for people who want international options. Should we credit to another program like A3? What would be the drawbacks?
Should we stay away from OneWorld until we know more about the AA/US union?