Award accelerator and EQMs
 

CO has elite maximizer with an EQM option when you book CO tickets. UA has an award accelerator option with just RDMs.

I realized yesterday that for all intents and purpose, the combination of award accelerator and M+ Chase Visa Choices gives you an EQM option. You buy miles (currrently about 2.5 cents/RDM), and then on a 10 to 1 conversion ratio, redeem them for EQMs, thus making the price per EQM on M+ 25 cents.

According to http://thepointsguy.com/2010/12/cont...r-a-good-deal/ CO elite maximizer EQMs cost between 6 and 30 cents (I don't know if the RDMs come with that).

25 cents per EQM is steep, but in some situations it might be worth it. For example I was 1000 miles short of 175K EQM last year, and wanted to get the 25K RDM bonus. So I redeemed 10K RDM choices miles, to get 1000 EQMs. Had I bought 10K RDMs through award accelerator, I would have paid $250. A one way SFO/DEN cost me the same yesterday, which nets about 1000 EQMs. For me, it was better than an MR.

two clarifications to your idea.
1) It is not RDMs that can be converted to EQMs but rather it is the ChoicePoints (special RDMs earned from Chase MP Visa purchases) that can be convert.
RDMs from flying and (I believe) RDMs from Award Accelerator are not eligible for conversion to EQMs.
2) there is a limit for 5K EQMs annually for converting ChoicePoints to EQMs


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ds-merged.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...t-cheaper.html

United Accelerated Miles
 

I will be short a couple of thousand miles to reach Premier Elite on the UAL Mileage Plus program. I will be taking 2 trips before the end of the year and will still need some miles. If I purchase accelerated miles before I go on the trips, do they count towards me going to the 50,000 mile premeir elite status?

Welcome to FT!
Mileage Accelerator miles on UA don't count as EQMs (i.e. status miles).
You'll need to fly some more miles.
Pedantic point: 50,000 miles = Premier Executive (not Elite).

There is a way to do something like what you're interested in on the CO side. Basically, you buy a ticket, and then purchase the EQM option. Those miles count, and then you cancel the original ticket (of course, you had to BUY a refundable ticket to start with). You would first need a CO account, and then link to your MP account. The EQM should merge, and you should be set. I don't know the particular cost, but you can look in the CO forum and find out.

Billy

... or redeem United Choices miles (basically, RDM earned from Chase cards) for EQM, at 10,000 RDM : 1,000 EQM (or EQS). This may be a useful alternative to doing a mileage run, depending on your individual circumstances. For more info, log in at https://secure.unitedmileageplus.com/BM0603TH6.jsp

Ticket doesn't need to be refundable if you cancel within 24 hours.

How do you access the elite maximizer on continental.com?
 

How do you access the elite maximizer on continental.com?

Is this a good deal?
 

While checking my reservations to see if my UDU cleared which it hasn't I clicked on the Purchase miles link to see what it's going for and this came up.

29,232 Award Accelerator miles 585.00 USD
43,848 Award Accelerator miles 877.00 USD

I've never considered buying them before but this looks better than anything seen before. Is this a good deal?

2 cpm is about as good as the Award Accelerator ever gets.

Is 2 cpm good? -- depends on what you would do with the miles.
An economy ticket USA-Europe is 60,000 miles -- @2cpm that would be $1,200. You could do better with a cash ticket. A domestic award is 25,000 miles -- $500 @2cpm. Sometimes an OK deal.
Using miles for premium awards, 100K for USA-European @2cpm is $2,000 -- abou half price.

Got it and mahalo for the reply!

New here, so much to learn and so many threads.