leroy11

Following the break-up of SR and its partners from DL (see http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/Foru...ML/000441.html ) , many DL flyers will soon be reevaluating their allegiances. The new AF / DL / Aeromexico (AM???) alliance simply does not offer the coverage that the other alliances do. I'm debating which one to join if I defect from DL: I'm tempted to join Star because I like LH and also because SQ will probably be joining them ( see http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/Foru...ML/000325.html ) But, oneworld is also very tempting. Although I'm not a big BA fan (sorry Merry!), I love SR and Finnair. Therefore, could some of you oneworld and Star please answer some of the following questions regarding what elites (particularly AA and UA middle-tier elites) get as perks. This should help me decide. Sorry - I know very little about either of these alliances. Thanks!

Elite bonuses:

Do UA / AA middle-tier elites (PremEx / Gold) get their 100% on other Star Alliance / oneworld partners?

DL offers systemwide upgrades confirmable at booking for every 20,000 miles flown with them and their Medallion-earning partners. Do AA or UA do anything like this?

What are your upgrade success rates on AA and UA? My current success rate with DL is well over 90%.

oneworld question:
Do US flights count towards elite status in your AAdvantage account?

Star Alliance question:
I know some partners are somewhat stingy about miles on flights taken in economy - notably - LH. Which partners are these?

Thanks a lot for any answers and I'm really sorry for asking so many questions. I just wanted to know the perks before I make my switch.

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Rudi

Star Alliance question: I know some partners are somewhat stingy about miles on flights taken in economy - notably - LH. Which partners are these?

in eco with UA's-ff-program Mileage Plus:
* on Thai you only get 50% and no minimum
* on LH (with UA-code-share-flight-numbers) you get full credit (includes status bonus of 100% on transatlantic-segemnets)
* on LH (no UA code-shares) you get 50%, minimum 500 (on transatlantic 100%).
* on Ansett you only get effective miles (and for inner Australian flights only credits in a 30-days range from arrival/departure to/from Australia on a StarAlliance carrier)
* on ANA the credit depends on the eco fare paid: from 0 to 100%

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 10-15-1999).]

Beckles

To answer one of your questions, the DL sytemwide upgrades are the one benefit that DL has over the other US carriers ...

Of course we have to put up with the L class upgrade rule ...

GK

Re Star Partners not giving 100% for economy - expect SQ to go this way also, I believe that current accrual rates for UA MP members range from 0% to 70% depending on booking code. Only relevant is you intend to fly them of course, as I have no idea where you are based.

(Not wanting to seem like I am pushing a preference - I should add now I belong to both UA and AA, and have to follow company policy on choice of carrier depending on route)

However, the issue of booking code is also very relevant with AA partners - look in the current oneworld promo areas, everyone is frantically collating data on which partner codes accrue miles, and of course there is the infamous antitrust issue of not earning AA miles for BA (and IB?) transatlantic flights.

However, the fact of the matter is, I have never travelled on any Star flight where I didn't get some miles or status points credited to UA. This has not always been the case with AA, maybe I'm lucky. The Star elite tier branding is simple, worked every check in so far, never been denied lounge access (on Gold/ UA Premex) and got me better seats when in economy with AN, NZ, TG and RG also.

Personally, do not use the upgrade certs, as rarely fly US domestic - but there are plenty of postings on UA about how UA crew seem to get priority for spare first class domestic flights anyway.

One final matter - I earned elite on UA with most of my flights on other Star partners - AAdvantage requires at least four segments on AA each year to get elite - again only relevant to where you live and travel.

Some of the more experienced people here will no doubt have more to add, and can pint you to a couple of Star/Oneworld benefit comparison links possibly.

Good luck.

leroy11

Thanks a lot all!!!

tummyg

1. "Do UA / AA middle-tier elites (PremEx / Gold) get their 100% on other Star Alliance
/ oneworld partners?"

NO (Star) and YES (Oneworld).
This is a huge benefit to oneworld, and in my mind makes Star totally inferior to OW for anyone who is elite. Of course you never fly a partner, just UA, then it doesn't matter.

The only restriction for AA is you have to get 4 actual AA flights a year to retain the benefits, anyone in the US won't have a problem with that.

So recap:
Star: Partners = towards status only - no elite bonusmiles
OneWorld = Status + Elite mileage bonus

2. "Do US flights count towards elite status in your AAdvantage account?"

