Million mile program comparison
 

There are some old threads on FT about million mile programs, but much of the information in them is obsolete. I thought it would be worthwhile to compile updated information on the various offerings and perhaps create a comparison chart.

Continental: million mile program currently closed to new qualifiers

United: qualification - one million actual flight miles on United, United Shuttle, and United Express; code-shares do not count; Star Alliance flights do not count; reward - lifetime Premier Executive status and three confirmed systemwide upgrades
Questions: Do flights of less than 500 miles add 500 miles or actual miles to the million mile counter? Is there a special level for two-million milers, three-million milers, etc?

Delta: qualification - one million base miles; currently includes actual miles or 500-mile minimum, whichever is greater, on Delta, Delta Connection, AeroMexico, and Air France; old base miles from Austrian, Sabena, and Swissair flights are still included even though those airlines are no longer in the program; reward - lifetime Silver Medallion status, an "exclusive thank-you gift", Million Miler luggage tags and stationery
Questions: Is there a special level for two-million milers, three-million milers, etc?

TWA: qualification - one million flight miles on TWA; reward - lifetime top-tier elite status
Questions: Do flights of less than 750 miles add the minimum miles or actual miles to the million mile counter? Is there a special level for two-million milers, three-million milers, etc? Are code-share flights included?

US Airways: no million mile program (?)

Northwest: qualification - one million base miles; includes elite-qualifying partner airlines; reward - ???
Questions: Do flights of less than 500 miles add 500 miles or actual miles to the million mile counter? Is there a special level for two-million milers, three-million milers, etc? What exactly do million milers get?

What other airlines offer million mile programs? What about KLM, Lufthansa, SAS, Air Canada, etc, etc?

American: One million miles from all sources (includes bonuses, credit card, etc.): Lifetime Gold and 8(?) electronic 500-mile upgrades.

Two million miles from all sources: Lifetime Platinum and 2 confirmable North American upgrades (round-trip, I believe).

For 2 million miles, AA the award is 2 confirmable Systemwide R/T upgrades.

For the past year or so, I've been working REALLY hard at coming up with enough AA miles to get to milion mile status for the lifetime gold status...but I am worried that AA will at some time pull this and come into line with the other airlines, in terms of requiring FLIGHT miles instead of ALL miles...so I have a question...

Does anyone remember, when the other airlines USED to have the million miles from ALL sources (like AA still does), and they CHANGED that benefit to their current structure, did they give notice and then change it, or did they just say FROM NOW ON it's changed.

The reason I ask is that I have a lot of miles on United, NW, Virgin, Etc...that if they were going to change it and gave notice, I would filter through Hilton and into AA to get to one million...

Obviously, the past practices of other airlines is no guarantee for the future action of AA, but it might lend some idea. Any thoughts? Would they give notice, or just change it without any notice?

For USAirways, based on a discussion I had with them last week, there is no million miler status program. I hope United will give USAIR high-milers some consideration when they take over. If I have a lot of USAirways Dividend Miles, if I were to apply these toward AA tickets before the joint program ends in Aug 01, could I get these miles to count toward million miler AA status?

I surely hope that AA will continue with this program for a long time, because I am expecting to be a Mile Millionaire in about 10-20 years. It would really suck if they stop these unofficial programs when one reaches to this goal.

Al

I'm Platinum with TWA, and working towards the 1 million mile mark quickly. I think their Lifetime Platinum status is very generous once you hit that milestone. The fact that I have a 100% success rate when upgrading, without any system of stickers or certificates or earning upgrades, makes it all that much more worthwhile.

- All credit is based on actual flight miles. No other miles contribute towards Lifetime Platinum status.

- There is no mention or seperate status noted for people who reach 2 million or more miles.

- Perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks of the TWA program is their lack of codeshare partners, and no partnerships that allows us to earn miles towards TWA elite status by flying any other carrier - *So far*. AS some may know, TWA and AWA have agreed to a codeshare, and many of us elite fliers are waiting with baited breath to find out if flights on AWA with count towards elite status. This very point was quite obviously missing when the announcement of the codeshare was made.

If this is not offered, many elite FF's with both TWA and AWA will find little use in giving their business to the other airline.

DL used to count all bonus and credit card miles towards MM.

Do flights of less than 500 miles add 500 miles or actual miles to the million mile counter?

the minimum status miles credited count (= 500); on Shuttle only effective miles (this should change to 500 miles for Shuttle flights after jan-1-2001)

SAS doesnt have a million mile program.

aflyer- When DL changed the rules for the milion miler program they gave us an 6 months advance "warning". "From jan. 1st onwards only base miles flown on xxx counting towards MM status." But all miles regardless of source which have been credited to your account at the time they changes the rules counted towards the status!

outoftown is asking:
YES, ABSOLUTELY THE US MILES COUNT TOWARDS AA LIFETIME STATUS WHEN USING THE USAIRWAYS MILES TOWARDS AN AA TICKET!!!!

See related thread below:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum71/HTML/001375.html