MilesBuzz! - Help me place my 'elite' bet properly

I am fairly certain I have picked the right forum for this. If not, moderator, please forgive.

I am Premier Executive on United, comped there in late-May due to my now-expired status with AA.

I don't travel as frequently as most of you, but I am starting to travel again quite a bit. I am worried about United's future (as many of you are) and I have several trips in front of me that make United less desirable.

I have only done one 5500 mile journey on my newly comped United status. I am wondering if it might be smarter to abandon my United status and try for an AA challenge.

The trips for me this summer and fall are (all originating in Boston: )

Monterey, CA
London
Quito, Ecuador (a wedding) - United doesn't fly here, AA does
Portland, Oregon
Possibly Amsterdam
Possible other business or leisure travel that is yet-undecided

I am willing to book Y-fares or something to get the higher number of points, etc. and to preserve some flexibility in case my schedule changes.

I suppose one of the questions is - will my "comped" UA status go through 2005? By the looks of the other threads on here, probably not, since I was comped in the first half. But will 25,000 miles in half a year (sans my Ecuador trip) be sufficient for them to keep me at PremEx, or will they not take into consideration that I've only been back on their metal for 7 months?

If UA is going to dump me, is it worth doing an AA challenge and not "wasting" those 20k or so miles on UA metal?

Thanks in advance for your strategic thinking. :)

I suppose one of the questions is - will my "comped" UA status go through 2004?

Uh, doesn't your PremEx card expire in February, 2005?

Uh, doesn't your PremEx card expire in February, 2005?

Sorry I meant through 05. I fixed it. What I was saying is, since I am not going to have a whole year to hit 50k - i know that if they are comped late enough in the year they often continue it for the next year.

Sorry I meant through 05. I fixed it. What I was saying is, since I am not going to have a whole year to hit 50k - i know that if they are comped late enough in the year they often continue it for the next year.

You'll get better answers in the UA forum, but I'm guessing that you comp status will expire this calendar year. I got a UA comp last year in November & I received a card that expired 2/2004 - however it got renewed til 2/2005 (and I think I should requalify for it this year on UA). But I was also comped towards the end of the year - As you were comped early on, you will probably lose you Prem Ex status & I would assume you'd get dropped to Premier if you don't hit the 50K mark by December 31.

You'll get better answers in the UA forum, but I'm guessing that you comp status will expire this calendar year. I got a UA comp last year in November & I received a card that expired 2/2004 - however it got renewed til 2/2005 (and I think I should requalify for it this year on UA). But I was also comped towards the end of the year - As you were comped early on, you will probably lose you Prem Ex status & I would assume you'd get dropped to Premier if you don't hit the 50K mark by December 31.

Add this to the fact that no * Alliance members fly to Ecuador, I wonder if I'm better off going for an AA challenge?

My problem was I didn't want to cross-post in AA and UA forums, but they'd certainly be helpful in this.

Thanks for the input!

While AA may have Europe nonstops from JFK, who says the original poster wants to fly nonstop?? ;)

Take NYC--LIS. The LH fare allows travel NYC--ORD--MIA--FRA--LIS.... domestic segments aside, the FRA--LIS is 1164.... a substantial hop.

Given the OP's limited funds, a full-credit-earning program like UA/US sounds more attractive than an AA with 50% Q points on lower fares. Plus, UA/US would offer nonstops if desired, plus more segment/connection possibilities than one could imagine. An 8 segment, $98 RT NYC--FL mileage run can work wonders for status.

I would go with AA - safer bet. Plus they have a decent selection of routes from BOS (assuming you still live there) and have to be considered a front-runner to pick up the USscare shuttle upon the demise of US.

If you were in DC, SF or DEN, this would be a tougher choice. ;)

When considering which program to be an elite at, do also consider the easiness to redeem the miles - and whether you'll be able to redeem them at standard levels or only paying the double.

Peruse the UA and AA forums who have recently commented on these issues...

Given the OP's limited funds, a full-credit-earning program like UA/US sounds more attractive than an AA with 50% Q points on lower fares.

While this is true, elite qualification can be either through Q-points or Q-miles. Q-points are mostly a way for high revenue customers to qualify more quickly, travelers who pay for their tickets themselves will normally qualify through Q-miles, and there's no 50% constraint there. (Exception worth noting: the challenges are only based on Q-points)

Viajero - thanks for the suggestions. But I'm not sure where I gave you the idea about "limited funds" - in fact, I said I was willing to pay for higher unrestricted fares if it meant an EQM bonus, as it does with UA.

If an unwillingness to just book in F is "limited funds," then I guess that's true. But my intended point was the opposite - that I'm not trying (necessarily) to pull this all off in discount economy.

Thanks for any additional feedback you guys have. I'll be booking them soon and need to figure out if I should jump over to AA and ask for a challenge, or try to get to 50k qualifying miles on UA despite having to book the Ecuador trip on someone else's airline.

For some reason, my instinct is to stick it out with UA. But that doesn't necessarily mean there's any logic behind it. ;)

One item of support for a UA plan - these QUP fares. Just booking the BOS-MRY-BOS flight alone on a QUP fare would get me almost 10k of EQM's. (150% EQMs are apparently being given on these)

thanks again

I'm probably going to book the Monterey ticket on UA tonight - do one of those QUP fares. I can then hope that *A gets a carrier to Ecuador by October. I may still be able to make it even though it's now looking like my London trip is off. Oh well, that'll have to make Amsterdam mandatory. ;)

I can then hope that *A gets a carrier to Ecuador by October.
There's always United/Varig to Lima or Air Canada to Bogota (through Toronto). Then it's just a short flight to Quito on Avianca or Continental.

Looking at the Amsterdam routing, with UA you can fly UA metal all the way there. With AA, you could get as far as London-Paris-Frankfurt-Madrid, for instance, and then would need to connect with BA or IB. The disadvantage here is that you will not get 100% mileage on discounted BA fares within Europe, though that may not really be a consideration if you're getting the AA miles across the Atlantic. Just something to consider when heading in that direction.

As this isn't about a Mileage Run, but more about a choice of loyalty programs, I'm going to move it to MilesBuzz where it can get a wider response.

I agree that it might get good responses in UA or AA, but since it can't be crossposted, MilesBuzz is the most appropriate forum to discuss a topic such as this.

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

I would go with AA - as I'm not too sure if UA will be around...

AA also offer YUP fares - and these fares give you 150 EQM on AA...

As this isn't about a Mileage Run, but more about a choice of loyalty programs, I'm going to move it to MilesBuzz where it can get a wider response.

I agree that it might get good responses in UA or AA, but since it can't be crossposted, MilesBuzz is the most appropriate forum to discuss a topic such as this.

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

Hi Dave,

Thanks for moving it. It was actually very helpful because the feedback in this forum has been more forthcoming. I still don't know what to do, but this is assuredly a better place for the thread.

:)

Also, someone at the regular (non-premex, I don't have the premex 800# here at work) MP desk just told me my status would only go through '04 if I don't do the 50k during these 6 months. I know this has been discussed endlessly here, but they should at least prorate it in some fair way - if someone's averaging 5k a month for 7 months, i dunno, seems sensible to keep them there.