Forgive me if y'all have covered this in some other thread, but I'm not a frequent reader... I just returned from a transpac SFO-SIN-DPS-SIN-SFO on SQ which is in the neighborhood of 20K miles. I am a KrisFlyer member but choose to put the miles to UA because I have almost all my miles there -128K and counting -, and with SFO as my home hub and Asia my main destination, that made more sense than putting them on SQ where I have no miles to date . Traveling to Asia I have either UA or NW to choose from (plus the Star alliance carriers if I could EVER figure out how to get an award seat -- but that's another thread...)
Now I am 6K miles away from getting back to basic Premier status (oh, how low we have fallen since the days of biz class biz travel went down w/ the dotbomb) and debating whether it's worth manufacturing a trip (one visit to the folks in NY would almost do it, but not quite) to get back to bottom level elite.
What should I do?
ANd did I make a mistake putting my last trip onto UA, thinking that I cdn't get enough miles on SQ - then later realizing I could opt to put any UA miles to SQ instead. But SQ rules are very sticky on their KrisFlyer program.
I appreciate the following comments on benefits of elite status, but I haven't gotten much benefit from most of them - except E+, which really is a big difference on a transcon.
So, what would YOU do with future UA/Star alliance trips/miles???
First, what are the primary benefits of status?
1. Upgrades. -
I haven't figured out this science, or maybe my problem is buying discount tickets but I haven't gotten a free upgrade unlike NW
2. Priority checkin. useful in asia where there are fewer kiosks
3. Priority boarding/seating. Priority seating matters on UA with E+. ABSOLUTELY. In asia I cheat and use my old Gold star card....
4. Bonus flight miles.
alas, haven't gotten out of cattle on a paid ticket in yonks...
5. Priority waitlisting and priority baggage handling.
all advice apreciated.
BTW< is it possible to change one's mind on miles that were redirected to an alternate airline, particularly before they are posted????
