NH or UA?

Old Sep 20, 2009, 4:09 am
  #1  
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NH or UA?

Hello,

I will traveling from the west coast to NRT 10-12 times per year beginning early next year in Biz class. I will be traveling on UA at least initially and am wondering which mileage program will be better for me in the long run. I want to be able to use my miles for tickets for my family to travel. Would you recommend using ANA's program or UAL's?

Things I am interested in....flexibility of using miles on various *A carriers around the world, potential comp upgrades to first, bonus miles for elite members, better lounges, that sort of thing. I have looked at the sites and UAL is fairly straightforward, but I can't understand ANA's with regards to elite benefits. any help will be welcome.

Thanks...I am also going to post this in UALs forum.

Last edited by sushi lover; Sep 20, 2009 at 4:16 am
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 4:50 am
  #2  
 
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Hi sushi lover (I can relate),

I have been a member of the UA program for many years and like that accrued points do not expire unless there is zero activity over an 18 month period...

You will accrue miles from NH on your UA reward program, flying UA may give you extra rewards, but I'd prefer to be better served on NH ;-)

However, please don't fly UA - fly NH, after one flight you'll know what I mean - NH beat UA hands down in every way...

All miles from UA can be used across the *A network...

Happy flying.

Cheers,

AG. :-:
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 5:02 am
  #3  
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AG,

Thanks for the info, trust me, I would much rather ride on ANA, but currently I live in a city not served by ANA and dont really want to make a connection. Are you saying that UAL will get me more miles over time?

THanks.....

sushi
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 7:39 am
  #4  
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Ok....I broke the rules....let me try again....

What is starnet blocking on UAL?

How does elite status work? If I qualify for say 1K on UA in 2010, does that carry to 2011, so that all flights flown in 2011 get the 100% bonus miles? Do the C class and elite status bonus miles go towards reaching the next elite status?

oh...and what is global services level?

thanks....never used a FFP before, very confusing....many questions!
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 9:27 am
  #5  
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There are two separate issues here -- which airline to fly, and which airline to credit miles to.

ANA: better food, better service, don't like the seats.
UA: if you take the 747 ex-LAX you get the new business class seats which I find much better for sleeping (fully flat, not angled-flat) but of course you get UA service and UA food.

Either way 10-12 business class roundtrips will make you a United 1K if crediting miles to Mileage Plus. 1Ks get 6 'systemwide upgrades' per year which will get you from business to first class, confirmed at booking (subject to availability) or from coach to business from most fares except the very cheapest. In addition you should earn 8 confirmed domestic upgrades plus other 1K perks.

Now, if you fly United and credit to United and you're paying for 10-12 transpacs a year you probably make Global Services. Search the United forum for discussion, but priority on most things is above 1K.

The downside to crediting to United is, as noted above, 'Starnet blocking'. United is the only Star Alliance airline that doesn't actually let you book all award seats being offered by Star Alliance partner airlines. They 'block' various partners on various routes on various dates in a very non-transparent way. So for redemptions you pretty much want to stay away from United.

Are elite benefits more or less important to you than mileage redemptions?

I should also note that programs like bmi and Lufthansa Miles & More are more generous with mileage earning on premium class fares. Seriously consider (a) asking bmi for a status match and then (b) crediting to bmi. While flying the airline which appeals more to you -- United's hard product on the 747 or ANA's better soft product?

Of course if you're otherwise looking at the United 777 out of SFO or SEA, those haven't been upgradeed yet, you DEFINITELY want to stay away from those in business class, ANA is a no-brainer from SFO hands down...
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 9:30 am
  #6  
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Originally Posted by sushi lover
What is starnet blocking on UAL?
see my post above.

or.. this flyertalk thread has over 1700 posts on the subject
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-blocking.html

How does elite status work? If I qualify for say 1K on UA in 2010, does that carry to 2011, so that all flights flown in 2011 get the 100% bonus miles?
Yes, that's correct.

