I have been a UA silver for a while, but with the end of E+ at booking, have shifted my whole goal to award tix in C ORD-CDG.

Am wondering if there are better deals on other carriers/cards; use a bank administered points program, a hotel card or what not.

I fly 4-8 x a year domestically, paid economy. Mostly nonrefundable, occasionally higher if company paid.

Have close to 190,000 award miles now on UA, but could burn those up in next year and start elsewhere.

Wouldn't do MR unless desperate, but do stay pretty exclusive on UA/*A for now, even if less convenient.

Could see going to Europe on combo of cheapie Z fares and miles as well, SO is big Francophile and traveler.

Is there a question in there somewhere??

Getting a pair of business class award seats on *A partners to France should be reasonable, depending on where you're starting from, so long as you have a bit of flexibility. At 100K points each they aren't quite as cheap as US but you're basically there so not a huge deal.

US Air has off-peak awards which are only 60K in C but you're more limited on dates (January 15 - February 28) and I'm pretty sure you're stuck on US metal, too, which means a lot fewer options. US does often sell the miles reasonably cheap so that's not so bad.

Currently I cashed in some US Airways miles for two Envoy (business class I guess since US Airways doesn't have 3 classes) tickets on US Airways this winter (early Dec). They cost me 95K miles each (5K discount since I had a US Airways CC). The international leg is PHL-CDG.

I'm not as familiar with United miles since I've cashed in most of mine.

US Airways does have off peak Envoy awards to some European cities (CDG is one) during parts of Jan/Feb and are 60K miles (with the CC they can run 55K miles) per ticket R/T. I might be wrong on this but I don't think you can use United miles to get the off peak awards.

Thanks, I have flown US to CDG via PHL, and enjoyed it. Also to BRU. The older Envoy seating, but since that was up from back of the bus, it seemed wonderful, and was really.

I fly out of ORD, so US metal not to common.

Really I am wondering if I should shift to AA, or just not worry about elite status and accumulate credits via a bank card. UA "elite" at my level is basically worth one checked bag and the express line. No E+ at booking any longer, and hardly ever upgraded. Wondering if I would then be better off being able to fly cheapest, or most convenient domestically.

i am not on FT enough, nor do I fly enough to know exactly what going on, but my sense via UA is that status really isn't what it used to be. Which is fine, their business. But my business how I buy, a two way street.

Wouldn't mind if US bought AA, Would make for 2 strong carriers at ORD, with potential for DL to slip in somehow.

It doesn't sound like you have a huge "investment" in any particular airline. It's not like if you lose status on UA you can no longer redeem your miles.

The one caution I'd give, is that many of the OneWorld routes to Europe involve BA to LHR, with big fuel surcharges. I've personally had decent success with award tix on DL, but it can take a lot of persistence.

If each of you and the SO get both the AA Visa and Amex cards, that's 200K miles right there, enough for a couple of tix, and you have the UA miles for another pair.