I'm needing to transfer a good chunk of miles to Hilton HHonors points to pay for an upcoming free hotel stay. I have miles in either CO or UA that can do it. The miles to points ratio for both airlines is identical. So, the question is which one to use?

Option 1: Use CO -- CO miles tend to be more difficult to redeem, and they don't fly to as many destinations as UA and their partners, although a parternship with DL and SkyTeam in the future may open things up dramatically.

Option 2: Use UA -- while UA's parternship with Star gives plenty of reward choices, particularly for someone on the West Coast, UA's financial situation is questionable causing these miles to be potentially worthless in the future should something disastrous happen to the company.

Anyone else who is a flyer of both CO and UA will understand the dilemma. I'm losing confidence that UA will be able to recover since I haven't seen much action towards a credible financial plan, other than continued complaining about cash flow for the last 14 months.

Any thoughts on this?

I would go with UA. I'm not panicking and drawing my balance down to zero, but will do a 100,000 mile transfer to Hilton next week myself and a 50,000 mile transfer to Diners.

You're right about CO, but their partnership with NW and soon to be one with Delta makes that less of a real issue.

I find redemption on UA to be pretty good (although not quite as good as AA). Redemption on CO is nearly impossible. I'd burn CO miles whenever possible, UA Chapter 11 or no Chapter 11.

Now, award redemption could definitely change with UA, esp. if they significantly retrenched post-bankruptcy. That's probabilistic. We already know CO miles are next to worthless. Saver availability is next to nil and requires a Sat. stay.

Have you tried to claim a Plan Ahead Award with CO in the last year? That should answer your question. Unless you have status with CO the miles are nearly worthless.

People post that CO miles are nearly valueless because they are hard to use. But can`t you use CO miles to book NW seats? Is that difficult too?

I would first look at the balances in both my UA/CO accounts; If one has significantly more than the other then I would transfer out of the one with the most miles in it; If it is approximately equal I would then transfer out of CO as those are worth less (right now) than UA's. However who knows what UA has in store for the future.

Another option is to transfer the UA miles out; then do a CO Amtrak UA for 25K in 2002 and then another 25K in 2003 and that would make up for 50000 of the miles you are transferring. Or do it the other way as well.

Another way to look at it is that you should keep a 2:1 ratio of CO miles to UA miles. Why? b/c it takes a 2:1 ratio to use the co miles. As Easy pass is the only way to use the CO miles.

In theory you can, but you often have to specifically ask the agent to check Northwest (they seem to do it automatically only if NW is the only choice to the destination), and the website also seems biased against NW.

On redemptions, you generally have some chance if traveling in the 49US or Canada outside peak periods, but transoceanic and international redemptions have been a different story. And upgrade redemptions are a separate sore point.

Transfer the both!

Granted I'm biased to HH, and don't really know the UA or CO plans, but did you know HH points can get you flights on numerous airlines? Often with more availability and flexibility than ff mile flights?

Also, HH hotel rewards become much more valuable at the higher level, such as the GLON award, 100,000 points for 6 nights at most HH properties in the world.

In September I did a CO to HH transfer, they told me it takes 90 days. With 60 days gone, I'm beginning to believe them.

Back from a nice weekend away-from one trip I took over another that was canceled...

IMHO, I would go with keeping the CO and buring the UAL.
I think it is because right now, you are less sure who UAL will be partners with in the near future. They ARE star alaince (which is great if you wanna use mile awards to fly, say, Singapore airlines, etc.) but will they still align with Delta? Does that matter? Or will they align with US Air, and to what extent, and does THAT matter?

Also, if ANY airline were to survive some blow beyond to what we could currently see today (based on world events and changes in business, etc.) then I think CO would be the winner.
Now, I am not touting one of the other, surprisingly.
I actually have Premire on UAL with 35+k on it and normal status on CO with also 35k on it but I have this weird theroy (talk about how SICK mile talk can make the rest of your life):

WIthout starting some political discussion, I would not doubt that since CO is based in Houston, the Bush family and its political ties would have something to do with proping up THAT airline over any other in the event of another major airline industry crisis. BUT like I said, that is just a twisted theory which I am completely guessing at.

I also think CO and NWA is a decent partnership with better cross-benefits in using awards on either airline than the UAL/DL one has been for me.



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If speed is not your thing, distance may as well be. Enjoy and embrace it all!

CO & NW: alliance vs UA & DL: partnership

I believe UA's code share proposal was rejected by UA pilots so it's partnership with DL has been limited. That's why you don't get same level of benefit out UA/DL compare to CO/NW...

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could be true, but I had troubles trying to book the legs I wanted using award with BOTH UAL and DL in the early Summer well before UA and USAIR ever announced their gig.
Now that they have, it'll surely screw up the DL one.
I have miles in a programs in such ways that if I chose to, I can use a few partners to travel. For example, one Co + one NWA (so my wife and I can go on one of the carriers using both awards) and one on DL and one on UAL (for the same thing) and so forth.

I think there is a lot of transition going on now but since there may be less in CO's world, I thought they may be the better bet.

Did a transfer on 10/1 from CO to HH and still waiting... but of course the miles were deducted from my CO account in one day!

I've done two CO to HH transfers this year, one in Feb, one in April. 7 weeks and 4 weeks, respectively.

But that was then, not now. Clearly, your (and my) mileage will vary.

that's the way of it. Does not matter what airline either.

Now, I have seen some transfers take days and others months. I would wait 6-8 weeks at least and THEN call them with printed copies of all your own miles records in front of you.

I think they would really be better off (airlines) if they (A) would give some kind of web-referrence number to any and all transaction using miles and (B) if they gave a better idea on when things get moved or credited. Then there would be less of US calling THEM all the time!

I always wondered WHY it takes ANY time at all since it all is mainly done using computers. 4-6, 6-8 weeks... sounds like those files sure move slow!
Time to get a new server maybe??

What are they using an old 1940's WWII code- breaking machine that takes an entire warehouse and thousands of vaccum tubes to run? I can see it now: Tons of crew-cut guys in white lab coats with airline logos on them moving punch cards with miles on them. Then of course, the radiation leak happens to one of them and yes, all the miles cards fall to the floor and get mixed up. SO is THAT why it takes 8 weeks?

(Yeah I had a ton of coffee today)

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If speed is not your thing, distance may as well be. Enjoy and embrace it all!