Which mileage program (Asiana, United or other)
 

Hello,

I am currently in Korea and will be forced to take more star alliance flights. I am gold on Delta. I have an Asiana mileage account, however since I was only taking a few flights around asia, just did it to gather the miles. I didn't put much thought into it, however if I'm now going to rack up some serious miles, I might as well do it with the best program.

I fly mostly from ICN to LAX, SFO and ORD. I usually take what ever flight is available which will probably be split between Asiana Code shared flights with United and United flights. I usually fly 3-4 times a year from Seoul to the USA.

For Asiana, it seems that they give you more time to accumulate miles (40K in 2 years to reach) and access to their lounges however they do not give as many EQM bonus miles. Looking over United's site, it seems that they are a bit more liberal and give you a 50% bonus making it easier to reach the next level.

On the surface, I think it would be better for me to get a United account and transfer my Asiana mileage over. I think it is better to rack up as many miles as possible and the bonus EQM is a plus. I do plan on being in Korea for a few more years...

Any gurus have any opinions...am I missing something?? which would be a better deal?

I don't believe there is any possibility of transferring miles that you have already earned from one program to another. When two airlines belong to the same alliance it allows you to earn and redeem thoughout the entire alliance, but accumulation is still linked to a specific program.

Are your flights in economy class or in a premium class?

I fly Y class...not sure if that is premium or not. I think I would get more benefit if I got the bonus EQM miles from united...

Why not go with UA? I mean non us FFP's in general pale in comparison to the US based airline programs. If you are flying in actual Y bucket you get a 50% eqm bonus right there. If you take 4 trips to the states in the Y bucket you are looking at around 100k eqm's right there, obviously enough for 1k. Then come the perks of SWU's and CR1's not to mention avoiding yq fees when booking award tickets and fee waiver.........

I would dump the Asiana program and credit to UA and fly them in your case. You will still be star gold and get all the star gold perks when flying Asiana around Asia.

US FFPs are overrated. How much is it for the lounge again? ;)

ZERO if you are star gold traveling internationally.

Thanks for the info...i guess the next question is how fast can they transfer my miles???

I think I like the bonus miles vs access to the lounge.

Do not go just for the bonus miles.
If you have UA miles but your flight is blocked, you can't use them. Much like DL.
If you have LH miles, you will need a lot relatively and can't really buy much to get an award.
US you can buy a lot easily, but they can freeze your account!

Asiana allows you 2 years to get 40k miles to get Diamond status and that allows for lounge, extra luggage etc for 2 more years. With an Am FFP, you have to requalify each year.

If the OP stays in Korea for long (5+ years), go with OZ.
If the OP buys UA tickets more often than OZ and travel occationally intra-USA, go with UA.

It comes down to how often/far the OP travels. If h/she has a shot at 1K, by all means go with UA.

Maybe you missed it above, so I'll say it again since it's worth repeating: you cannot transfer the miles you've already earned in the Asiana program anywhere. We are talking about using UA for future mileage accrual only.

One other point to be aware of: on UA the bonus miles you receive as an elite are only RDMs (redeemable miles, good for award tickets, upgrades, etc.) There are no bonus EQMs (elite qualifying miles, which is how you determine whether you get status in the following year). Earlier you made a comment that leads me to believe you think the bonus miles are EQMs too,..they are not. Everyone has the same requirement to earn EQMs for status and there are no bonus EQMs, generally speaking, for current elites.

I would second the advice given - stick with the program of whichever airline you think you'll fly more.

IMO, BD might be a good choice for the OP.

Thanks for the enlightenment...man...now I'm thinking again...

I normally like to fly Korean Air and have a Delta mileage card...I always fly codeshare on KAL for Delta. I always got the 50% bonus EQM miles and that made things a lot easier to rack it up.

Unfortunately, I'm new to Star Alliance. I thought I saw that as you level up you do get the 50% EQM miles (I fly mostly Y class fares) and then additional bonus miles for usage. is the EQM auto matic then?? Caues Asiana is definitely not giving me any additional EQM miles...

I've also been reading that UA is pretty good about upgrading seats...I really haven't heard much about asiana...I think I will be flying more united flights 2:1 than Asiana when flying back to the States

man...I'm flying out to hawaii from seoul this weekend on a united flight...

I really wish I could just fly KAL...makes things easier...

i'm all ears if anyone has any more advice. Anyone actually have an Asiana membership and can talk about how much they like it???