Transfering miles between airline programs
Dec 15, 2000, 9:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: ziping around asia
Posts: 4
Transfering miles between airline programs
Hi!,
I'm new here and I think this is a great site.
Anyway, I was just checking my mileage on Krisflyer and a thought came to my mind. Can we transfer points between participating *A FF programs and get bump up the tiers on the other FF programs?
Perhaps park 200,000 points from SQ's program to UA, then to LH, etc, etc.
Any one know more about this?
Thanks!
I'm new here and I think this is a great site.
Anyway, I was just checking my mileage on Krisflyer and a thought came to my mind. Can we transfer points between participating *A FF programs and get bump up the tiers on the other FF programs?
Perhaps park 200,000 points from SQ's program to UA, then to LH, etc, etc.
Any one know more about this?
Thanks!
Dec 15, 2000, 9:42 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 189
Along this same vein- I have seen references to people "laundering" miles in hotel or card progreams, but I don't know the specifics.
I for exampl have 200K+ miles on NW that I would LOVE to apply either to another airline or in some other kind of program.
Any ideas?
Kevin
I for exampl have 200K+ miles on NW that I would LOVE to apply either to another airline or in some other kind of program.
Any ideas?
Kevin
Dec 15, 2000, 9:58 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: ziping around asia
Posts: 4
If you look at SQ PPS qualification as follows:
This means that after we get our elite status, we can transfer the miles to (for example) UA if we are Mileage Plus members. The UA rules for Mileage Accural indicates that:
This being the case, if we transfer 100,000 miles into mileage plus, we should qualify automatically for Premier Executive 1K® membership as stated in their qualifying criteria:
Hmm... seem possible and logical.
Any comments on this?
[This message has been edited by West (edited 12-15-2000).]
Miles credited to another frequent flyer programme will still count towards PPS Club Membership qualification and renewal
Currently mileage can be accrued by taking a flight on United, ....... or other Program partner designated by United as an entity through which mileage may be accrued.
When you fly 100,000 paid miles or 100 paid segments on United Airlines in a calendar year, you attain Premier Executive 1K® membership in the United Airlines Mileage Plus® program. Your qualifying, paid flight miles earned on Star Alliance™ member flights also count toward Premier status.
Hmm... seem possible and logical.
Any comments on this?
[This message has been edited by West (edited 12-15-2000).]
Dec 15, 2000, 10:50 am
#4
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 140
There are others on this board much more aware of this than I, but basics as I understand them are:
For Star Alliance you would have needed to given your United number to Singapore to earn miles in a United account. I do not believe there is any way to transfer miles for status.
As far as transfering to another program Hilton Honors allows you to transfer many airlines miles into Honors then you can transfer Honors points to airline miles on another carrier. However you lose a lot of miles in the process.
For Star Alliance you would have needed to given your United number to Singapore to earn miles in a United account. I do not believe there is any way to transfer miles for status.
As far as transfering to another program Hilton Honors allows you to transfer many airlines miles into Honors then you can transfer Honors points to airline miles on another carrier. However you lose a lot of miles in the process.
Dec 15, 2000, 12:04 pm
#5
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 702
1. It is possible when flying SQ to have the status points (but no miles) posted to your SQ account, and the miles (but no status points) posted to your UA account. This can only be done at the time of the flight. You cannot later decide to "transfer" 100,000 miles between programs.
2. Hilton's HHonors program can be used to indirectly transfer miles between frequent flyer programs, but as a rule you lose about 60% of the miles in the process. You can only use this technique if your frequent flyer program has an agreement with the HHonors Reward Exchange. LH, SQ, and NW do not. UA does.
3. There is only one way to transfer miles out of the NW WorldPerks program: if you move to Europe, you are allowed to have all of them (you cannot decide to move just 50,000, for example) moved into a new KL Flying Dutchman account. This is generally a bad idea, but it is a possibility.
2. Hilton's HHonors program can be used to indirectly transfer miles between frequent flyer programs, but as a rule you lose about 60% of the miles in the process. You can only use this technique if your frequent flyer program has an agreement with the HHonors Reward Exchange. LH, SQ, and NW do not. UA does.
3. There is only one way to transfer miles out of the NW WorldPerks program: if you move to Europe, you are allowed to have all of them (you cannot decide to move just 50,000, for example) moved into a new KL Flying Dutchman account. This is generally a bad idea, but it is a possibility.
Dec 16, 2000, 10:54 am
#6
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1.050MM, PersonalCar 0.275MM
Posts: 1,718
West, when if you were to transfer miles into your United Mileage Plus account, those miles would be miles which were not flown on United Airlines, and they would not count. The underlying basis for this is the distinction between flight miles (sometimes referred to as base miles) and program miles (sometimes referred to as base + bonus miles). Only flight miles generally qualify you for elite status with few exceptions.
E.g., if this calendar year, you were to fly 80,000 miles on a Star Alliance partner's flights, and were to have specified United Mileage Plus as the FFP to credit, and then flew another gazillion miles on that partner, crediting those miles to that partner's own FFP, and then transferred the miles using something like the Hilton HHonors program as an intermediary (and accepting the significant devaluation in the number of miles), United Mileage Plus would not owe you Premier Executive 1K status, only Premier Executive status. They may choose to grant 1K to you based on unpublished criteria, but they don't owe it to you.
E.g., if this calendar year, you were to fly 80,000 miles on a Star Alliance partner's flights, and were to have specified United Mileage Plus as the FFP to credit, and then flew another gazillion miles on that partner, crediting those miles to that partner's own FFP, and then transferred the miles using something like the Hilton HHonors program as an intermediary (and accepting the significant devaluation in the number of miles), United Mileage Plus would not owe you Premier Executive 1K status, only Premier Executive status. They may choose to grant 1K to you based on unpublished criteria, but they don't owe it to you.