Aisle Seat H

Wondering if you all could help me with a bit of a quandary that I have !

Have had enough of BD - the ridiculous changes/’enhancements’, their appalling management, the total lack of info, the destruction of my Gold rights etc, etc, etc – and so am gonna move to another *A FF prog.

Using my QF Platinum status both UA and US have offered me status matches, the former to their 2nd tier, Prem. Exec., the later to their top tier, Chairman’s Preferred.

At first this seemed a no-brainer – take US's top tier over UA's middle tier (no, I am not gonna take both !!! ). But having looked at the benefits online, it looks like Prem. Ex. has as good, if not better, benefits, considering my priorities. Specifically (and I do travel international and USA domestic Economy a few times a year), the upgrade benefits (i.e. ones provided in the prog., not Op Ups) look much better with the UA status – they are free (once you fly X miles), as opposed to ones you need to buy (as with US). (Though the US status does come with two international upgrades). Both seem to offer same/similar mileage bonuses and lounge access (2 other of my priorities), etc, etc.

So what I want to know is… which should I go with ?!? Am I right about UA status benefits being better, or have I missed something and that my initial instinct was in fact correct that the highest status (US) must be better ?

Will the higher US status be more likely to get me op-ups/benefits/etc on other *A carriers (inc. on UA ?!?) than the UA status would ?

I don’t fly one much more than the other (and much travel is on other *A carriers) – maybe UA once or twice more a year – so that aspect is not a major factor I suspect. What else do I need consider ? Is one of the two airlines likely to be going out of business soon/sooner than the other ?!?

Thanks all, your guidance most appreciated.

oopsz

What are you planning on burning your miles for?

If you fly ultra long haul trips (ie, lhr-sfo-syd), then UA is the clear choice because of the systemwide upgrades.. one SWU will get you out of cattle class for the trip down, another for the trip up. Those upgrades can be godsends on ridiculously long flights. The north american upgrades (CR1s) will probably be of less use to you, but they are very useful barter tools if you have access to coupon connection. I believe ~3 CR1s will get you an SWU at current market rates

kinglobjaw

The US Airways program is WAY! better than United one. You get unlimited free upgrades on all US Airways flights except Europe. You do not have to fly 10k to get 2 upgrade vouchers like on united you do. You still get
Economy Plus on United, and discounts for upgrading on United. its 200 US Dollars for 4 united certificates. each covers you up to 500 miles of travel. the only major difference is the bonus. On both programs you get 100% mileage bonus when flying United, and US Airways since they code share. On united this bonus applies to Lufthansa t/a flights as well. On us airways elite you get 100% mileage bonus on ANA. so its whether you care bout the bonus first of all but its also whether you fly more on ANA or Lufthansa internationally. One other thing. with US program no matter what lvl you are you can only redeem miles on flights. with UA once youre elite, you can redeem not only on flights but on Hotels and Cars(but its nothing special since they charge you way too many miles)!
But the best thing now (but unfortunately I dont know your location) is that know with the merger US Airways will be kind like United route wise. It will have a huge presence east and west, and and a quite big one in midwest. So these benefits on US Airways will extend for you everywhere, and being cleared for F class 7 days ahead as a US CP is a good fealing believe me ! si know its up to you, but definately go for US Airways Dividend Miles!

Aisle Seat H

Thanks a lot guys, great food for thought... but you each make an arguement for the other, so i'm more confused than before !

Sorry, should have made that clear - I am UK based, and travel a bit to the US...

I do indeed do that - lots of my travel is to Asia/Australia. A lot in Europe too, plus 2 - 5 trips a year (inc. internal flights) to the States (at the moment anyway).

Free flights and upgrades. No need for using them for hotels, have 200,000+ PC/IC points for that !

Very good to know. Can I do a similar thing in US prog. ?

Except to Europe ? Does that in effect mean 'only in North and Latin America' ? ...

...and don't I have to buy these US upgrades to be able to use them too ? (£50 each ? Which is of course very cheap, but still.) Or have I got this totally wrong ?

