Hi, I am currently trying to decide on a suitable *A FF scheme and I have narrowed my choices to UA or AV, but I am open to other suggestions:
(1) What is your home airport?
FRA
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Discount Y
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
<25k miles earned, probably >25k miles flown due to 50% earning rates
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present?
No
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Don't care about lounges and *G, but want good mileage earning rates (mainly UA, LH, LX, CA, maybe TK as well) and decent award ticket redemptions
(6) Which routes do you fly most often
EU-Asia, occasionally EU-US
(7) Preferred Airlines
CA, LX, LH, TK, UA
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
I travel for leisure so will almost always book discount economy with 50% or 0% mileage credit.
I am an occasional flyer and am mainly looking at a FF to get award tickets (in Y or maybe C), not for status. My research has currently given me the picture that:
AV Lifemiles
Pros:
-Good miles&cash deal (20-25$ per 1k miles) on award tickets, no fuel surcharges
-Frequent miles sales
-24 months miles expiry (on inactivity) vs 18 months on UA
Cons:
-No mileage earning for discount Y on LH, LX, TK
-Difficult to deal with call centre, very restrictive award travel rules
UA MP
Pros:
-Earns 50%+ mileage on discount Y at LH, LX, TK, CA
-Easy award travel booking with good search engine, no fuel surcharges and very flexible rules
-Possibly better credit card deals for EU based customers?
Cons:
-UA travel is revenue based, hurting discount Y, and *A partner rates have an uncertain future
-Fee for award booking 21 days before departure
-Buying miles cost 37$ per 1k
From the above, it seems UA should be the better choice if I want the flexibility in carriers - however, I am worried about them switching *A partner rates to revenue based in the near future and maybe I should stick it out with AV and restrict myself to travelling on CA, UA and AC? What do you think?
P.S. I did not consider TK because of their difficult relationship with LH Group and not OZ because my focus is not to receive *G and I believe OZ miles expire regardless of account activity.