Yes. Assuming you mean US domestic flights (as opposed to flights to/from the US, in which case the BA transatlantic rules (no mileage), etc, apply).

and the other questions i think were answered by Rudi and Beckles.

cheers

leroy11

Thank you, Tommyg - that sure is a huge benefit in oneworld's favor!

Axey

As Rudi pointed out earlier in this thread, UA Codeshares operated by Lufthansa DO accumulate elite bonuses.

tummyg

Axey,
At first I thought I had slighted UA after reading your post, but then, hey, don't you get full credit on most airlines for a codeshare flight with that carriers code on it? As rudi said, you only get the elite bonus miles on UA coded transatlantic flights, not even on the same flight with a LH code (I also remember a thread where Rudi reminds everyone to claim this from UA, as UA doesn't do it (or most things) unless you ask (DEMAND) them to. seems like garbage to me.

There is a huge difference between getting AA elite bonus on any flight operated/coded by a Oneworld partner (ie any finnair flight gets status and bonus mile) and getting elite bonus on a few codeshare UA coded flights.

just my 2cents.

I guess I am fortunate to have both oneworld and star airlines serving my home, but if I was stuck with just Star, I would be seriously complaining to them.

tg

leroy11

Tummyg: I think that this is a huge benefit that is in favor of oneworld. On oneworld, if you are entitled to the 100% bonus, every intercontinental round trip is almost equal to a free domestic round-trip. If you're a UA PremEx or 1K, my understanding is that this is not the case unless you're travelling on UA or UA code-shares. Huge difference!!

Rudi

If you make LH's miles&more program your StarAlliance ff-program you would get:
* 200% (also STATUS) on all paid business, 300% on all paid first, with ALL StarAlliance arriers (code-share or non/code-share)
* 500 minimum miles (also STATUS) on UA Shuttle
* 100% (also STATUS) on Thai in eco
* 70-100% on ANA in eco
* 1000 minimum miles (also STATUS) on LH in Europe and inner Germany eco (2'000 in business)
* but NO satus mileage bonus ever.

lonman

what's the minimum for 2nd tier on lh? i would think pretty high as it is a euro-carrier.

right now i have 1w sapphire(aa) and *a gold(ac), and i vote for 1w. if you get 50K in qualifying, you get at least 50K in bonus. plus i've upgraded tickets and received class of service bonus on some of those flights. with ac, you get threshold bonuses, but not until you pass qualifying levels again (big whoop!)

also, my favorite is that you can upgrade ANY of aa flights with miles on ANY fare(i.e., no L class rule) domestically or internationally, EVEN netsaavers!!! we all know how rare that has become. even though they(aa) only serve london, paris and frankfurt directly out of ny, they allow backtracking through ord on most other european destinations at whatever the sale prices are. it takes more time, but adds more miles (a wash in my book). sometimes you also get these fares with routings through heathrow with continuations on ba. i experienced this both to stockholm and barcelona. once again, *a never offered me such benefits the year i was premiere on ua.

is the "us" us airways? if so, the only ones that do qualify are the shuttle flights from bos-lga-dca. for the last year and a half you also get qualifying miles on both aa and us airways for these flights if you register both numbers with either service center. the other benefit for this alliance is that awards on either airline (no code shares) can be redeemed by combining miles from both accounts. so 15K from aa and 20K from us can get you to hawaii on aa in coach. this has been the only way i ever got around to using my dividend miles since i HATE us.

i had platinum on dl this yr and planned to drop down to gold for 2000. now, maybe i should just switch to *a, as i'm fine with 1w aa qualifying.[This message has been edited by lonman (edited 10-18-1999).]

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Rudi

second tier (StarAlliance silver) with LH is only 35'000 status miles per 12 months for non-german-residents (doesn't have to be a calendar year) - and then it is good for at least 24 months!

(and for reaching those 35'000 status miles you get a 7'000 miles bonus on top!).

lonman

thanks, rudi. i guess i meant *a gold, since i'd be giving up dl gold medallion in its place. maybe that would be a better deal than ua prem exec, because i rarely fly domestic.

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Rudi

*A Gold with LH is 100'000 status miles in 12 months (not calendar year) for non german-residents (for german residents 150'000 status miles). But paid business bonus 100% and paid first bonus 200% on ANY *A-carrier count as status too. And the Senator (=*Gold) status is good for more than 24 months afterwards.

For making the 100'000 status miles you get a 7'000 miles bonus when passing 35'000 (middle tier) and 20'000 bonus when becoming Senator.

With LH miles&more you can upgrade on any published fare internationally.