Have never actually flown ANA (though I may well), but do fly LH every now and again. And I do care about the bonus.

Very tempting benefit indeed, but will I use it enough - seeing as most my travel is not in US - to warrant me choosing the US option ?

All this considered, it seems - due to their global nature, me being based in the UK and flying to Asia, Europe etc a lot - that UA is the way to go. Or have you got some more info/surprises for me kinglobjaw that I need to consider before making my choice ?!?

Thanks again guys, most appreciated indeed.

andrewp

There's a bit of incorrect information floating around in here so in an attempt to clarify:

UA has three types of upgrade certificates:

1) "500 Miler" - Used to upgrade 500 miles of travel within zone 1 (which is basically North America). You'll use a quantity of these to upgrade a segment over 500 miles. These clear at the elite upgrade windows of 24/72/100/120 hours. Elite members earn 8 of these per 10,000 UA miles flown.

2) CR-1 - These certificates (electronic) that are earned by 1Ks and can be used to confirm an upgrade at the time of ticketing for travel in Zone 1. 1Ks earn 2 of these per quarter if they fly at least 10,000 BIS miles on UA in that quarter. 8 total can be earned per year and each one is good for one direction of travel (regardless of length or number of segments).

3) SWU - 1Ks are given 6 of these at the start of the program year and can earn 2 additional for every 50,000 EQMs earned over 100,000. These are good Worldwide, can be confirmed in advance, have very few fare restrictions, and (frankly) are the reason that I'm a 1K on UA.

US has 500 Milers as well and they work in the same way. Elite members have an "unlimited bank" of these certs so, in reality, elites get complementary upgrades on every flight (on a space-available basis). On US, the 500 mile certs are only useable within the US and Carribean. You can't use them to Europe.

US has nothing resembling a CR-1 or SWU.

Given your location you will get marginal benefit from the US program as the elite benefits are really targetted at US residents. You'll fare better with UA given that you can get service to most of your destinations and you'll have a use for the SWUs. Unfortunately, in order to use them to Asia you'll need to fly through the US which will significantly extend the length of your trip.

Aisle Seat H

Thanks andrewp, very helpful indeed.

Just to clarify though - do Prem. Ex. get SWUs / how can they get SWUs ? (I have read that they are given to 1Ks only, but suspect this may be wrong). Cos UA won't match to 1K, just to Prem. Ex., just want to make sure that this does not lose me the SWU option.

Oh, and how do the 'status drops' work on UA and US ? If (to use the most extreme example) I do not make a single flight in a particular year, do they drop me one level each year or would I fall straight back to base level ?

Thanks again all, got more info here in 3 replies than I did in hours of searching the site and the web !

andrewp

Only 1Ks get SWUs as part of the overall package. Sometimes SWUs are handed out as compensation for irregular ops in which case anyone can get them.

Part of the reason that UA doesn't comp 1K is that they don't want to hand out a stack of SWUs to everyone with a platinum card from another carrier.

As far as I know status drops in both programs are hard landings. No flights = No status.

Aisle Seat H

My info was right then (sadly !)

And fair enough - I was just stating the fact, not moaning about it !!! US are willing to give me their Top-Tier however ! ^

Ehhm... would prefer a prog. with a parachute approach (one of the [few remaining] advantages of the BD prog. btw [and my QF FF (OW) prog.], you only drop one level a year, no matter what your flight activity). Anyone know for sure what the story on UA and US on this point ?

tcswede

This I can confirm - when moving back to Europe from the US - I went from 1K to basic membership in one year as I only had a few UA flights. Not very encouraging....

Cheers

Thomas

Aisle Seat H

Indeed Thomas. Do we know if US does the same ?

Aisle Seat H

Well US told me on the phone that it is the same for them, so I went with UA. Thanks for the help guys and gals. H

izzik

By the way, US domestic F is not very impressive.

Aisle Seat H

I know, from bitter, bitter experience ! But US does not look much better (or are appearances deceptive ?!?)