American Express Points
Sep 19, 2010 | 9:15 pm
#1
Original Poster
Suspended
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: PVD and BKK
Programs: United 1K Air Canada Gold Thai Air Gold Delta Platinum Hilton Diamond
Posts: 162
American Express Points
I have 300,000 points with American Express that I am thinking of transferring to Continental before the merger is final.
My thinking is that I will now get to use them on the combined United and Continental . And of course all the Star Alliance partners.
United appears to have decent availability on International flights and I have 1p Status with United. If I wait until after the merger I will not be able to transfer to United.
Anyone see anything wrong with my plan.
My thinking is that I will now get to use them on the combined United and Continental . And of course all the Star Alliance partners.
United appears to have decent availability on International flights and I have 1p Status with United. If I wait until after the merger I will not be able to transfer to United.
Anyone see anything wrong with my plan.
Sep 19, 2010 | 9:21 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2005
Programs: UA, AA, VS, SQ, AS
Posts: 190
IMHO Good Idea, firecat69
firecat69 -- in my opinion, this makes sense since Continental will most likely be pulled from the Membership Rewards participant list. Then you won't be able to get your miles into any other Star Alliance carrier except Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer which has much higher mileage requirements for awards (than UAL or CO).
Go for it....
putongo
Go for it....
putongo
I have 300,000 points with American Express that I am thinking of transferring to Continental before the merger is final.
My thinking is that I will now get to use them on the combined United and Continental . And of course all the Star Alliance partners.
United appears to have decent availability on International flights and I have 1p Status with United. If I wait until after the merger I will not be able to transfer to United.
Anyone see anything wrong with my plan.
My thinking is that I will now get to use them on the combined United and Continental . And of course all the Star Alliance partners.
United appears to have decent availability on International flights and I have 1p Status with United. If I wait until after the merger I will not be able to transfer to United.
Anyone see anything wrong with my plan.
Sep 19, 2010 | 9:27 pm
#3
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: mountains of western NC
Programs: Life, Love and Laughter
Posts: 9,814
You have until Sept. 30, 2011 to transfer to Continental. It may take that long for the OnePass and MileagePlus programs to merge. Certainly it will take many months after the merger.
What's the rush? If you're not needing to redeem miles for a flight soon, I would wait.
What's the rush? If you're not needing to redeem miles for a flight soon, I would wait.
Sep 19, 2010 | 9:49 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Down Under
Programs: AA Plat, CO Plat, DL Plat, FB Plat, UA 1P, VA Plat, VS Silver, SPG Plat, Hertz PC, National EE
Posts: 144
You have until Sept. 30, 2011 to transfer to Continental. It may take that long for the OnePass and MileagePlus programs to merge. Certainly it will take many months after the merger.
What's the rush? If you're not needing to redeem miles for a flight soon, I would wait.
What's the rush? If you're not needing to redeem miles for a flight soon, I would wait.
When Sept. next year comes around and you still want the CO/United miles then transfer them all.
Sep 19, 2010 | 10:22 pm
#7
Original Poster
Suspended
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: PVD and BKK
Programs: United 1K Air Canada Gold Thai Air Gold Delta Platinum Hilton Diamond
Posts: 162
I did see the date of Sept 11 but that is an American Express date.
What happens if the merger is finalized and Programs merged before that and Continental ceases to exist????
What happens if the merger is finalized and Programs merged before that and Continental ceases to exist????
Sep 19, 2010 | 10:51 pm
#8
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Down Under
Programs: AA Plat, CO Plat, DL Plat, FB Plat, UA 1P, VA Plat, VS Silver, SPG Plat, Hertz PC, National EE
Posts: 144
The ff programs will take a lot longer to merge then the official airline merger.
Sep 19, 2010 | 11:20 pm
#9
Original Poster
Suspended
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: PVD and BKK
Programs: United 1K Air Canada Gold Thai Air Gold Delta Platinum Hilton Diamond
Posts: 162
You are probably right but will I be able to use my Continental miles to book UA flights and Star Alliance airlines after the merger or will I have to wait for the FF programs to be merged???
Sep 20, 2010 | 8:15 am
#10
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta DM, SPG Plat, Hyatt Diamond, MTA Rust, Hertz Five Star something or other
Posts: 2,858
You can currently book UA and Star Alliance flights using OnePass miles. The only impact I can see is if the combined airline continues United's Starnet blocking policy, where some Star Alliance member flights are blocked for redemption.
Sep 20, 2010 | 1:00 pm
#12
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Down Under
Programs: AA Plat, CO Plat, DL Plat, FB Plat, UA 1P, VA Plat, VS Silver, SPG Plat, Hertz PC, National EE
Posts: 144
Sep 20, 2010 | 1:13 pm
#13
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: IAD
Programs: UA Gold + 1MM; HHonors Gold; Marriott Plat
Posts: 751
Sep 20, 2010 | 1:27 pm
#15
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Down Under
Programs: AA Plat, CO Plat, DL Plat, FB Plat, UA 1P, VA Plat, VS Silver, SPG Plat, Hertz PC, National EE
Posts: 144
I agree. I stayed away from Aeroplan because of their terrible burn rates on certain routes that I fly often. Another reason to look at ANA would be that there is no tax on transfers to ANA (or any other non-US airline). You will have to pay Uncle Sam to get your miles transferred to CO.