MilesBuzz! - Moving to the UK, big questions!!!

Well, I'm moving from the US to the UK... which is very exciting, but among the many, many details of my move, comes my affection for FF miles!

I fear that I am about to lose many of the earning opportunities I've had in the US, such as long distance plans, 10 for 1 dining, bonus miles for all sorts of stores and random promotions, etc...

I'll keep my United Credit card, but I'm wondering: Is there a culture of promotions in the UK like there is in the US? For BA or Virgin, or whoever? Perhaps there are some resources that exisit to describe what's available? I've found plenty that concern the US, but not much for the UK.

THanks! - Milo

To be quite honest, on this side of the pond we tend to miss out on quite a few of the promo's that the US get. Mind you, that doesn’t mean that there are none, just not quite so many.

Perhaps in would be useful if you could post your preferred FF programs, or what type of rewards you tend to go for, as I'm sure this will influent the advice that can be offered.

From experience, the UK based programs ie. Virgin, BA, etc tend to offer more non-airline earning opportunities than the traditional US programs. We also have Airmiles, which are supported by a number of retailers and can be used for several airlines and other offers.

Ah yes... Well my principal acounts are United and Northwest, which will obviously not be helped much in the UK (though travel to Europe on KLM and Lufthansa will help). But I have a few miles on BA and Virgin too, slated for orphan status, that perhaps I'll start using again!

Hi scutfarcus - may I be the first to welcome you to the UK!

You may wish to consider maintaining whichever FF programme you go for (depending on what your travel pattern will be - if you're just going to be going back and forth between the UK and the US you may as well just stay with United) from a US address. UK FFPs are fairly tight on things like qualifying flights, upgrades and things like that, but the US versions of the same UK FFPs are much more generous as they are competing in the US marketplace...

What kind of flying pattern do you anticipate once you move?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by scutfarcus:


Well my principal acounts are United and Northwest, which will obviously not be helped much in the UK </font>

Remember that you can earn United Miles on all *A carriers, which for travel within the UK and Europe would mean British Midland (IMHO far better than BA on these routes) along with Lufthansa, SAS etc etc...

Welcome!

You can earn BA points from shopping at Tesco, and there are occasional offers on products for BA miles. I seem to remember a brand of coffee with certs, not unlike the kelloggs certs in the US. These are few and far between though.

Good luck in your search.

I lived in the UK about a year ago. I maintained my status in United MP, and they actually had a few promotions targeted at us in the UK (10K minimum for a roundtrip between US and Europe, Free RCC membership).

If you are going to be travelling back and forth to the US quite a bit I would recommend you stay with UA. Another upside is that you can fly on SAS, Lufthansa and British Midland and get MP miles/status and use their lounges. The down side is you don't get bonus miles for these flights.

If you will be doing purely European travel, I recommend you pick a british airline so you will get status, bonuses and upgrades through them. Upgrades in Europe though aren't as good as the US. A business class flight is the same seat as coach (maybe slightly bigger) with a better meal. You get a meal and free drinks on ALL flights in Europe though. I once took a 28 miles flight on CrossAir and got chocolates and a drink!!

As posted previosly, BA and BMI will have more promotions targeted at UK residents. I don't remember as many ties-ins though to phones and groceries, etc. BA also has some great specials and flies everywhere in the world. Its not worth much though if you return to the US (except a trip to the UK). British Midland offers good fares to Europe, and now a few flights to the US, but you need to go through Manchester. There are also a plethora of discount airlines that you can use for a weekend jaunt. Check out RyanAir or EasyJet.

Have fun in the UK. Feel free to email if you want any other tips.

Chris

G'day Scutfarcus,
So you're moving to the UK, "isn't that lovely".
I'm not sure if the BA program in the UK gives you any mileage credit for discounted airfares. You may want to check that out first. I believe the USA program offers more, including the household account. It may be better to keep to the American program and if and when you have accrued enough miles, transfer to the UK program to claim an award.

IF you do BA flying, definately stay in the BA US EC program. It is far superior (the only people that disagree will be Brits that have never been a member from anywhere else).

Generally I would advise that you leave all your programs with a US mailing address, after all you can check your points online. As long as someone will send on your membership mailings you should be able to get all the US targetted mailings.
Truthfully, in the UK, we have always got second best helpings in terms of promotions. In the '80's we had lots of double mile offers as carriers and routes were changed following the collapse of PanAm, but those days have long gone I'm afraid.

I concur with others on here -- stick with the US programs.

I do a great deal of trans-atlantic travel, and United suits my needs very well. UK-based UA flyers tend to get preferential treatment -- from LHR lounge access on a silver card to free RCC access on a gold card.

Excellent, thanks for all the advice! Unfortunately for my miles part of the reason I'm moving is to cut way back on travel expenses (company is based in London)! But I think I'll stick with United/NW for the most part. Thanks!

One additional reminder that if you are thinking of getting serious about you BA mileage program and you happend to own a Diners Club card: Transfers from Diner's to BA are currently 1:1 instead of the usual 2:1. This means for a limited time you could move UA miles at 1:1 into Diner's Club Rewards points, and then on to BA at 1:1.

If you are thinking of sticking with Mileage Plus, there is a UK issued United Visa Card which lets you earn MP miles on purchases in the same way the US card does (1 mile per pound spent). The card is issued by Beneficial Bank, whose number is +44(0)845 745 6777.

I've had one for a few months and no complaints so far!

Well a solid UA fan here, but if you really long for Pucci's hairbrush and can't afford the Club airfares, then several folks tell me Qantas is a good deal. Miles on nearly all fares, and you can buy the Qantas club membership, which will get you into the BA lounges. Might be a consideration if you find yourself travelling again and BA is your only option.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Generally I would advise that you leave all your programs with a US mailing address</font>

"Generally" I would agree. However, in the case of United I opted to keep the mailing address in Germany. The complimentary RCC membership is worth missing out on a few targeted promos, IMO... others may disagree.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by House:
If you are thinking of sticking with Mileage Plus, there is a UK issued United Visa Card which lets you earn MP miles on purchases in the same way the US card does (1 mile per pound spent). The card is issued by Beneficial Bank, whose number is +44(0)845 745 6777.

I've had one for a few months and no complaints so far!</font>

Thanks for the information, I wasn’t aware of the card... but this has to be the worst Customer Service department ever.

Called, spoke to some bloke who seem pretty tired, told him I wanted some information on the United card (not to enrol)... he took my details then said...”we can’t send any details, you can only apply on the phone”... asked him why he had spent time taking my details... became quite agitated and said I had to call Beneficial bank customer services... called (0121 214 580XX) – this is in fact HSC.

Immediate response was... “you need to call a special line to get an information pack on our Affinity cards: 0845 7 60 90 XX”... called, “hello, this is Goldfish credit card”...it turns out that the number is a call centre, used by Goldfish (a UK credit card company) and others... “sorry Sir, you need to call 0800 16 11 XX”.

I haven’t tried this one, as I think I’ll give it a miss altogether. I'd stay well away.

Laughable!

Scut,

I would advise against the move. The people over there lack knowledge of the great works of western civilization and will be unaware of the cultural significance of your name. But you could use their ignorance to your advantage, if you keep Mariah in good condition.

I will be making a similar US to UK move in about 6 months, and was also seeking some suggestions for FF programs, specifically US vs UK program membership and AA vs BA.

Considerations:
a) Preferred corporate travel relationship with AA for US and transatlantic travel
b) Most intra-Europe travel on BA
c) Seeking charge card, etc. partnerships--aware of UK Citibank AA card, also BA Amex. Also will be UK Corporate Amex, which I presume will be eligible for MR. I have also seen some discussion of the UK Amex Platinum, which while expensive appears bring a key benefit of Priority Pass membership. Further thoughts are welcome.

I'm currently Gold on AA. All BA flights to-date have been intra-Europe, and miles have thus gone into my AA account. Most redemptions will likely be transatlantic and long-haul (to Asia/Pacific); BA also does not directly serve at least one key US destination (PIT) for me. Should I go with:

a) AA - presumably retaining US address
b) BA - and if so, UK or US membership
c) Split mileage - AA for transatlantic, BA for intra-Europe
d) Other

Thanks!

[This message has been edited by chalf (edited 06-16-2002).]

It's a bit hard to advise without knowing how many miles you want. However, I would suggest:

a) AA - presumably retaining US address

You can redeem miles from AA on Cathay Pacific ex-LHR to most Asia destinations and use AA to get in the BA lounges if you fly enough miles.

There is a UK based AA credit card so you can earn miles like that.

Hope this helps.

If you're going to collect BA points in the UK, the BA Amex card is quite a good deal. Also, if you're flying business/first a lot, then BA (at least the UK version) is more generous than UA in the multiple of a simple fare it will credit you with, both for miles and status.

------------------
BA Gold; Starwood Gold

When moving to Europe from the US NW/KL will make you join the Flying Dutchman Program and leave WorldPerks. Depending on flying patterns this can be a very good thing or a very very bad thing.

I suggest researching this and determining if you want to let NW/KL know you are moving out of the US.

FYI- the FD program will become similar to WorldPerks in the near future according to Russ Hinckely from the FT chat.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by House:
If you are thinking of sticking with Mileage Plus, there is a UK issued United Visa Card which lets you earn MP miles on purchases in the same way the US card does (1 mile per pound spent).</font>

Although if you keep your US card to use for your UK purchases, you earn 1 point per dollar which is significantly better...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by London Australian:
If you're going to collect BA points in the UK, the BA Amex card is quite a good deal. </font>

What's the earning rate on this? Is it better than the BAA Worldpoints Card? (1 pound per mile)

If you travel on cheap fares with a mix of Trans Atlantic and European I find that:

- For Tran Atlantic United offers best mileage/upgrade propsect
- Within Europe there is often not much saivng for coach (expect using cheaper airlines such as Go). Here you may be better off using a European airline instead of using MP on Star. This is because accruing Star on United means using miles flown, which tend to be less in Europe.
- Use BA Amex card to pay for all fares (including United).

This works for me