For someone who is based in Australia and is travelling to the US on *A in coach fares, it is hard to left out UA. There are three UA offers for Entertainment™ members, two of them are very valuable:

• Receive 25% off one new United Economy round trip ticket (applies to specified fare types).
• Fly and purchase a paid, qualifying round trip on UA to a destination within the United States or Canada until June 1st 2005 and you will receive a bonus of 15K MP miles for travel in F, 10K MP miles in J or 5K MP miles in Coach.

To qualify for these offers, travel must begin in SYD or MEL and fly to a destination within the United States or Canada.

If I start by zero, MP would be my first choice and try to get comped to Premier Executive (referring to my future reservations). Even if this does not work out, your friends travel pattern should allow him to earn 100K EQM/year for 1K elite level.

One of the perks for Premier Executive members upwards is a 100% tier bonus on all UA/US flights & LH flight between US and Europe. 200% for coach tickets is unbeatable (think also of promotions kicking in every now and than) and 225% in business matches M&Ms & DCs earning potential. To get the most out of it, someone should like to fly on these carriers and sometimes in pays of to replace carriers (eg AC on his transatlantic flight to Europe).

To sum up: First goal: Earn 100K EQM/year on MP.

As every FFP has strongholds & weaknesses, it’s the same with MP: You only earn 125% on business tickets flown on “the rest of the *A carriers”. This is especially inconvenient for someone who travellers on a RWSTAR ticket and likes to catch the so called prime carriers like SQ & NH. If I have room for a second FFP, I would choose KF, knowing that this sounds odd for most of the regulars: In KF we earn also only 125% (150% for Silver and up members) on Biz tickets (sometimes there are promos too), but we can use these miles for upgrade on SQ.

To sum up: Second goal: Choose a back up FFP.

If your friend chooses MP and does not achieve a second *G status, than I have to add that MP *G members only have access to U.S. RCCs when they present a BP for a same-day international flight.

To come to an end: You also informed us that your friend likes to upgrade. As more and more FFPs does not allow to upgrade on low booking classes into Business Class, upgrade awards for miles are not always the best bet. However, one of the most elaborated posts I have ever read on FlyerTalk is ozstamps' compilation about upgrade possibilities with MP benefits (please scroll down).