Here is my dilemma. I have more US miles than I know what to do with, and very few on UA. I will be flying BOS-SFO at least once every few weeks for the foreseeable future, and my firm has requested that I use UA exclusively. Mr. MHTFlyer's 50th b-day is in 2007, and I've booked us a week at a timeshare in Hawaii. Based on feedback here, it's clear that I do not want to fly US to Hawaii and that UA is the better choice. So -- do I collect UA or US miles? I have no status with UA but am Gold on US. I've been using my DM # so that I am assured of getting into E+. Is this a good strategy, or should I hedge my bets and start collecting miles with UA to use for Hawaii??

Here is my dilemma. I have more US miles than I know what to do with, and very few on UA. I will be flying BOS-SFO at least once every few weeks for the foreseeable future, and my firm has requested that I use UA exclusively. Mr. MHTFlyer's 50th b-day is in 2007, and I've booked us a week at a timeshare in Hawaii. Based on feedback here, it's clear that I do not want to fly US to Hawaii and that UA is the better choice. So -- do I collect UA or US miles? I have no status with UA but am Gold on US. I've been using my DM # so that I am assured of getting into E+. Is this a good strategy, or should I hedge my bets and start collecting miles with UA to use for Hawaii??

BOS-SFO is a long flight. You might consider getting comped to another airline's middle level based on your US status and then using that to get comped to UA's middle tier. Then you would start earning 100% bonus miles immediately. Two F tickets to Hawaii would be 120,000 miles. You should be able to earn that pretty easily if you do BOS-SFO once a month. If you fall a bit short, you can always get a UA credit card or two and get 20,000 miles a pop.

I would much rather fly UA F to Hawaii instead of US or HP F. I have encountered many times where a UA flight is available with UA miles but not with US miles. Based on that, and your flying schedule, I would switch over to UA.

Keep in mind that US Golds will soon just earn a 50% status bonus on paid flights.

Go with UA miles, it gives you the option to upgrade to Hawaii.

"You might consider getting comped to another airline's middle level based on your US status and then using that to get comped to UA's middle tier."

No reason to do a two step. I recently was comp directly by UA to middle tier. Just email. It was done in less than a week. UA answers their email.

I fully expect US to remain in *A. Still, getting comped mid-tier at UA will likely make planning your Hawaiian vacation much easier.

Your profile says you are US CP, but you say gold in your post. I assume you are gold, but if you are actually CP then you would of course have more incentive to stick with US.

US should hopefully stay within Star Alliance. However, as HP is not a member, it will be up to Star Alliance whether they accept the 'new US' into the alliance once their operating certificates are merged into a single carrier. I can't think why they wouldn't.

Let me change your question a little.

Do you think you'll stay with US if they drop or get dropped from the Star Alliance?

No.

All of this is accurate, as long as the OP has eyes wide open about the availability of Hawaii inventory.

Even using my UA miles, one simply must hen peck through the calendar to find open dates 300 days out.

I would be somewhat wary of booking a land vacation far in advance and then planning to amass lots and lots of air miles to then be able to redeem for air travel to said land vacation. It might work, but you'd be awfully lucky if everything works out perfectly.

That said, good luck!

I don't see any reason US would ever leave the *A. It's one of their (remaining few) most desirable attributes.

Plus on all their merger promotional material and in-flight videos they are promoting their *A status pretty heavily.

Every alliance nowadays tends to have some "lower quality" carriers in comparison to the rest.

Skyteam has both AF/KLM ( ^ ) and Aeromexico ( :td: - speaking from experience)

One World has both BA and Aer Lingus.

Star Alliance will have Lufthansa and SQ ( ^ ^ ^ ) and .... US.

I would agree that booking a land vacation, and relying on miles to get you where you want, when you want, is a little risky no matter who your miles are with. Flexibility is the key when reserving mileage seats to popular destinations, especially in peak periods.

