Looking for insight on branching out for additional benefits, I will have a very busy 2016.
Situation is:
- I will have enough for 1K (100k PQM and $20kPQD) by March on United
- Expect about 8 more Business class tickets this year west coast to Europe, plus significant West coast-YYZ travel (about 70k BIS miles) - total maybe 350k BIS miles and $75k for the year.

I have no expectation of GS as all my domestic and transborder trips are discount economy.
I was thinking of stopping UA credit in March and switching to LH (no status there now) for west coast- Europe flights, reach SEN (and get UC access in the US in the process), and then switch to AA to renew Plat or get EXP.
Or maybe continue adding miles to LH as we will be traveling in Europe this year and next.

Maybe someone has additional insight on maximizing value on this one.

Cheers

I do exactly what you describe - having a high status level on multiple airlines / alliances is of tremendous value - I would suggest you carefully review the other alliances as well - putting all your miles in one alliance might not be as valuable in the long run....

Even tho the OP is currently flying United, the question is more along the lines of which is the best frequent flier program and/or airline alliance to credit future travel to and where this can cover multiple airlines and multiple airline alliances, I'll move this thread over to the Information Desk

goalie
UA Forum Co-Moderator

Thanks to the mod.
Still looking for ideas.

For very frequent flyer's having high status in multiple airlines/alliances does have benefits. You need to carefully consider what are your objectives in a ffp. If flying business/first class you get many benefits by class of travel. As above, the second ffp in a different alliance could be better.

USA & non USA ffp operate very differently. Upgrades are far less with non USA airlines/ffp's. USA based airline ffp's tend to be more generous (status benefits/earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry/affiliated credit cards/promotions) compared to non USA based airline ffp’s (even after the recently announced changes to some USA ffp’s)


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

LH Senator is a high bar if you just want star alliance gold from a foreign airline. Many other star airlines will give star gold with far fewer miles. Why not Turkish, or a semi-local airline like Air Canada or Copa?

I was thinking of AC as well- as it is I tend to fly SFO-YYZ with AC at least twice a month (vs via Denver other times).
Do I get UC access with AC *Gold?
I have been stuck at DEN twice this winter with delays of several hrs and always spend time there.

The main reason to look at LH was to help with travel with the EU, including lounge access for the family (LH offers paid access to kids vs having only the one guest). But a good restaurant at FRA probably beats sinking miles from scratch into it.

I do like the accrual and redemption with United for sure - already booked R/T tix for the family from West US via CDG for 60k miles leaving july returning August.
I don't care for the upgrades but about being able to get the family to other places (4 pax total)
Maybe maximizing the accrual on UA while getting EXP on AA on the side is the way to go in this case.

Thx!

Many AC refugees looking for better with the UA ffp here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...l#post26200506
I do not see how AC status would help you in Denver in a weather event. Bad weather effects all airlines.

Have you investigated how LH would help with Eu travel?

The grass in not always greener on the other side

I think the OP wanted AC status for lounge access during weather delays, not with help avoiding weather delays and is already UA 1k (or will be soon). As far as I know, any foreign airline star gold status should get you in UA lounges, but I don't know that from personal experience and could be wrong.

SEN can invite one guest and children under 18 into LH lounges without payment.

Access to Star Alliance Gold lounges (plus one guest) with a departing Star Alliance boarding pass in any class including domestic UA flights is a standard Star Alliance Gold privilege. The restricted access to United Clubs in the US by MileagePlus Gold members is an exception.

Thanks all for the great info.
As noted, the issue is which secondary status to go after.
I have been quite happy with earning and perks on UA - it may be because I didn't do any travel until last year and I don't have to miss the good old days I never experienced.

Have a great day everyone