abligh

I currently (today!) live in the UK, and am relocating to Zurich but keeping an address in the UK. I am a BA silver card holder, and expect to be taken lots of flights (particularly to the UK, DUB, and SFO and NYC) from now on. Swiss appears to give better options (such as direct flights to SFO and far more options to DUB) than anything on OneWorld.

I have an existing United loyalty card (registered to a UK address) with nothing on but expired miles. Am I better off using this or using a new Swiss loyalty card (registered to a UK or ZRH address I guess)? My experience using a BA silver card on AA was pretty good (2 x free upgrades on 2 flights) but perhaps that was coincidence.

YuropFlyer

It doesn't matter if you use UK address (you get an LH-branded M&M card) or a CH address (LX branded) for anything mileage-related.

Whats your main flying pattern? Cheap economy long haul? Then M&M will be about the worst program you can wish for. You'd have to fly around 15 times round trip to Singapore (for example) to just make their "Frequent Flyer" status (which nowadays only gets you into LH/LX/OS branded lounges, ie mostly access only in DACH (and not even in Basel anymore)

Becoming SEN in Economy is close to impossible, unless you fly on full fare tariffs (for work)

However, if you fly a lot of long haul in Premium Economy, things might turn quite well on the Swiss/M&M side. 100% earning (plus 25% once you're FTL), which means you can relatively easy get FTL.

Or you fly a lot of cheap (K/L) classes within Europe, then 15 Round Trips (30 segments) will ALSO get you FTL status. Funny enough, 15 RT within Europe on 99 CHF fares will give you FTL status just as fast as 15 RTs to Singapore.. talk about sense Route it through FRA/MUC, and you're down to 8 RTs for FTL status..

That said, it really depends on which booking classes you'll be flying. P (Cheapest business fare, often not really cheap Ex-ZRH) gets you just as much miles as.. tada.. Cheapest Premium Economy fare.. no, it doesn't make sense, but that's how LH Group runs their show.

If you fly a lot, on expensive fares (or in Premium Economy on LH..) then M&M makes sense. If you fly a lot on cheap-cheap European destinations, then M&M for FTL makes sense too.

If you fly a lot long haul in cheaper Y, I'd check what other Star Alliance program would still get reasonable amount of miles to hit Star Gold status there.

Basically, there is no universal answer to your question, as it depends heavily on your future flying activities.

If you're flying in Y, I'd avoid LX to be honest, especially long haul. Their product is either outdated (A340), or really cramped (B777) - changing in FRA onto a Y+ product from LH is a good alternative I've found to both have a reasonable good product, getting decent miles, as well as good prices (They've been running sales as low as 650€ in Y+ to long haul destinations, but you can snatch them regularely for below 1000€, which is still a good deal)

If you're allowed to fly C (from your company?) then LX of course is a good product for direct flights, but your company will pay through the nose for it. I know a few companies sending their staff to fly longhaul Ex-MXP on EK, and that was before the new Gotthard tunnel cut down time even more. Of course, EK only offers New York from MXP westwards, so probably that's not a good option for you. C (and F) regular fares Ex-Switzerland on direct LX services are, in two words, silly expensive. If you have an employer paying for them, great for you, otherwise plenty of alternatives exist.

Regarding Switzerland, we're not spoilt with great Credit Card opportunities. The new Cornercard Diners card gives 1 mile for each CHF spent, which is as good as it goes. Alternatively, Amex from Swisscard is 1.5 for 2 CHF spent. Both helps to preserve your miles (they won't expire after 3 years if you're not FTL at least)

televisor

I'm not all that dissimilar, although I do a bit of United domestic flying.

However I went with UA mainly for the mileage redemption. The M&M redemption is a complete joke: huge "surcharge" for any mileage redemption makes it close to worthless, whereas on UA you use your miles plus a tiny fee (you don't get access to LX F redemptions with UA - but overall that's probably a minor issue).

Status earning as described above does vary. Any fare-class on LX earns at least 100% PQM on UA MP. So 4 ZRH-SFO round-trips will almost earn you *G on UA, which is the first worthwhile level (i.e. lounge access, extra luggage). You will however need at least 4 UA metal segments - flying ZRH-LHR-SFO works for that, and is what I sometimes do since flying UA is MUCH nicer than the LX-777 horror, and extra legroom in E+ is still worth it over the A340.)

appenzeller

fully agree with YuropFlyer if you are mainly flying:

Economy = Mileage Plus
Business = M&M

airoli

The above is solid advice.

One thing to consider is the possibility to top up your mileage balance by using a co-brand credit card. For people with a bank account in Switzerland, there are choices for Miles&More and BAEC, but not United.

abligh

Interesting, thanks all. One bit of advice I had not considered is "don't fly direct ZHR->SFO at all". Well, if I'm changing in LHR anyway (and I've got personal reasons to stop off there) I might as well stick with BA. New A380 in Y+ LHR->SFO bulkhead row wasn't at all bad for Y+ I thought ...

noname83

also keep in mind:
UA MileagePlus with foreign address = No PQD requirement for status (Premier Qualified Dollar - Spending requirements on UA).

You can just credit the miles and easily get the status (just 50k for gold)

swisstraveler1988

The threshold into Star Gold is going to half on Mileage Plus than it is for M&M, so it will give you an easier chance to get to that level, which is a *massive* change from Silver.

FYI - Silver on M&M does not come with priority boarding, bags etc. which you have on BA.

Mwenenzi

What are your objectives from a ffp?
What will your flying pattern be?
You seem to be mixing the airlines & airline freq flyer programs. They do not need to be same same.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...post-here.html

MSPeconomist

Often you get additional elite benefits when flying the carrier of your FF program, so it can be good to credit miles to the airline you actually fly.

It sounds like part of the OP's tradeoff is some chance of domestic upgrades when flying UA as a UA elite versus getting lounge access as a nonUA *Gold when flying UA domestic.

weero

Add to this that when you fly coach there isn't anything good about LX and you might want to avoid them whenever possible. Even less reason to consider M&M then.

Kacee

That's the absolute last thing OP should be basing this decision on.

I think the two most relevant considerations are:
1. *G on UA at 50K Premier Qualifying Miles.
2. Much better award redemptions via UA, with no fuel surcharges on any airline.

Unless you're going to qualify for SEN on LX, UA is the clear choice here.

loveairborne

unless you specifically want to redeem premium cabin award, I dont see much difference between Mileage Plus and M&M.
I like M&M because once you are gold, it is good for two years, and the 55k mileage bargain to North America sometimes work out well (I'd rather pay a few hundred fuel surcharge than being asked for 160k for a roundtrip biz with mileage plus, maybe that's just me).

Kacee

Last time I checked, the LH surcharge was around $900 roundtrip.

Using Mileage Plus, the roundtrip Europe - North America is 115K on UA, 140K on a *A partner.

loveairborne

I've never been charged more than $500 by now. Cant say if it goes up to $900 would I change my mind or not.
140K on a *A partner with UA miles includes $100 something charges as well.

It boils down to your individual situation:
VIE-ORD roundtrip was 55k+$500 last spring on OS vs. UAL for 140k roundtrip.
For newbies like me without loads of UA miles (or loads of credit card points), the previous option enables me to burn miles faster, plus a better biz product.