So, im considering switching my SAS Eurobonus card out with another Miles program...

What really bums me out about SAS is their ridicolous low mileage accruals on low-class tickets (25% of actual miles flown)

I live in Denmark and usually fly from either CPH or Hamburg, and fly about~

10-12 trips Inside Europe
1-2 trips to the US
0-1 Trips to Japan

I usually fly on an economy ticket, and sometimes upgrades via Optiontown for the exstra miles (and comfort :P).

I would preffer a Star Alliance program (since the connections to and from CPH and HAM are primarily SK and LH), and have considered

Lufthansa - they just seem to have very high Mileage requirements for their status Levels, but thei program seems very good.

United - Dont know much about it, but they seem to have a good amount of benefits + from American friends i keep hearing good things, and their 25.000 and 50.000 tier thresholds seems good (added to the 25% point bonus at Premier and 100% at PE - (ps. do theese count as EQM's?))

The good thing about SAS is that they only require 20.000 miles for silver (which then gives 15% bonus) and then 55.000 for Gold (and a 25% bonus) - but with their 25% mile accruals thats kind of negated.

So does anyone have any suggestions? should i switch to one of the two? a complete third? or should i just stick with SAS and live with the low accrual?



Thanks in advance

Andreas
a long time lurker - new member

SO far, I have heard from friends and colleagues that SAS EuroBonus is great in points and status. I am might be wrong though so maybe it is wise to wait for more replies from forum members.

I have loads of points on Finnair Plus and there is no benefit there so I am switching to SAS Eurobonus from this month.

Such a pity that I can't transfer my Finnair points to SAS eurobonus and just continue from there...

It is, but as a budget traveller the low accrual is kind of hurting... their service, and benefits at higher levels are excelent, but with the 25% thing i was struggling to make even Silver last year...

And as far as i can tell UA and LH doesnt have the same reduced mileage humbug...

I am more of a budget traveller too and if you can make Silver with EuroBonus, I wonder how it will be with Finnair. Nothing goes for cheap on Finnair flights. When I want to use my points on award flights, I still have to pay as much as I would to fly on SAS without using any points whatsover

Don't they charge YQ for their tickets? Does SK do it?

For trips within Europe, isn't it a lot cheaper to just go with LCC's?

The elite bonus points do not count as EQM.

One of the best perks of the United program is Economy Plus seating. Once you hit 25k EQM, you get E+ on every flight. (It's not really Premium Economy, only extra leg room. But a significant amount of extra legroom.)

So if you're accustomed to flying economy to the US, if you can fly on UA metal, you'll have legroom.

On UA domestic segments, you have space-available unlimited first class upgrades. Your odds aren't very good, since it's status ranked, but it's something.

Because of the merger with Continental, you get these benefits on CO as well. (E+ will be installed on CO planes next year.)

Another program that's popular here is BMI's Diamond Club. (Not sure why - check out their forum.)

Make sure you check the earning rates for each program... even within *A, as you've noticed, not every program credits the same way for every partner airline.

If having status with Star Alliance is your main concern, you might wish to consider Aegean Airlines; they have a very low threshold for getting Star Alliance Gold status. With respect to earning miles they are not much different from LH though.

Also note that they have some tough rules with regard to making changes to awards.

Do you have the Eurobonus Mastercard?