Originally Posted by
aza72
I have silver status on United and have an upcoming trip to Vienna from SFO. It looks like my two best options are on United SFO-JFK-VIE which gives me ~11K award miles and ~13.5K PQM under the new fare rules, or on Turkish Airways SFO-IST-VIE which gives me 15K Award and PQM miles.
Total flight + layover time and cost are about the same so I'm indifferent on that ground.
I'm still trying to understand the new award rules, and trying to figure out which would be best.
Am I likely to get any value (upgrades, E+, etc?) from my United status by flying on United metal that I wouldn't get flying Turkish Airways or should I just try to maximize miles?
Based on the itinerary you've published only SFO-JFK would be on UA metal (where you would get E+ seating if available at OLCI). JFK-VIE is going to be a codeshare flight operated by Austrian which is not known for having a great economy offering (tight space on the seats unless you buy up to exit row). You will earn PQDs on the UA ticket if that matters for your requalification efforts.
I like the TK product and LOVE Istanbul (I'm there right now,actually) so if you can afford a few hours on a layover to explore the city that would be an added bonus IMO.