rjbinney

I've read that US won't leave Star Alliance until 'within three to six months' of the merger...

Hrm.

I have to fly to South America over Christmas and New Year's. United has good routes and fares. BUT... What happens if I book, and then USAir moves to oneworld before December? Do they honor existing Star Alliance res? Or is it wasted miles?

I've been landlocked for five months where *A is not a viable travel option, so I will be on the Chairman's bubble for the first time in years.

(I've spent the last 70 minutes scrolling through hundreds of other posts, haven't seen an answer to this... So forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere and I missed it!)

imverge

If I understand correctly, you want to buy a revenue ticket on United and have the miles credited to USDM?

US will announce a cut-off date for earning and redeeming with STAR. Up until that point it should be business as usual.... as they always say

If they officially exit STAR before you take your flight then you have to decide if you want to credit UA or another STAR partner.

If they leave after your flight your miles will be credited to USDM and then merged with AAvantage which will then allow you to use your miles with OW.

rjbinney

Do that all the time, yeah.

So my question is...

Since the last two major mergers were both 'within the alliance', this is a bit unprecedented.

Does anyone suppose that IF the flights are booked through Star Alliance on partner metal BEFORE THEY ANNOUNCE the transition date, but the flights are after the announced cutover date... Will there be any honoring, in the spirit of good business practice/customer loyalty/retention, whatever.

(I will say I'm not optimistic - I flew on a partner airline (Ethiopean) earlier this year (they were terrible, by the way, and paid full-fare biz class to boot), and they botched the transmission of my DM data, so it took six weeks of phone calls to Addis Ababa (on my part, NOT US Air's!) before CP would credit me.)

Well, yeah.

WiscAZ

There's a huge thread (sticky at the top of the forum) about the merger, loaded with speculation about these types of things. Check there for different theories. At this point no one knows for sure.

rjbinney

Yeah, I'd read the sticky... The best data I'd found was Parker's 'three to six month' comment, and was just wondering if anyone had better insight.

'Coz I guess the other major question is, are they still thinking Day Zero is circa November? Or has that accelerated?

(Currently an expat, so I don't get my usual USAir Philly news without some effort!)

So thanks and 'cheers' to anyone with any good new info?

Likewise, what would others do in similar situation?

Tttony

There is no news. This is all stuff regulators are looking into. Everything being said on this thread is pure speculation

Phoenixtinct

I don't believe Day 0 will be in November or that it was ever presented to be. Everything I've heard is that they plan to complete the merger in the 3rd quarter. We are nearing the end of July and are already in the 3rd quarter, so it could happen anytime now. I just read few days ago that US Airways shareholders approved the proposed merger, so as long as the government approvals are in place, it should be finished. I suspect Day 0 will be at some point in August. If you want to be sure you can get credit in your US Divident account in December, then book US Airways (although they only fly to Brazil as far as I know) or ultimately, open an AAdvantage account (if you don't have one already) and fly a OW carrier - LAN and AA cover a lot of South America. Eventually, you'll be able to combine your US and AA balances and you'll end up with 1 account. As to the speculation if US will credit *A flights after they leave the alliance, the answer is almost certainly NO. When airlines severe a relationship with a partner or leave an alliance, there usually is a cut-off date and you can't get any benefits (including mileage accrual) beyond that. They will post that in advance but may still not be sufficient for you if you book far out.

BoeingBoy

Part of AN answer is whether you want to stay with US/new AA. If you do then the absolutely safe route is to buy your ticket for a US or AA flight. Credit your miles to the one you have the ticket on and they'll go into into the merged FF program at some point. If you need the miles for CP buy and credit with US.

Everything else is speculation until official announcements are made.

Jim

Lomapaseo

Agree

However I will be running my test flight on Aug 19th this year using my US mileage card and USClub pass flying on AC.

BoeingBoy

It's entirely possible that regulatory approval will be after that. The last I've seen from Parker is "August or September" for all approvals. When he said that the date for the stockholders meeting was known and only U.S. and European regulatory approval would be needed.

Jim

racefaith

Hello.
Yes, I've tried in earnest to review this thread and the one on using USDM on Star A but at some point, you just have to post a question and hope it hasnt been asked.

I'm near certain I am going to book 2 Biz Class seats with Turkish Air for a June 2014 trip to IST.

Ultimate destination is Athens but US award requirement is "high" which is ludicrous at over 500K in miles spend to get there when I can get 2 Biz Class award tics on Star A for 200K round trip to IST (or any EU gateway really) plus I want to check out all the hype of Turkish service.

So what would happen if I booked the award ticket and was deducted the miles from my USDM account then for some reason I could not go on the trip and at the point, US had already left Star for One World...would I get the miles back into my USDM/AA Advantage (or whatever the new program is called) or would my miles be lost?

I guess the answers are speculative but appreciate the insight.

Thanks, Chris

kudzu

Since US will be in charge of new AA, they'd probably continue doing the usual ...charging a redeposit fee for getting back your miles in the "whatever the new program is called" program, unless the fee is waived because of the status you hold.

stockmanjr

Agreed this thread feels like the T-Mobile/AT&T deal where everyone was acting like their was regulatory approval and suddenly it got blocked. Not saying that's going to happen here but don't put the cart in front of the horse.
Cheers
Howie

dcpatti

When VS and US ended their non-alliance earning partnership a few months back, I believe they DID grant earnings for US members flying on VS who had booked before the cut-off date was announced but flew after that date. I believe these had to be processed manually and I wouldn't be surprised if some folks were told no, but the folks I know all got their miles after they submitted a request. I would most definitely recommend screenshotting the earnings chart and participating partners on the day you make your booking.

This isn't a guarantee they will actually do that, nor is it any guess as to how a Star carrier would credit miles flown on US after whatever cutoff date. Just saying what they did in the past, in one specific situation that I have experience with.

BoeingBoy

The potential hitch is that "new" AA is in OW. Award tickets are paid for at a contracted $$$ price, less than the normal price. US (*A) Deducts ### miles from your US account, issues the award and pays Turkish $$$. You want to cancel the award, but US is part of OW - US doesn't exist. Can/will Turkish refund $$$ to "new" AA? What account is credit with ### miles - Turkish only has your US account # which may/will not exist? How many miles - there's no contracted price or mileage chart between Turkish (*A) and "new" AA (OW).

There will undoubtedly be a cutoff dates for awards. Can't get a *A award after A, must travel before B, can't refund after C. No one can tell you any of those dates.

Jim