Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Thai Award Miles vs UA

I just noticed that TG charges 75,000 miles to go BKK-PEK R/T in Biz class, while UA only charges 30,000.

Am I missing something here? Are Thai miles more easily accrued?

You are correct. And, no, THAI's miles are not more easily accrued. Jyst a difference in the approach taken between different program.

THAI has never been particularly 'cheap' in the cost of award (mileage) tickets. Of course, I understand that UA miles are not always so easy to apply to other *A airlines due to 'starnet blocking' - something I'm not familiar with, other than it seems to be a control on *A inventory to push mileage burn against UA rather than an alliance member....(UA guys please correct me if I'm off the mark)

Cheers, TK

It seems that each *A airline has their own designation of regions and consequently miles needed for an award. On UA miles an F ticket BKK-MAA is 100,000miles (diff region) on US it is 40,000. Conversely Hong Kong is in the same region for UA, F is 60,000, but not US, F is 80,000.

(I could be wrong on miles needed for US F BKK-HKG, but not for diff region.)

Gotta catch a plane.

I used to fly TG for quite a bit as they used to offer the most competitive fares ex AU, NZ and TW, and I credited my miles to TG accordingly.

Over the last 3 years the TG fares have gone up, on par with SQ, and I discovered and enjoyed UA's Mileage Plus and BD's Diamond Club.

Royal Orchid Plus is good if you fly TG a lot and like to upgrade. For earning and burning awards, BD is the best if you fly Star partners other than UA and LH transatlantic, otherwise UA and even AC and US are pretty good value.

I used to fly TG for quite a bit as they used to offer the most competitive fares ex AU, NZ and TW, and I credited my miles to TG accordingly.

Over the last 3 years the TG fares have gone up, on par with SQ, and I discovered and enjoyed UA's Mileage Plus and BD's Diamond Club.

Royal Orchid Plus is good if you fly TG a lot and like to upgrade. For earning and burning awards, BD is the best if you fly Star partners other than UA and LH transatlantic, otherwise UA and even AC and US are pretty good value.

Same... I fly TG a lot and credit my miles to UA as they do not expire (unless no activity in 1.5 yrs) and I just accrue points until we can RTW in F.

Cheers,

AG. :-: