Location: Finally back in Boston after escaping from New York
Posts: 5,108
Confused newbie trying to earn Diamond status
Hi all,
I'm considering joining OZ's program so that I can earn Diamond/*G status, mainly to be used for lounge access. I'm in the US, so I would be getting most of my miles from US Airways and United.
Question 1) It seems like there are a lot of changes going into effect in October. According to the chart on the web site, I only need to earn 40K miles on OZ or a partner to get Diamond. Is that correct? It seems way too easy.
Question 2) How do I determine which fare codes on US and UA count toward onboard miles on OZ? Traditionally, it seems that the rules of the airline that you are flying apply, but according to Blonde Bomber's chart, OZ looks a bit different.
Yes, it is only 40k miles and you have 24months to earn them! However those 40k miles have to be flown miles on either OZ or a *A partner. Flights on Qatar or Mexicana would not count for status only RDM
Question 2. I wouldn't worry about it. If you look at the OZ earning chart for those two airlines you can see that it's really only the award booking classes (X,I,O)that don't earn any miles. Everything else is 100%. Indeed I always fly the cheapest Y tickets on UA and have always got 100%
Ditto to all above posters. Just check OZ's earning chart. All revenue tickets with UA & US should earn you 100% status miles. I think OZ still has 500 miles / segment minimum earning for UA flights, even though UA's own MP do not.
In order for you to reach diamond status you need to fly at least 100,000 miles on OZ or other qualifying airline not 40k.
After you flew 100,000 miles, you will be diamond status for three years. After that you need to fly 40k to keep the status..
Just to make things clear...
I think you are talking about the old qualification requirements. Starting in Oct, only 40K in a two year period is required to earn diamond. Check out thread that discussed the changes to see for yourself.
Indeed, if you fly in C or F then LHs 100k miles are as hard or easy to get than OZs 40k.
How do you figure? If flying C and earning 200% with M&M it will take you 50K BIS miles in a year to qualify for Senator. OZ is 40K in two years. so if flying in C it's 32K BIS miles in two years. If flying F it's 33.3K BIS miles in a year for M&M and 26.7K BIS miles in two years for OZ. Unless my math is somehow all messed up OZ is much easier no matter how you do it.
You will earn more miles if flying in C or F with M&M but you will not get *G faster.
Programs: QF WP (LT Gold), LH SEN, OZ Diamond, CO Nothing, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Avis PC
Posts: 6,847
Quote:
Originally Posted by A_Lee
How do you figure? If flying C and earning 200% with M&M it will take you 50K BIS miles in a year to qualify for Senator. OZ is 40K in two years. so if flying in C it's 32K BIS miles in two years. If flying F it's 33.3K BIS miles in a year for M&M and 26.7K BIS miles in two years for OZ. Unless my math is somehow all messed up OZ is much easier no matter how you do it.
You will earn more miles if flying in C or F with M&M but you will not get *G faster.
If you fly airlines with executive bonus it is 325% or 225% respectively. So 31k BIS miles for M&M vs. 27k BIS miles for OZ. If you fly a lot of short international flights on the right airlines, then the 2500 miles minimum per flight can get you to 100k M&M miles quicker than to 40k OZ miles.
I agree with you, for most people OZ is much easier than M&M. The point I wanted to make is that looking at the threshold alone is not everything. You must also include the earn rate and your flying pattern.
So for people in premium cabins, the difference between 40k on OZ and 100k on LH is smaller than the factor 2.5 suggests.
Of course as you point out there are always pluses and minuses you must look out for with any FFP related to flying certain airlines, classes, etc. One has to try to best guess what their flying will be like in the future and choose a program based on that. But I think for most people nothing is guaranteed and someone who chooses M&M to take advantage of bonuses for flying on their preferred airlines/classes could easily have their flying patterns change or perhaps just a few long-haul trips that don't fall into that pattern that might wipe out all advantages they thought they were getting. So unless you're quite sure of your future flying, if two programs are similar but one program's earning/status estimates are based on specific airlines and classes while the opposing program's earning/status estimates are based on across the board airlines and classes then I'd recommend going with the latter.
For example, if you were planning on flying exclusively in C and chose M&M rather than OZ based on the C earnings, but then your company's policy changed and you were forced to fly in Y, then you'd probably be at a huge disadvantage with M&M if aiming just for *G status. (assuming your booking class were normal earning classes with both FFPs)
I wasn't aware the M&M had a 2,500 minimum per flight in some cases. With this being the case and if a large number of your flights qualified for that then I guess M&M would be very tempting.
