Advice needed: switch from UA 1K to EK Gold?
 

The facts:

Been a homeless global traveler without a base for 4.5 years and now find myself parked in Dubai for the next year.

I've been UA 1K for years, and have to be ranked pretty high, I'm usually first on upgrade lists after GS. (Not making GS year after year has been a bummer, especially after 248K in a single year. I think I fly too much.)

My routes are almost entirely international, not focused on a single region, and usually include multiple stops not roundtrip tickets. For instance this week I'll fly DXB > HKG > SHA/PVG > MNL > DXB... A couple of weeks later a trip to Europe, then a US trip, with maybe a pop down to central America, etc.

EK has offered a status match (one tier down) of gold to switch over. Tempting...

But, I'm not sure about switching especially considering the nature of my itineraries and the regional legs of trips without a network like UA/Star Alliance.

What would you do?

Why not just take the status match, then you'll have both, and see how you like EK after a few flights compared to UA/*A, and then decide. If you did 250,000 miles last year, one flight more or less on *A isn't going to lose you 1K.

Personally, I think UA is pretty rubbish in international premium cabins, but within the US obviously invaluable. Also the *A benefits are useful. But if 90% of your travel is ex-DXB (and therefore on EK) you might find that service better (and they have a lot of fifth and sixth freedom rights).

mtburner Welcome to FT
Have a look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

Before accepting the EK status match, check their rules regarding whether this is in principle once in a lifetime, etc.

Also familiarize yourself with their program to check whether your travel pattern would earn status and many award tickets, etc. The fact that you're not GS with UA suggests that you're purchasing cheap coach tickets, which don't earn much in many FF programs.

Good point, and relevant to EK!