Do the C class and elite status bonus miles go towards reaching the next elite status?
Yes, paid C earns a 25% bonus towards (re-)qualification, although deep discount business class Z fares do not earn the bonus.. Elite status bonus does not count towards qualification.

oh...and what is global services level?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-services.html
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 9:30 am
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Starnet blocking is what United Airlines does to minimize/eliminate awards that Mileage Plus members can use; basically, United has decided that it doesn't want to allow many *A awards on partner carriers and thus has directed its IT department to make many/most *A awards invisible to the UA reservations agents. Makes one wonder why UA has any "partners" at all. Now that I write that, makes one wonder why UA is allowed in the *A at all. Anyway, also see here.
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 10:15 am
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One more note is ANA will expire your unused mileage and they charge very high fuel surcharges. An example I can show you is if you use ANA Miles for a *A flight from LAX-FRA I often had to pay upwards of $250-300 in bogus charges. Booking the same flight using AC miles was about $70. Asking United for that same flight "no availability".

Dunno if this post helps or just confuses you more. ANA recently lowered the bogus fuel / airport charges but still they are higher in my experience then AC or even US on *A "fuel and airport" charges.

Don't get me wrong there are other advantages to using ANA. It only took
me 90k miles for YVR-HKG in business on AC whereas AC via Aeroplan wanted 120k or 115k (can't remember precisely) for the same flight.
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 11:27 am
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Originally Posted by joshman
One more note is ANA will expire your unused mileage and they charge very high fuel surcharges. An example I can show you is if you use ANA Miles for a *A flight from LAX-FRA I often had to pay upwards of $250-300 in bogus charges. Booking the same flight using AC miles was about $70.
AFAIK fuel surchages are charged by the airline you fly on rather than by the FFP you belong to.

It only took me 90k miles for YVR-HKG in business on AC whereas AC via Aeroplan wanted 120k or 115k (can't remember precisely) for the same flight.
But you should also consider how many miles you can earn with each FFP for the route and class of travel you regularly use.

And you don't have to confine yourself to UA and ANA. You may want to take a look at the Star Alliance Forum for more information, especially this thread.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...nce-links.html
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 12:50 pm
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Originally Posted by NewbieRunner
AFAIK fuel surchages are charged by the airline you fly on rather than by the FFP you belong to.


Nope.
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 1:44 pm
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Originally Posted by N227UA
Nope.
N227UA is correct. E.g., NH will collect fuel surcharges in the hundreds of dollars for a LH 1st flight USA-FRA, UA will not.
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Old Sep 20, 2009, 6:38 pm
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What is all this starnet blocking business, anyway!

Cheers, AG :-:
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Old Sep 21, 2009, 7:19 am
  #13  
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Thanks for all the replies. It seems to me that if you are going to fly on one particular airline it is best to go with their FFP. I am anticipating flying on UAL at least for the next 2 years, so to me it makes sense to use UAL's FFP. Am I understanding it right that that is the only way to get the elite bonus miles of up to 100%? That would mean a lot of extra miles in my case. Also it seems they offer some confirmed upgrades on top of using miles to upgrade. If I switch to flying ANA in the future, I can reevaluate the FFP. My main concern is UAL's ability to exsist long enough to use the miles, but I guess I will take that chance.

Looked at the starnet blocking thing...that is crazy they are getting away with that. Maybe if enough people make some noise about it they will change.

thanks again
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Old Sep 21, 2009, 7:55 am
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Originally Posted by sushi lover
Thanks for all the replies. It seems to me that if you are going to fly on one particular airline it is best to go with their FFP. I am anticipating flying on UAL at least for the next 2 years, so to me it makes sense to use UAL's FFP. Am I understanding it right that that is the only way to get the elite bonus miles of up to 100%? That would mean a lot of extra miles in my case. Also it seems they offer some confirmed upgrades on top of using miles to upgrade. If I switch to flying ANA in the future, I can reevaluate the FFP. My main concern is UAL's ability to exsist long enough to use the miles, but I guess I will take that chance.

Looked at the starnet blocking thing...that is crazy they are getting away with that. Maybe if enough people make some noise about it they will change.

thanks again
UAL's FFP might be a better program than ANA's on the mile earning amount and partners. Also the SWU UG and CR1s. Regarding *net blocking, it might be the negative point (not for me since I usually use miles to UG...flying more than 200,000 BIS I expect to stay home during my free time).

ANA might not have the *net issue, but reedeeming a flight with them will cost you hundreds of USD. As for UA they only charge airport taxes.

Also think about the flexibility of MP vs ANA's, at MP you can redeem for anybody, but ANA has a policy that you can redeem only to relatives (I don't remember if it is 2nd or 3rd layer).
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Old Sep 21, 2009, 8:03 am
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Please forgive me, but what is SWU and CR1?

Thanks.
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