Originally Posted by
deltame
B) Between AV, NH and CZ, which program is better? In my specific case, primary goal would be TPAC travel or TCON (e.g., east coast to SFO/SEA/PDX). My occasional travel on UA probably wouldn’t yield much accumulation until years after. In terms of milage expiration, NH is 36 months and CZ is 10 years of hard expiration. So is AV actually better (b/c flight activity extends miles validity)?
C) Travel benefit. I have the Mileage Plus Explorer credit card. I suppose I’d loose free checked luggage benefit if my PNR is associated with another program. But how about the 2 club passes?
Thanks for your input.
B) You listed CZ -- did you mean CA? China Southern (CZ) isn't a United partner; Air China (CA) is.
C) The 2 club passes will continue to be valid, although I doubt they're worth the $95.
How often do you check a bag, and what's your average fare?
If a "cheap economy ticket" is $300, and you check a bag each way, the Explorer card is saving you $60. I doubt you'd get $60 worth of miles from any alternative program on a $300 ticket. You might do better sticking that money into a fund to use to pay for your TPAC travel.