me4tux

Can anyone pls share your real-world experiences dealing with the wait time for SPG Airline miles transfers to hit your mileage accounts? RE: United MileagePlus acct.

The fine print says it can take up to 4 weeks??? Why does it take so long?

Thanks!

pinniped

I've never done United...note that you only get half of the miles going to United as compared to other programs.

US Airways and BA both took about 3 days each. US Airways was 850 points for Grand Slam 2011. BA was 20,000 points to top up for an int'l F award. So I don't think size matters...

sdsearch

First of all, I agree with the other post: Is it really worth it to transfer to UA given that it's 2:1 in that case?

At any rate, it's "up to 4 weeks", right? So the question should be "why can it take so long", not "why does it take so long".

It can take that long to at least some partners:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/lan-l...-transfer.html

and the reasons are mulitple, but boil down to the data being "bunlded" together on send and having to be "unbundled" at the receiving end, and in some cases the receiving end not giving it high priority (perhaps giving the task to someone who has time for it only very occasionally).

Basically, 4 weeks is explaining the possiblity of a once-a-month process somewhere along the line, or two twice-a-month processes (that may not be synchronized).

Thunderroad

FWIW, I recently did two transfers of SPG points to Emirate miles. It seems like they happened on a weekly basis, perhaps every Saturday. That is, a transfer that I believe I did on Friday went through within a couple of days. The second that I believe I did on late Saturday or perhaps Sunday went through seven or eight days later.

Not sure if this schedule applies to UA. And as others have suggested, bear in mind that the UA transfer deal is worse than for most other SPG airline partners.

me4tux

Thanks to all who replied. I guess it depends on the airline in question.

I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.
We are currently short of 22k United points.

What is the most optimal way to transfer 22k points to my United acct?

1. Shall I use Marriott Rewards? (Balance: 135k) [70k pts == 25k miles txfer]
2. Shall I use Starwood? (Balance: 120k) [yes, it is horrible 2:1 exchange at 40k pts/bonus 10k pts == 20k miles + 5k miles txfer]
3. Shall I use either United or Continental Friends/Family Transfers? But a 22k transfer from OnePass -> OnePass = $330 fee! And, there is a 15k limit assuming transfer from UAL -> UAL
4. Other suggestions?

Are SPG points worth more in value than Marriott points? I don't know how to compare/contrast these 2 hotel programs at the same level.

Any advice?

ayodeji13

any1 with experience doing CO/UA xfers?

me4tux

Its free if you link your CO/UA accts. The UA MileagePlus <--> CO OnePass is an immediate transfer of points.

Stubtify

I don't think they have enough miles in either their CO or UA account. If they do have CO miles then the transfer from there is a slam dunk.

Another option would be Chase Ultimate reward points. You may not have the availability to transfer them but they go 1:1 to United.

A great little transfer cheat sheet just popped up here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...fographic.html

and info on the Chase UR to UA here:
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/mommyp...d-mileageplus/

sdsearch

Yes, SPG points are typically valued by a factor of well more then 2x compared to other hotel programs, often 4x or 5x.

So all else being equal, 40k SPG points is worth a lot more than 70k Marriott points.

For other suggestions, you need to explain how soon you need to do this. Most other suggestions might take a few months (a variety of credit card apps come to mind, for example), and I don't know if you have that long.

What, if any, Marriott credit card do you have? If you don't yet have one, the 70k is very easy to replenish with one credit card app. (But it may not work if you had one in the past already.)

Btw, did you participate in United's Months of Miles? If so, you should have some thousands (but I couldn't guess how many) coming up fairly soon, though I'm not sure exactly when.

pinniped

All valuations are personal based on the awards you like and the parts of the world you tend to redeem them, but.... As hotel stays, I tend to value SPG at anywhere from 3 to 5 cents per point. I've gotten higher returns on rooms I wouldn't have likely booked with my own cash, but I've regularly gotten 4-5 cpp on C&P awards in areas without a good Priceline option where I absolutely would have booked the going Western chain hotel rate if I didn't have the points. (Middle East, some parts of Asia, etc.)

I tend to call Marriott points in the 1.3 to 1.4 cpp range. This one is a little more nebulous because my redemptions almost always involve 120,000 airline miles that I'm not going to immediately redeem. So I call those 1.5 cpp and the hotel award ends up usually being a little over a penny a point.

So I guess I'm saying 3-to-1. Roughly.

How to get 22k United? How fast do you need them? There's always the UA credit card with a big signup bonus (40-50k, usually), but it might take a few weeks for the miles to hit your account. There are other partner offers out there that might be worthwhile to you and help close the gap a bit, requiring you to transfer less SPG or buy fewer miles. (For example, there are probably some Valentine's Day flower promos for bonus miles.)

me4tux

Many thanks to sdsearch, pinniped and everyone else who replied. All great suggestions and info. I can't wait too long for the points so the credit card suggestion is out. But, my last option was just to exchange the Marriott points to airline miles. Not the best route to take but I need it relatively soon.

Thanks again!

observer

Does anyone have recent experience about how long it takes for a transfer from SPG to United. Yes, I know about the unfavorable exchange rate, etc. But I need the miles. ASAP.

The points have already been removed from my SPG account but have not yet appeared transformed into miles on my UA account.

Starwood Lurker III

Hi there,

Please note that airline transfer awards to United Mileage Plus may require up to 10-14 business days handling and processing time.

Best Regards,

Christina Zhou
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

observer

I can now answer my own question. I was alarmed by the prospect of as long as two weeks. In fact, I made the request late on Friday. The miles had not been posted when I first checked on Monday morning, but when I checked again an hour or so later, the transfer had been completed. So, in my case, it was a bit more than 48 hours -- over a weekend.