All I can say UA is a much better airline. I was a US elite since 1983 and wish I would have made the change years ago. You won't be sorry for coverting to UA.

Here is my dilemma. I have more US miles than I know what to do with, and very few on UA. I will be flying BOS-SFO at least once every few weeks for the foreseeable future, and my firm has requested that I use UA exclusively. Mr. MHTFlyer's 50th b-day is in 2007, and I've booked us a week at a timeshare in Hawaii. Based on feedback here, it's clear that I do not want to fly US to Hawaii and that UA is the better choice. So -- do I collect UA or US miles? I have no status with UA but am Gold on US. I've been using my DM # so that I am assured of getting into E+. Is this a good strategy, or should I hedge my bets and start collecting miles with UA to use for Hawaii??

US should hopefully stay within Star Alliance. However, as HP is not a member, it will be up to Star Alliance whether they accept the 'new US' into the alliance once their operating certificates are merged into a single carrier. I can't think why they wouldn't.

Star Alliance has already "accepted" the new US in the Star Alliance. FAQs indicate that HP flights will not qualify until they are redesignated as US flights.

To respond to a few q"s/concerns:

1. Lost my CP status...sad but true, I actually spent more time at home in the last year than on the road. :) Obviously need to update my profile here.

2. Never said I was relying on miles to get us there. If I had to, in order to get the dates I need, I'd pay for the flights (gasp) in which case I would, without a doubt, choose UA. The nice thing for us is that our week is well before most kids are out of school, so I won't be fighting that crowd. I do have more than 500K miles so I am not "planning to amass lots and lots of air miles to then be able to redeem for air travel to said land vacation". I've got 'em, just trying to figure out the most strategic way to benefit from them and whether I should switch programs.

3. Had not thought about getting comped on UA. What an excellent plan! I will try that now.

4. My crazy firm pays full fare for all of our tickets - will I still be getting fewer miles as a Gold? (I know, we're keeping the airlines afloat.) I seem to remember getting some kind of bump bc of that.

5. Gate G: you are absolutely correct.

Not to go off on a tangent, but UA does not have a great service to Hawaii. The planes are domestic 2-class 777s, and the F cabin is pretty tight IMHO. Granted, it's better than steerage, or either class on a HP plane.

I see you are SPG Plat. Do you have the potential to convert SPG points to CO? CO is definitely your best option to Hawaii, with AA as a distant second.

Apart from the Hawaii aspect of it, what about your BOS-SFO flights? Are those going to be BOS-PHL-SFO? If so you might really consider doing BOS-JKF-SFO as a UA premier. The UA PS service out of JFK is vastly better to anything US can offer on a transcon.

To respond to a few q"s/concerns:
4. My crazy firm pays full fare for all of our tickets - will I still be getting fewer miles as a Gold? (I know, we're keeping the airlines afloat.) I seem to remember getting some kind of bump bc of that.
For this reason alone you should go with UA. UA still gives 150% EQMs for full fare coach tix while US changed and now only gives the regular 100% EQM for all coach tix. Also as a UA Prem Exec you’ll get 100% bonus RDMs while as a US Gold you’ll only get 50% bonus RDMs. Your transcons BOS-SFO will end up earning you about 8100 RDMs each R/T with the bonus so you’ll hit all the elite tiers much faster on UA.

Try to get comped to Prem Ex on UA. If you can get comped to even 2P on UA you’ll be sitting in E+ and earning 25% bonus RDMs until you make Prem Ex. At 8100 EQM per R/T you get Prem Ex in about 7 trips. Then you’ll hit 1k after just 6 more. It worked for me! The full fare coach EQM bonus and bigger RDM bonus for mid-levels is why I left US late last year and have not looked back (and I live near PHL!).

One other point is that at least right now it looks like most of the UA BOS-SFO non-stops are on 757s. While not considered to be the absolute best domestic UA aircraft in F, they have 24 F seats for a very good chance for upgrades.

