Hey everyone,

I am still pretty new to the forum and have learned an incredible amount just by lurking. You guys are an amazing resource!

I have a question about which program I should go with for next year. I am a pilot that worked for the passenger airlines for seven years and recently switched to flying cargo. I live in Houston and the company buys me a ticket to get to wherever my trip starts, usually JFK, ORD, PHL, LAX, HNL, or ANC. I assumed flying out of Houston I would be flying on Continental almost exclusively, but it has turned out that about 80% of the time the company puts me on US Air since it's cheaper. I have been crediting all the miles to my Onepass account and am up to almost 75,000 this year. Would there be any down side to switching to Dividend Miles as my primary program even though I live in Houston? The main reason for switching is to be eligible for upgrades on US Air instead of ending up in 32E on every flight since my company buys the tickets at the last minute. Is it hard to redeem Dividend Miles for reward flights on Continental(United)?

Thanks,

Texan6

I think your question would be better answered in the US Airways forum.

I would recommend that you sign up for the US Airways Mastercard, which gives you 40,000 miles free with your first purchase, annual fee waived for the first year, and 10,000 miles after a year to keep the card. Read in the US Airways forum about the Grand Slam promo, and other ways to accumulate miles. Then try to upgrade on US Airways using your free miles. I'm not sure which program would be more valuable for you, but there's no reason you can't collect miles in both programs. If you are close to acquiring status, I wouldn't switch the program you are accumulating in until the end of the year.

Continental will vanish into United in a couple months, so I would also recommend you start reading about the United frequent flyer program as well.

Good luck!

Thanks birdseye. I almost put it in the US Air forum but wasn't sure since it involved United and Continental also. I would move it if I knew how.

You're in kind of a tough place. If you reach 75k, you'll be Platinum with CO next year. That would be a great level if you were actually flying UA/CO...

If you switch over to US and start from scratch, then you lose the mile earning bonus until you catch back up.

I wonder if you could do something like this:

- Earn 75k with CO to achieve Platinum
- Status match to DL or AA
- Status match back to US

No idea if that's at all possible...

I don't think either DL or AA is offering a (published) method to status match without challenge right now. The AF/Flyingblue status match was earlier this year, so that won't help...

Texan6, welcome to participating on FT! You are in a rough spot. Look into your crystal ball and see if there's any chance US will increase fares so that your employer will put you on CO! Being a non-US elite flying on US is miserable -- they even took away exit rows for Star Gold!

Is the difference in fare between UACO and US pretty big? If not, you can legitimately make the argument that a few extra dollars on airfare will save your company money because of better irrops handling when you fly UACO as an elite. Also, of the frequent originating points you listed, only PHL has a direct flight on US. Would your employer rather put you on a one-hopper through PHX when sending you to HNL rather than nonstop on CO? Sorry, I'm going down this route because I don't think there's a good solution that doesn't involve changing flight buying patterns.

Starting over from zero on US in 2012 would be rough. You would also end up as a US elite in Houston, which might not be ideal for your personal travel. I don't think switching to DM is the way to go, but I also don't see an easy way of avoiding 32E!

Fsfsfsfs, that is exactly what I am worried about. I know as soon as I switch over CO will lower there fares. The company has a policy that they will buy the nonstop if the fare difference is not more than 20%. all this year it has been much more than that. For example two days from now IAH-ANC is $257 on US and $627 on CO.

Anyways, thanks for the advice. We'll see how it goes for the rest of the year!

Don't think anyone has addressed this specifically:

You should be able to book any saver award on CO or UA (or any *A airline) using US miles. However, between the mandatory "award processing fee" and the likely "call center award ticketing fee", you'll be paying up to $90+tax for each award. That definitely has to factor into it.

I've had some luck calling in or asking at the airport for better seating on US, using my UA 1P (Star Gold) status... even once snagged a seat in First. Really seems to depend on how friendly the agent is. Definitely not something dependable tho.

I'll give that a try, thanks for the tip!