embarcadero1

Like many on this board, I'm pretty tired of MP and have been thinking of jumping ship. I've been 1K for about 6 years, have 850K lifetime miles, and currently have 600K of those in my account. Thanks to *net blocking, virtually every flight I wanted to book is unavailable.

I'm based in San Francisco, fly about 80% international (mostly Western Europe and China, Korea, Japan). I occasionally go to India, maybe 1X per year. I put in maybe 25K in domestic travel each year.

My company's travel policy generally permits me to travel on Z ares, and occasionally on C fares. Other times (like to Sydney or to NRT), I buy a Y or B fare and then upgrade with SWU or miles.

Is there any other alliance or carrier that would be worthwhile for me? I want to jump ship, but would like to know what other options might be worth considering. I'm not too much of an alliance expert, so any help you can offer would be appreciated.

FlyinHawaiian

From the Forum FAQ:

Are you a 1K thinking about defecting to AA? Read this comprehensive guide first:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110486

I know there's a few similar threads in the archives for Continental and Delta/Northwest.

You might also want to check the MilesBuzz! Forum for additional threads as well.

LAX

If you already have 850K lifetime miles on UA, you may want to hang around for a year or two longer and get MM status before jumping ship as it will get you 1P for life (UA's or yours, whichever is shorter ). Can't help you with potential alternative carriers, though.

LAX

flyinbob

Agree with LAX. Since you're not leaving for a definite better experience, you should stick around to get MM. The lifetime 1P has its advantages even if you only fly UA once or twice a year. Unless you really want to go to a sure thing elsewhere, I'd stick it out to MM.

tom911

I made the move to AA with 849K towards lifetime status, and the only thing keeping my UA account alive right now is Safeway grocery miles every few months. Take those away and I'd have to do an SFO-LAS once a year to keep my account alive.

I can think of at least 4 FT top tier AA flyers here in the Bay Area, but we're all primarily leisure flyers and would have different issues with partners than you would have with higher priced fare classes.

Clearly AA metal is limited in the direction of Asia (Shanghai, Tokyo, Delhi), and when you book on partners (Cathay, JAL, Qantas) in that direction you have to be very careful about the fare basis, as some fares do not accrue any miles at all, while others may be 50% miles or 100%. You may not even get bonus miles that you're used to on UA. Take a look at the individual carrier links HERE. Lack of AA metal in that direction also means no routes to use systemwides on, so that is a benefit that you may take a hit on if you don't take AA metal.

One benefit you would get with One World that is different than UA as a top tier flyer is first class lounge access on any fare (coach included) when traveling international (I have a few lounge photos linked below). Another benefit is a longer use period for 8 systemwides, based on when you qualify or requalify. Also, AA has off peak awards in coach to Europe and South America for 40K. Also, AA lifetime status is acquired very differently than UA lifetime status.

I've used business award tickets to HKG, SIN, and Australia this year (one ticket--One World award that is mileage based), as well as a partner award to the Olympics. I remember when we were discussing travel to Beijing 11 months out that UA flyers could only get as far as Shanghai (that changed closer to the event date), while I was able to book a One World routing right into Beijing on JAL. Last year I also did an Asia/Australia OW award ticket with 3 stops. I don't think UA has a similar product to a One World award . The One World awards just give you a different option to work with than a partner award (and will generally cost more miles and require at least two partner carriers).

That should give you a couple areas to start researching. I've been very happy with the move.

CApreppie

Agree with the advice to stick around to make lifetime 1P and then jump ship.

jtsaltman82

i also agree with this sentiment. could you fly some of the star alliance partner airlines next year to ease the pain of sticking around? lufthansa C is a pretty nice product.

regardless of what you decide to do, if i were you, i'd "sample" some of the other legacy carriers on the side to see how i liked them before completely jumping ship.

sfallsflyer

I’ve been 1k for 5 years now and am stepping down a rung. I moved to PBI and United quit flying here. CO comped me to top tier so, I switched to them. Currently doing a challenge with US Air as they also have a lot of flights out of here. That’ll give me two airlines. Problem is that CO is jumping to * Alliance. I agree with the other posts, I’d stick around for the MM status before ditching UA.

adambadam

If you are allowed to fly on Z fares and the majority of your travel in int'l I am not sure whether or not it is necessary to jump ship. Have you tried traveling on SQ or LH much? People on the boards all agree that there C products and service are leaps and magnitudes better than UA. This way you can still collect those UA miles when you have to do a domestic trip you can have the upgrade instruments and some miles to pass around to the family. The other nice thing about MM status is that since you are 1P you will get E+ for life too which if you ultimately jump ship to an int'l carrier you can still be comfortable on your domestic trips?

LessO2

What's slightly misleading here is that miilion-miler status (lifetime UA miles) are accrued only when your butt is on United Airlines metal. Doesn't matter what class of service on SQ, LH, AC or whomever, not does it matter if you're flying a 016 ticket on another carrier, you have to be flying UA metal to get credit toward MM status.

No credit towards lifetime UA miles (million miler) by doing it this way.

I agree with the other posters with sticking around with UA until you hit MM status. Too much, so close to pass up.

the cranky banker

I did that, but am not particularly impressed with the treatment afforded MM fliers at UA. There is no distinction at all between MM 1P and non-MM 1P as I had been thinking there would be; the MM doesn't even appear on the boarding pass; and you are boarding on the blue carpet. In SF the high percentage of red carpet users generally leaves me mid-pack boarding flights. Now that overhead space is particularly at a premium, it is somehow more irritating. By the time you achieve 1,000,000 BIS UA miles they may think of ways further to degrade the status.

UAX_Brasilia

If you are flying Z, D, or C, what I would is stick flying United (or *A). At SFO, they are leaps and bounds above everyone in terms of schedule. To fix the problem of StarNet blocking, I would credit to a different Star program, some will still give RDM bonuses for flying to UA (non US programs will grant you access to RCC/US Club when flying domestically as long as Star Gold).

Benny8444

If you were to jump ship wait till you hit MM.

But here is my question, How is AA any different than UA? Most of the domestic airlines are the same (minus US). If you live in SF the best airline is UA as you can fly direct to most destinations in Asia and some places in EU.

If you look at the thread about *Net blocking you will see that UA has relaxed on it a little bit.

rjque

Actually, *Net blocking was relaxed for a week or two but is now back in full force.

Based on the OP's travel patterns, I just don't see anything but UA working unless the OP is willing to spread travel out across a number of alliances and forego elite status. That may be worth it, depending on how badly UA has treated the OP. The *net blocking was enough for me to switch all my paid F travel to CO/DL/VX and just deal with connections when necessary. I don't fly internationally for work, so that works fine. Getting to Asia, Australia and Europe from SFO is difficult without UA - unless you are willing to connect and/or forego upgrades.

sunil

As long as the *Net filters are active you can never be sure what , when and how much United will block. My advise is to get to One World if the routes work for you its currently alot better than MP.

I'm quite sick of MP, just cancelled my personal and small biz cards with United and shifted all my spend to SPG and TYN. Thats the best way to let United know how I feel about them.