Originally Posted by
iwillflytheworld
With BD, if you fly 100k miles a year in discount economy fares, you will accrue far less than 100k, more like 50k. To a lesser degree, the same is true for AC, though I know very little about their program. UA is probably your best bet with your travel pattern.
Well, that depends. If you are flying on UA, US, or most AC fares, but crediting to BD, you will almost always get 100% mileage, just as you would with Mileage Plus. Discounted fares on LH and other european carriers will earn fewer miles, though.
One good thing about BD is that they give a gold status bonus of 25% on all carriers; also, if you exceed 55000 status miles for the year, every additional status mile is converted into a redeemable mile, in effect doubling your mileage accrual, which makes it very good value for those flying serious amounts.
BD redemption rates are also pretty good, and they allow one way awards and cash+mile awards; note, however, that they are not part of the star alliance upgrade scheme (although that seems to be true of United as well, at the moment).