Originally Posted by
German Expat
Also with United I get 100% bonus on my miles, with Frontier its only 50% (I have highest status with UA and F9). So the 20k vs 25k is in reality 13.3k vs 12.5k BIS miles so on UA I do need to fly less to get the same award type.
Not really a valid comparison, IMHO. Frontier gives a 50% bonus for Summit earned by flying 25,000 miles. Fly the same on United and earn Premier, which only gives a 25% bonus. The real problem is that Frontier doesn't offer any higher elite levels. I have said for a while (in fact I mentioned it once to Sean in person) that I maintain UA Premier and F9 Summit every year just because I can, but if F9 offered a 50K elite level ("Pinnacle?") with additional benefits such as a dedicated low-mileage award pool, free snacks, companion pass, 100% RDM bonus, etc... I would drop UA whenever I could and go for F9 super-elite.
Originally Posted by
German Expat
Obviously there is the 40k level for Ascent and Summit that I can use but if I can buy a ticket for 200$ for the same flight the value of my miles is quite low.
Indeed that is a pretty worthless use of miles, but I find that I get a ton of values from the Plus awards. For example, my work schedule means that I can't make plans too far in advance for Holiday travel, but I relax knowing that I can spend 40K miles and make my travel plans the week before Thanksgiving, when the tickets are going for $700+