United or Delta as supplemental FF program
 

Hi all:

I frequently fly out of DCA and have been a US Airways FF member for years. However, I find myself occasionally flying out of IAD, or finding better fares on United or Delta.

My question is - between United and Delta, which one should I focus on as my supplemental program? I'm leaning towards Delta, but thought I would solicit some feedback. One bonus for Delta is I can apply for the Amex card - while I already have two Chase cards, so I'm not sure if United will let me have another.

OR - How many of you would dump US Air and go with Delta or United as my first tier program.

I don't fly enough for the elite levels, really just average around 30-40 segments or 40,000 miles a year.

Thanks!

Well, IAD is a UA hub. If you like your flights direct, that's a good thing for you.

If you only have 2 Chase cards, I'm sure that it will not be hard to get a MileagePlus Explorer. The bonus is very high right now. 50k first spend, 5k authorized user, 10k if you happen want to spend $25k in a year on it, and $50 statement credit.

UA miles are so much more easily redeemed at low tiers as well when compared with DL miles. Good luck finding domestic flights for 25k round on DL :) 32.5k to 40k typically if you are not very flexible with your date/times.

I agree that it can be very difficult to redeem on Delta at the standard miles level.

I recall a time - I forget when and where - that I wanted a particular domesic route (it might have been USA-Canada), and there was not a single 25K miles ticket in a 3-month period.

I have been playing this exact game for years. Since DL's award redemptions are so miserly, I have avoided them. UA/CO USED to be great snce you could earn 100% RDM bonus as Premier Exec / Plat and then redeem on Star, but since UA has cut the RDM bonus, I see ZERO value to use UA as a back-up program.

What I have done, is to get the MP Club Card which gives you 1.5 miles for every dollar purchase, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred which gives you 2x on travel and dining and access to Ultimate Rewards Shopping Mall.

While I will still qualify for Gold this year (through 1/14), I will no longer fly UA next year and simply accrue miles and redeem on partner Star Alliance airlines. That way, I don't have to fly this miserable airline, but still have access to the terrific award availability on partners.

Why choose? UA is *A. Credit your UA flights to US and then you have a better shot at reaching elite on US. (or the other way around, of course, but it sounds like US is your preference)

I recommend this. If you're not going to hit 50,000 miles with UA, there's no point really, and I would send all miles to US.

Agreed. Or focus on UA completely and dump US. Much better award redemption policies. Can't figure out for the life of me why US will not allow date changes after departure even for a fee.

Us has great award rates, no Starnet blocking and off peak awards. Plus their envoy product is outstanding. I would take US's program over UA's if they only flew to aex.

BUT US doesn't allow one way awards which is tough because the way many of us play the points game, we have enough UA miles for 1 direction and enough AA/BA/whatever miles for the other direction. With US you have to have enough for the round trip in your US account.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't US routing rules a bit more restrictive? If I remember correctly, the chart is slightly more favorable, but the rules are more restrictive?

You are only allowed one stopover (at a *A hub city) or one open jaw. Besides that, the routing rules are quite relaxed. I have an upcoming PHL-ZRH(stop)-SIN(dest)-PHL. Fairly nice I think. Swap out SIN for HKG and it goes from 120k to 90k. Sweet deal.

UA doesn't have Starnet blocking anymore. One of the few plusses after the merger was that they kept the CO award engine and stopped blocking alliance partners.

US on the other hand ... can't book LH F with US awards. Chalk this up to easy "Buy Miles" promotions.

I agree on US' award rates ... I did 120K F to Asia via Europe (and got to fly LX F before they blocked that, as well as TG F). But UA's flexibility in one-way awards/changes after departure beats US.

I now live in Washington, and fly most frequently from DCA, though I also use BWI and IAD when flights and/or prices are more favorable. My primary frequent flyer account is with UA, though I also have active accounts with AA and DL. You fly more than I do.

To address your question directly: I don't see much value to having UA as a supplemental account to USAir, since flights on both airlines can be credited to either program. I do that myself, but I credit the miles to UA when I fly US. Delta (or perhaps AA) would seem better as a supplemental carrier.

In order to answer your question more helpfully, however, it would be necessary to know how you hope to use your miles. Different programs are better for different purposes. My (admittedly limited) personal experience confirms the opinion of others that UA is much better than DL as far as redeeming miles at the lowest award level is concerned.

Assuming you plan to keep either US as your primary or switch to UA as primary, you could also consider adding AS as your secondary. AS has a relatively small number of flights to DCA...but partnerships (with Elite qualification) with AA and DL make it a nice supplementary program. One way redemptions on AS flights only, but redemptions possible on AA and DL...again, making your secondary miles potentially more flexible for redemption.

So you'll be flying other *A carriers and crediting to UA but not doing any UA flights? Just wanting to be sure I understand what you're saying.

I can see the value of accumulating *A miles on a UA account by flying other *A airlines due to better service on other airlines. Just not sure if you can avoid UA/CO as much as you'd like for domestice travel. If most of your travel is INTL then I can easily see avoiding UA/CO.

I didn't think AS allowed for one-way redemptions yet? I thought you could do it but it'd still be the full R/T miles required even for one-ways? I'd be thrilled to hear I'm wrong though.