bruce80

Is there a *G sign at the entrance? If not, you are officially not entitled to enter the C lounge.

This reminds me of a rule on DB trains where you are (or were, don't know whether the rule still exists) officially not permitted to travel in second class when holding a restricted first class ticket.

jamar

And now that UA is switching to a spend-based earning system, I think that settles it for me. I should make A3*G in a couple weeks, and I won't be looking back.

TandroyFoty

I recently signed up with A3, to get rid of my SAA Voyager account, but have been thinking of also signing up for UA, mostly for the lifetime earning possibility, once I achieve G on A3. I put together a quick spreadsheet to compare accrual rates for all the flights I already took this year to see whether it would be worthwhile to stick with A3 permanently, and UA actually comes out 4k miles head of A3, given the fare classes. Only one short flight was on UA, the rest were all *A carriers.

Given this, it seems to make sense to sign up for UA, and only credit the minimum flight every three years to A3. Does anybody have any other reasons that wouldn't be the best way to go (other than the concern that A3 might tire of people 'exploiting' their quick earn G status)?

Air Rarotonga

As you're deciding between UA and A3, your post would better be placed in this thread: Comparing A3 to UA

TandroyFoty

Well, the point was to find out what would be the benefits of continuing to accrue on A3, as opposed to UA, the 'native FFP.'

realfortin

I have been *G for many years with AC but with the military I was stationed out of Canada last year and do not plan on flying to/from Canada for the next 3 years. Although I would get more than 50k miles per year, AC would not waiver the "flights on AC steel" requirements regardless of reason. So I decided to go A3. I plan to stay with A3 and reward them with my loyalty for as long as they continue their program as it is. The only flights I will credit to AC are those that due to booking class would accumulate more on AC than A3. I think those events will be few. I will also make sure to book 1 flight leg per year on AC to keep the points from expiring. Otherwise, A3 gets my loyalty.

Yul_voyager

To protect your AE points you don't need to fly AC once a year. Just let your card to someone in Canada who will buy 3$ of Gas at Esso once a year and you are ok...

Tafflyer

Happily switched to A3 in 2012 from Miles&Less and now shun Lufthansa as well as their now rubbish FFP. I even credit cheap, non-earning flights to A3, instead of getting a paltry 125 miles on LH as my thanks for the status benefits.

I recently actually took a flight on A3. Very pleasant it was too.

A3Fan

You do know that those non-earning flights can be retro-credited to miles and more afterwards right? 125 is pretty much nothing, but its still better than wasting them...

sliiide

If A3 recorded somewhere the non-earning ones, despite them not appearing in the account, it'd be great.

elpiett

I switched to TK, made gold there, without status match, but now seriously considering switching everything back to A3. The TK customer service is crap en totally not able to help me out, whilst A3 has been able to help me out each time. And I seem to earn a bit more on A3 as well. They also have slightly higher redemption rates compared to TK, but I'm willing to overlook that in return for better service!

bruce80

Let's see how long those discussions will go on

Here comes "The new Miles & Bonus": www.newmilesandbonus.com