For the HI trip I would try calling US and using your US miles to get an F award on UA metal. From what I’ve read here it’s much better than US/HP metal to HI. The F award availability might be shaky too, but it’s worth a shot, and if you’ve got the miles to burn go for it.

Apart from the Hawaii aspect of it, what about your BOS-SFO flights? Are those going to be BOS-PHL-SFO? If so you might really consider doing BOS-JKF-SFO as a UA premier. The UA PS service out of JFK is vastly better to anything US can offer on a transcon.

Since I actually live closer to MHT than BOS, and the parking situation at BOS is so abysmal, for the next one I am flying MHT-ORD-SFO rather than the BOS-SFO nonstop. The time I spend cooling my heels in ORD, believe it or not, is worth it to not deal with Logan, and I think I've figured out that it's a net gain of time. I did not know about PS service from JFK - I'll have to try that. The only time I've done nonstop to BOS was when I took the red-eye home, and that's bc the one time I connected on the red-eye thru ORD, it looked like a scene from the Night of the Living Dead. No one should be at ORD at 5:00 am waiting for a connection.

Further, after trying US for one trans-con a few months ago, I think I'll stick with UA. I've been so loyal to US for so long, so I feel traiterous, but even in F, it was a miserable flight in a filthy airplane. Why can't they clean the darned things? 5.5 hours is a long time not to use the lav, and I was bound and determined nver to again after experiencing that horror. This strategy also keeps me out of PHL, my most hated airport in the country.

PHLGovFlyer - I'll bet you're giving me awesome advice but sadly I am not fluent in Flyertalk-ese. Could you please explain EQM and RDM?

PHLbuddy - I have not flown CO since I used to have to go to Cleveland every month a few years ago. I didn't even think of it for Hawaii. I am still Plat with SPG, but I know woefully little about converting those points to miles. I have about 150k of those.

As always, these boards are a wealth of information!!

Could you please explain EQM and RDM?
EQM = elite qualifying miles (i.e., miles that coun towards elite status). RDM, well not sure exactly what the acronym stands for (redeemable miles?), but they're essentially the regular miles that accumulate in your account which you can spend for awards. Note the former (but not the latter) is in the FlyerTalk glossary:
http://www.flyertalk.com/glossary/index.php

Also note on UA, if you're in Y and B fares (full fare), upgrades are complimentary (meaning you don't have to use your 500-mile upgrade certs).

RE: Hawaii, CO flies their int'l business seats there. AA flies the 763 with int'l business seats on some routes. Everyone else uses domestic aircraft.

PHLGovFlyer - I'll bet you're giving me awesome advice but sadly I am not fluent in Flyertalk-ese. Could you please explain EQM and RDM? Sorry for the jargon. It does flow fast around here…

As ACF573 said, EQM are Elite Qualifying Miles, which basically count towards achieving the different elite status levels: On UA its 25,000 EQM for Premier, 50,000 for Premier Executive, and 100,000 for 1k. You can’t really do anything with EQMs, they just get you status, and on UA you can earn other benefits such as regional upgrades, systemwide upgrades, the ability to grant someone else elite status, etc. once you earn enough EQMs.

The key point here is that for a BOS-SFO round trip you’ll actually fly about 5400 miles. With a UA full fare coach ticket you’ll earn 8100 UA EQMs (5400 x 150% for full fare coach). With a US full fare coach ticket you’ll earn 5400 US EQMs (no bonus EQM for full fare coach on US). That difference adds up very fast when you’re trying to earn top status one or the other airline. You’ll make 1k on UA after 13 round trips, but you’d need to fly 19 round trips on US to make Chairman’s Preferred.

RDM are redeemable miles which you use for free flights, upgrades, and assorted other niceties. UA gives a more generous RDM bonus to its mid tier elites (Premier executive, aka 1P on Flyertalk) than US does. On UA its 100% extra RDM and with US its 50%. Both of these bonuses are in addition to the RDM you always earn for actual miles flown, with a 500 mile minimum per flight.

