My brother is based out of SFO and flies 50K-100ishK every year, mostly int'l coach. I pushed him to join the UA program, but he's not a big spender, so I think it might be better for him to join another program. He really likes flying EVA with their personal TVs in coach, but I don't know anything about the program.

I was thinking about maybe pushing him toward US Air, as I know they don't have a ton of taxes and fees on rewards. Any ideas?

What airline(s) does he actually fly most on? Many of them (including United) are requiring a minimum number of segments (and maybe miles) on their own metal to qualify for status. So if he only flies EVA, then he might not get status on UA even if he credits the miles there. US is going to be switching from Star Alliance to One World as part of the merger with AA, so that's probably not a good idea if he's a Star Alliance flyer.

He flies quite a bit on United, though he's not seeing the point to the program (he couldn't redeem his miles for his very specific dates). He also goes to Taipei a lot, so EVA is a likely possibility.

but with UA requiring $$ spend for status in 2014, I don't think he'll get any significant status in 2014 on UA even if he's always on UA.

good point about US. I forgot about the AA thing.

Even if he has a hard time with award redemptions, getting free E+ and bags is worth getting the status.

And lounge access.

+1 award redemptions are often tricky. If there is no *a availability for the sectors he wants, there is no point switching to US airways or another *a airlines like EVA. If another airline or ff program has better availability on those sectors, then that would be a reasonable alternative. 50k miles on UA = *gold on EVA anyways, so I am not sure earning *G directly on EVA has any additional benefits, since UA has a pretty decent redemption program. Also with US airways merging with AA, there will not be much benefit of it's status for his EVA flights.

I am sure he should be able to redeem his miles eventually. Just that not getting a couple of wishful redemptions should not be a deal breaker.

I think the op is asking whether there would be a better way for his friend to maintain status if he will travel 50k+ mi but may not meet united's new spend threshold for the status. As a ua gold who flies 50-60k mi/yr in discount ointernational coach I can see why he would be concerned about not quite meeting the *g threshold and wonder if another airline would be a better place to credit the flights.

He's not going to find a program with better redemption options than UA. He's also going to have to connect to fly international out of SFO on any other US carrier (LAX/DFW/ORD on AA, PHX/CLT on US, SLC/ATL/DTW on DL). There's a reason UA has so many high level elites at SFO - it's not the only game in town, but it has big advantages over all the others.

But if he travels quite a bit to Asia, joining the AA program and flying OW partner CX might be a reasonable option. Likewise BA to Europe.

You might check out Delta flights 208 and 209, and 275/276.

That being said... the OP's brother should probably be on United.

I stand corrected, DL has one flight per day SFO-NRT (208/209). But 275/276 is DTW-NRT. And this has more to do with NRT being a DL hub (NW legacy) than any commitment to international operations at SFO.

275/276 is actually DTW-NRT-TPE- and 208/209 can connect to it in NRT.

He should put all his spending on the credit card of his chosen program. UA seems the logical choice for someone in SFO.

I would concur with staying with United. If he had trouble getting an award on United he's in for a rude surprise with any other airline. US has no online award system at all for *A awards and no one-way awards. AC fuel surcharges make them almost unusable. Etc.

If he was only interested in status and not awards he might check whether it's worth shipping 18k miles to Aegean for the status and then keeping the rest on United for the awards. But I think that's not such a great trade myself. It would mean getting domestic lounge access but it doesn't sound like he flies domestically much anyways.

If he's just barely doing 50k on United he might miss *G. But if he's doing 70k+ I wouldn't expect him to have much trouble. He does have to be careful to ticket his EVA flights on United tickets. That should be possible by calling in to United reservations and having them issue the ticket or by going to a travel agency and explaining why it's important to do so. Doing so should allow his EVA flights to count towards the minimum spend and in theory it shouldn't change the price but ymmv.

Alternatively he could change his address with United to an address in Taiwan or some other overseas location he can use. A business address, friend's address, or post office box for example. It would mean missing out on promotions that are only available for US residents but it would exempt him from the minimum spend.