Programs: UA 1P; AA Plat; BD Gold; Marriott Rewards Silver; HHonors Silver
Posts: 230
I have a couple of questions (thanks for the great info on this thread):
- How is award availability on OZ? Do they filter *A awards (like UA)?
- Do they still allow miles of family members to be pooled for redemption under the new rules? I am told that they did in the past.
Why? TK, AC, BD have similar requirements. Indeed, if you fly in C or F then LHs 100k miles are as hard or easy to get than OZs 40k.
Not actually. AC requires 35k and BD requires 38K for *G, but they only grant the status for one year. TK is sorta close, 40k for two years, however 40k has to be earned in 12 consecutive months. So not similar.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeef
Hi all,
I'm considering joining OZ's program so that I can earn Diamond/*G status, mainly to be used for lounge access. I'm in the US, so I would be getting most of my miles from US Airways and United.
Question 1) It seems like there are a lot of changes going into effect in October. According to the chart on the web site, I only need to earn 40K miles on OZ or a partner to get Diamond. Is that correct? It seems way too easy.
Question 2) How do I determine which fare codes on US and UA count toward onboard miles on OZ? Traditionally, it seems that the rules of the airline that you are flying apply, but according to Blonde Bomber's chart, OZ looks a bit different.
Thanks!
Mike
If you earn at least 25k to attain Premier status with UA, I'm pretty sure that UA program would be better for you. By joining OZ program, you are forfeiting 1. redeemable bonus miles 2. economy plus seating 3. e-500 upgrade coupons and some more. Also, keep in mind that OZ's *A redemption rate is perhaps the worst of *A programs. After all, I really don't think UA lounges worth 20k a year. Just keep in mind that the miles that go into OZ account will be lot more valueless than the miles that go into UA account.
Programs: QF WP (LT Gold), LH SEN, OZ Diamond, CO Nothing, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Avis PC
Posts: 6,847
Quote:
Originally Posted by sharmaintl
I have a couple of questions (thanks for the great info on this thread):
- How is award availability on OZ? Do they filter *A awards (like UA)?
- Do they still allow miles of family members to be pooled for redemption under the new rules? I am told that they did in the past.
Thanks.
No, OZ does not filter awards so availability is better than with UA. However you need a whole lot more miles and a lot more money to get an award.
And AFAIK you can still pool miles from family members.
Quote:
Originally Posted by N227UA
Not actually. AC requires 35k and BD requires 38K for *G, but they only grant the status for one year. TK is sorta close, 40k for two years, however 40k has to be earned in 12 consecutive months. So not similar.
I said similar, not the same. Even the LH 100k can be similar if you fly a lot of C class within Europe. BD by the way requires 38k to get from silver to gold and not 38k to get to gold from nothing.
TK requires 40k miles in one year to qualify but only requires 37500 miles in two years to re-qualify. So once you have status it is very easy to maintain.
I said similar, not the same. Even the LH 100k can be similar if you fly a lot of C class within Europe. BD by the way requires 38k to get from silver to gold and not 38k to get to gold from nothing.
TK requires 40k miles in one year to qualify but only requires 37500 miles in two years to re-qualify. So once you have status it is very easy to maintain.
I think the point N227UA was making and that I was trying to make earlier is that the difference between 1 year and 2 years can be extremely different for many. BD is 1 year qualifying for 1 year *G. AC I'm guessing is also 1 year qualifying for 1 year *G. LH is 1 year qualifying for 2 years *G. OZ is 2 years qualifying for 2+years *G (possibly up to almost 4 years). The mileages are not that much different but the time frames (qualifying times and/or *G validity times) are completely different so for people whom the time frame is important they are not at all similar. If you don't consider the time frames, then yes they are similar.
I said similar, not the same. Even the LH 100k can be similar if you fly a lot of C class within Europe. BD by the way requires 38k to get from silver to gold and not 38k to get to gold from nothing.
TK requires 40k miles in one year to qualify but only requires 37500 miles in two years to re-qualify. So once you have status it is very easy to maintain.
I mean BD and AC are not even anywhere similar to OZ. How could 35k or 38k+a for one year of *G could be similar to 40k for two years of *G? Now I see TK is even easier than OZ as far as concerning requalification though.
sorry for the confusion (my previous post had the wrong information)
