I'm currently a United Mileage plus member. I have to fly with Continental this July.Which is the best frequent flyer program should I join to get mileage from my Continental flight?
Thanks,
TG

Northwest. They have the best non-flight promos to earn additional miles. U get full credit for co flights but only 1/2 for cheap co fares count for status. If you r gonna fly CO often and u care bout elite status and eventually upgrades, consider CO onepass, it is the only way to get full status credit with cheap co fares, but u still have to book them thru continental.com

I'll go ahead and move this to the CO forum.

Regards,

Flipside

I'd go with Continental. You get full EQMs with discount fares and if CO and UA merge, your miles might merge, too.

Discounted CO coach fares (Q and below) only earn full EQM's if the ticket is purchased on co.com.

Alaska hands down.

The poster is clearly an infrequent flyer with CO, and AS has a few things going for them:

1. Lots of partners, so it can be a catch all for every mileage program -- e.g., if you hold just a UA MP account and an AS MP account, you can collect on every major airline in the U.S.:

(plus some international ones)

2. Low award rates -- e.g., 20K RT if booked online on AS metal; 30K to Mexico.

3. A Visa bonus offer for 20K bonus miles when you open an account. That could help bring you to an award right away.

Noted in second post.

"Alaska hands down."

There is a strong argument for AS, but hands down? I don't think so. Your AS status isn't going to help you when moving abroad. Being a CO/NW Gold gives you SkyTeam Elite status vs AS's program which gives you nothing.

The low award rates might be nice, but an informed flyer would save the miles for international first class trips vs. a domestic trip. Don't get me wrong, I love and fly AS, but they're not the ideal.

I would suggest NW not only for this, but in place of UA period. Here's something that UA elites don't realize. You get upgraded automatically on a space available basis when you're a CO/NW elite on both CO and NW metal. No expiring upgrade certs, no buying more certs, no more putting yourself on a wait list and no more long flights home looking at up and wondering why the front section is empty and UA is making you sit in back.

The only reason why anyone should ever bother with UA is if they fly a ton and mostly international and want the SWU's. NW offers SWU's as well for people who fly the most, but UA does have more international routes. I just shake my head at people who fly United domestically.

I take Amtrak quite a bit, and therefore credit all my ST mileage to CO. Continental miles transfers 1:1 in 5000-mile increments to Amtrak Guest Rewards points. For 24,000 AGR points, I can get 4 of my typical NE Corridor round trips, worth $700-1000 (or triple the value I'd derive from a 25,000 mile domestic airline RT).

You rightly dismiss a sweeping generalization, then make one of your own. There are many reasons why people may prefer UA over NW and vice versa depending on their situation and priorities (e.g. NW's route network doesn't work for me). And you'll find many on the UA board, myself included, strongly prefer the certificate system as both more equitable to elites across tiers and more protective of the premium cabin.

This maybe makes a case for flying NW, but not CO. Even the most ardent supporters here will admit that getting upgraded on CO transcons or major hub routes does not happen very often. I like to think back to my wife, who was flying CO every week between BOS and IAH. When she started flying the route as a Gold, she was upgraded very rarely - I would say maybe 10% of the time. This is such a low rate that I'm not at all sure you can't match that using stickers, and have some more control over using those upgrades when you want, rather than when CO wants. Now, as a Plat, her upgrades increased, but to something less than 50%. So, unless our OP will garner Plat...

As for whether someone is crazy to fly UA, I really don't get this. Aside from considerations about routing or schedule or the like, I would think UA's better reward redemption is a strong incentive. Indeed, while I know it is splitting hairs, you state "but an informed flyer would save the miles for international first class trips", yet you have a much better shot of getting into a true international F cabin with UA miles than you do with CO miles (where your only option is a now-very-expensive redemption on QF).

Finally, for me, and I'm sure plenty more like me, it is plainly obvious that:

UA E+ >> CO Y-

If one flies paid F, or happens to fly a route/times with an abnormal upgrade %, then CO is a fantastic airline and program. If you fly Y and buy cheap tickets through a corporate TA, then CO is not a great airline and program.

AS does have some good offerings for international awards IMO, with access to premium cabins on several international and domestic carriers. And since awards start at only 20K for online bookings, one can get a domestic ticket for fewer miles then with CO or most other majors.

And here's a full list of partners AS has:

AS
AF
AA
BA
CX
CO
DL
7H
QX
KL
LA
NW
KS
QF
QX

Its a pretty good list of partners, but I'd say it depends on what the OP is looking for. Either CO or AS would work, as both bank CO miles at 100%, versus NW and others... which it seems the OP only wants a place to earn miles, not gain status.

Also the OP may end up redeeming miles if credited on AS with AS, and discover why some choose AS over UA

One earns 100% banked miles on CO flights with NW, as far as I can tell.

Personally, if one isn't chasing status, I would go with AS because of the ability to earn and burn on AA, as well. Between CO and NW, I would accrue with CO, since one can burn on VS. But this is ONLY if status is unimportant.

I stand corrected, I guess I was thinking EQM's where some fares offer fewer EQM's...

Crediting with AS for CO metal also does not accrue EQM's so if the OP is just interested in earning miles, AS is fine, otherwise status is not attainable on AS with CO flights unfort.

The OP is a UA flyer and has an oddball CO flight, so it doesn't seem he's going for status on this second carrier. Hence, the "hands down" remark. Your points are valid for someone looking for SkyTeam status, or looking for upgrades. But my take on this post is that he's just looking for a place to dump a few miles and not let them orphan. AS is likely the best place for that.

Similarly, if we're talking about a low number of miles, then saving them for an int'l trip in a premium cabin (what many of us FTers do) is not necessarily feasible. I may have a ton of CO and UA miles, but I also have a DL account on life support for several years. If I can get that to 50K and redeem for 2 x 25K domestics just to run it out, I'll be happy I won't have to worry about it anymore. Sure it's not the best use of miles, but there are other circumstances as well (it's also an expensive market I tend to redeem to, so it's not really that bad of a deal).

And as for your NW vs. UA ploy, again that's an uninformed suggestion. We're not sure where the OP's home is, and where they fly. Suggesting NW to someone who lives in say SFO or LAX may be impossible if they do a lot of travel within the West Coast.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! My head is spinning

You guys were right about your guesses (are you psychics???) !!!

I fly international almost a 100% of the time. That's why I have UA Mileage Plus.

Yes, I'm looking for a place to dump the mileage. I'm not looking for a status. I'm not sure when I'd fly Continental Airlines again. So seems like I should go for Alaska air?