MileagePlus vs LifeMiles
Nov 1, 2014, 10:40 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: UA
Posts: 7
MileagePlus vs LifeMiles
I used to work for Accenture where I only flew United 99.9% of the time. Now I'm living in Bogotá and flying mostly on Avianca. At first I felt stupid for signing up for LifeMiles when I could have accumulated United miles on my Avianca flights. However yesterday I was looking for award flights from both United and Avianca and noticed that the direct flights for BOG-IAD on Avianca are not an option in United. Anyone else here have more than one Star Alliance account?
Nov 10, 2014, 2:22 pm
#2
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Atlántida, Canelones, Uruguay (MVD) and rarely GNV
Programs: AV LifeMiles, CM ConnectMiles, BA Exec Club. Former:ex-ASGold, ex-UA1K, ex-COPlat, ex-NWGold.
Posts: 2,673
More than one, yes. More than one, active? No.
In most cases, having more than one active account per alliance does not make sense. There certainly are edge cases where it does. But those usually are for people who fully qualify for top-level perks on one airline program, but then go for some benefits on another. Or where one airline's program blocks out things available from another.
For most "normals", including most aware Flyertalkers, one-per-alliance makes the most sense.
For me, I switched from United Mileage Plus to LifeMiles, after many years of United (including both legacy-UA and legacy-CO separately-earned elite status pre-merger pre-alliance change.) Not only because I moved to South America, but also because of devaluations in UA MP. There also have been some big devaluations in LifeMiles, but overall the program matches up to my needs more. Including earn or burn for a few US transcons or midcons when I go back to the States about once a year. Also now it's a lot more likely that I'll do 5000 or 10000 miles on Avianca, than I'll spend U$S2500 or 5000 on United/Copa for low or mid-tier elite status.
Plus with the combo of the regularly recurring double miles purchases (even with the price increase) and the miles+cash sliding-scale redemptions even on *A tickets, LifeMiles appears to me to be a better value.
Better. Not great. Not as good as it was in 2012-13.
In most cases, having more than one active account per alliance does not make sense. There certainly are edge cases where it does. But those usually are for people who fully qualify for top-level perks on one airline program, but then go for some benefits on another. Or where one airline's program blocks out things available from another.
For most "normals", including most aware Flyertalkers, one-per-alliance makes the most sense.
For me, I switched from United Mileage Plus to LifeMiles, after many years of United (including both legacy-UA and legacy-CO separately-earned elite status pre-merger pre-alliance change.) Not only because I moved to South America, but also because of devaluations in UA MP. There also have been some big devaluations in LifeMiles, but overall the program matches up to my needs more. Including earn or burn for a few US transcons or midcons when I go back to the States about once a year. Also now it's a lot more likely that I'll do 5000 or 10000 miles on Avianca, than I'll spend U$S2500 or 5000 on United/Copa for low or mid-tier elite status.
Plus with the combo of the regularly recurring double miles purchases (even with the price increase) and the miles+cash sliding-scale redemptions even on *A tickets, LifeMiles appears to me to be a better value.
Better. Not great. Not as good as it was in 2012-13.