Firewind

The question's in the title...

Thanks much.

star_world

Why do you believe they will become "MP miles"? There has been no information released on how the FF program will be structured going forrward, so therefore no reason to presume that they will be converted to UA miles or anything like that.

Any conversion will likely result in a massive devaluation, generally far worse than the alternative of leaving them where they are.

RNE

True. Still, it's unthinkable that United (after the merger) will perpetually maintain two FF programs. Therefore, the OP's OP miles will become United FF miles—whatever United calls its program: OnePass or Mileage Plus. Why s/he is worried about that is anyone's guess.

RNE, channeling Madame Blavatsky to say, "My hunch is it will be called 'OnePass Plus.'"

Firewind

One reason is because having more accounts, when you have material miles|points|RRs in them - even within the same program - is, in most cases, a condition devoutly to be wished for. "And that's all I'm going to say about that." @:-)

RNE

Why? What's the advantage?

fti

Since the OP said they are not going to say anything more about it, I suggest this thread be locked.

LAX1K to AmWest

Last comments.. I been through the merger with US Airways and America West and had no problems with them merging my accoutns and getting full flight credit from the previous year (of both accounts). So, again, I would think they would want to retain customers after a merger, and you will not see too much to piss you off right away.. that comes later

RNE

It should have been locked before it was opened.

Rest assured, nobody in his or her right mind believes the merged CO/UA won't combine each airline's miles into whatever FF program comes out of the merger. That's why we're all loading up on OP miles and M+ miles. ^

eponymous_coward

Yes, there is. I believe they call this method of taking miles out of OP "redeeming your miles for flights on CO or partner airlines".

Considering that UA Starnet blocks (and if the DL/NW merger's a guide, this means CO and UA accounts will get the worst features of BOTH programs), this probably isn't a bad idea. I know I had the option of leaving some CO miles around to become UA miles, and I chose cashing them in for a C/J intra-Asia trip on SQ and TG. I know that if God forbid, AS ever announces a merger with DL, I'll certainly cash out my AS miles before they become worthless SkyPesos™.

Generally speaking, airline miles are like the Hotel California. Airlines don't WANT you to be able to trade them for anything else without totally taking a bath in value. For instance, there's points.com GPX trading, but you'd be trading increments of 30K miles for whatever program you're trading CO to, at $300 a pop (so a cent a mile), and some of the trades just suck (people will post that they will give you 10K AA miles for your 30K CO miles). Not worth it, IMO, unless you're desperate for some topoff figure of AA miles or something. I've also seen horrendously bad cashouts on points.com as well- I recall an offer where I could trade a figure of US miles close to a North Asia F redemption (so nearly 120,000 US miles) for a $100-150 Starbucks/Amazon.com/Marriott gift card. Hmm, tell you what, points.com, how about I trade those miles for a first-class trip to Hong Kong with a stopover in Europe instead. Thanks for the generous offer, though!

There's also the possibility of using them for hotels that CO just announced, but it appears that that's also at 1 cent per mile, which is a pretty terrible redemption rate (and I looked around at prices for hotels that site was offering, and they weren't so great- better off using cash and whatever combination of hotel aggregation site/Priceline/Hotwire offers good value).

Critic

Sounds like we have a volunteer for the electric shock/groin-punch self-boarding system...

EDIT: Just realized that the OP managed to (mis)quote both William Shakespeare and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in the same breath.

<golf clap> BRAVO, sir. I salute you. </golf clap>

RNE

You must have missed my "right mind" qualifier. Miles will be combined. Period. That said, I have long advocated burning miles ASAP. They devalue over time.

manneca

I have three post graduate degrees and an IQ that would make most Mensa members envious and I have no idea what that means.

RNE

From http://www.unitedcontinentalmerger.c...sked-questions

Q. How will the transaction affect my Mileage Plus or OnePass miles? Do I have to use all of my miles before the merger is completed or risk losing them? Can I combine them now?
A. Our OnePass and Mileage Plus programs will continue to operate independently until the merger closes. Miles in both programs continue to be valid and are able to be used according to existing program rules. The new frequent flyer program will blend valuable features of OnePass and Mileage Plus from United and Continental.

MJLouise

You can transfer CO miles to Amtrak Guest Rewards points at 1:1. 15K miles will get you a one way, one zone trip in a roomette sleeper, 20K in a bedroom sleeper, with one travel companion for free and free meals along the way. No full body scanners either

If you live in Boston, Acela trips are also an option.

However, Amtrak is a poor holding tank. Transferrring out to another program takes $200 on paid travel charged to the AGR credit card in a year, or Select status, I believe.

Carolinian

. . . but DL screwed NW WP members to the wall! And AF screwed both KL Flying Dutchman and AF Frequence Plus members to the wall when they merged them to create Flying Blue, and there has been a second round of hosing since.