For the period that you are a Prem Ex on UA (after you earn 50k EQM but before you earn 100k EQMs) you’ll earn more RDMs for your flights on UA than on US since the bonus is more generous. US does raise their bonus to 75% once you hit 75,000 EQMs (Platinum level on US) but it's still not as generous as UA’s 100% bonus for Premier Execs.

Lastly, what ACF573 mentioned about the free upgrades to F for full fare coach tickets is really a big deal. You can fly in F for all your work related domestic flights.

I like PHLgovflyer's thinking a lot on this.
I'd recommend a status match to UA. I would try first with your US status, then try the circuitous route of matching somewhere else (like NW or CO), then using that one to UA. Fly UA on those full fares and earn like mad. I also like the idea of connecting via JFK to get the PS flights. Unfortunately, it appears none of UA's MHT flights connect to JFK directly. So this would only work if you were willing to brave Logan.

On the SPG transfer issue, if you log onto SPG.COM, click on Starpoint Awards, then transfer, you will see the drop-down menu. Enter how many points you'd like to transfer and to what airline and voila. Some have indicated it may take some time to transfer, so plan accordingly. My SPG-US transfer only took 24 hours, but YMMV.

Oh, I didnt notice he would be buying B fares. Do those upgrade to business on PS flights? If so, that is so worth it. PS service on JFK-SFO in business has a seat nicer than US first, personal DVD player with DVDs, two meals (depending on time of day), mimosas with fresh peach juice and decent champagne.. well you get the idea. It is a lot nice than US Envoy in my recent experience.

Back to whether US will stay in *A, the answer is yes.

Surely, Us checked with *A prior to making the big merger announcement, expecially the part about being in the alliance.

When LH begin its codeshare with US, LH prmoted the fact that connecting at IAD was a nightmare compareed to PHL and CLT. LH connects a lot of people to the eastern USA. US offers a hell of a lot better international connects in the east than UA.

US's new TA service is building on its relationship with other *A carriers. Not only does US provides UA with direct connections on this side of the pond to Rome and Madrid but US gets feed at both BCN and MAD from Spanair, which does not have any TA service. This helps Spanair compete better with Iberia. Now, service will begin to Lisbon. TAP only flies to Newark which has very limited *A connections.

US will have at least seasonal service to three cities in Italy. Air One has a strong connection with LH. Again, feeder passengers.

To its credit, US is doing a better job of providing *A connections than UA from/to Europe.

UA is still feeding a fair amount of traffic to PHL from both SFO and LAX. US has allowed UA to expand it European offering without having to offer any new cities.

And last, LH is considering resuming service to PHX because the mergered airline will provide it with a feed at PHX.

^ According to the earnings press release today US is in the * Alliance. Here is the quote: "Completed all Star Alliance joining requirements." This is under the "Integration Update" section under "Marketing."

US's new TA service is building on its relationship with other *A carriers. Not only does US provides UA with direct connections on this side of the pond to Rome and Madrid but US gets feed at both BCN and MAD from Spanair, which does not have any TA service. This helps Spanair compete better with Iberia. Now, service will begin to Lisbon. TAP only flies to Newark which has very limited *A connections.

US will have at least seasonal service to three cities in Italy. Air One has a strong connection with LH. Again, feeder passengers.

To its credit, US is doing a better job of providing *A connections than UA from/to Europe.

UA is still feeding a fair amount of traffic to PHL from both SFO and LAX. US has allowed UA to expand it European offering without having to offer any new cities.

And last, LH is considering resuming service to PHX because the mergered airline will provide it with a feed at PHX.

Can we get some love in LAS? We have a thrice weekly bmi flight to MAN, AC service, and Virgin Atlantic to LHR (which will be part of the new US program (http://www.americawest.com/awa/content/frequentflyer/redeemmiles/travelawardchart/TravelAwardChartNew.aspx)). Can we have some love from other *A carriers, please?