Advice for Consolidating Mileage Accounts
 

Hello,

This is the first time I've posted here.

My mileage account balances are as follows:

United: 18,000
British Airways: 14,242
American: 180
Northwest Airlines: 27,016
Delta: 4,681

I don't anticipate doing much flying anytime soon, so not much would be added to the above totals. I've had credit cards with each of the above airlines...typically taking their signup bonus, paying the annual fee and using their card for a year, then dumping it and going to another card. I currently have a United Mileage Plus Visa, but it is coming up to the one year mark, so not sure if I will renew for another year ($60 fee...unless they've upped it), plus no bonus for renewal. I have a Northwest card currently, but it is the one with no annual fee and you only get a mile for every $2....currently don't use it much.

Ideally, what I would like to do is consolidate all my miles and work towards a trip to Europe.....50,000 miles....I guess on Northwest Airlines, since it's the one with the most miles now. I have taken free trips (well if you consider paying the taxes/fees with the miles free) on United and B.A.....4-5 trips on each, mostly to Europe, one free trip on A.A. to Europe, and one free domestic trip on Delta. As a result, you see my current mileage balances.

I have never used a third party to transfer miles from one account to another. I realize by doing so, I will lose miles in the process, but as I said, I don't anticipate adding much to any of the accounts I have anytime soon, so it might be in my best interest to consolidate them all at this point and trying for a trip to Europe, since most of my accounts are pretty much useless to me at this point.

If you were in my situation, what would you do to consolidate all the miles with a goal of getting enough (or close to enough) miles for a trip to London...my favorite place to visit. Should I join Hilton or some other account which would enable me to transfer miles....do I have to have a minimum amount in each account to transfer....is there a cost to do so? I'm clueless. How many miles would I end up with by consolidating? All suggestions welcome!

Scott
[email protected]

I would start here:
http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/

A general tip is to have only one account per alliance. You are almost there. If I were you, I'd out all future OneWorld miles into BAEC and all future SkyTeam miles into Northwest. Assuming you travel at least a little regularly, I'd leave it at that -- you lose way too much from airline to airline. And I don't think there is a good way to get Delta miles out. When mine expired, they let me get magazines for them!

If I were you, I'd out all future OneWorld miles into BAEC and all future SkyTeam miles into Northwest.

I'm not sure what you mean here....what is BAEC? I'm not very hip to codes and acronysms. In any event, I've gotten plenty of free trips in the past and have no regrets on my strageties, etc., I've used in the past. However, at this point, I feel kind of stuck....I'm looking towards the future. I would like to regroup and start over! Not sure if this is possible or realistic or what. I have not paid for a trip to Europe in some time, thanks to my miles....however this summer/fall, I'm realizing I don't have enough miles to fly there again and am being woken up to the realization that it is not cheap to fly from to Denver to London, even in coach.

Scott

You'll pick up the acronyms fairly quickly on FT (FlyerTalk). BAEC stands for British Airways Executive Club. Essentially what he is suggesting and it's good advice is that in the future should you fly American or any other oneworld alliance airlines, make sure that you give them your British Airways account so that you are building up the miles in that single account rather than adding to the existing accounts you have. The same is true with Delta. When flying them, make sure you give them your Northwest WorldPerks number. etc. The idea is to consolidate your future earnings.

I would suggest you not concern yourself with your past mileage balances. you have three main accounts and they are all in three different alliances (Star, oneworld and SkyTeam). While you could use the Mileage Converter on WebFlyer for pointers for converting some of your balances, it's likely you will not gain any significant advance toward your goal.

What i might suggest is you posting up some other programs you might participate in, such as MyPoints, Hilton HHonors, Starwood, Membership Rewards, etc. The purpsoe of this request is to get a larger picture of other exchanges and value you might have that are unmentioned.

As well, you might consider other things. For instance, you mention the expense of flying to London from Denver. With just a few more miles (7,000) you might have a solution to consider with your United miles. You could redeem 15,000 of them for a special 750-mile award from Denver to another airport with better fares to London or even Paris or Dublin (all cheap to get to London from). Then you could redeem another 10,000 United miles for a special offer they have coming up which allows you to redeem 10,000 miles for $100 off a United flight. Find a real cheap United fare from Dallas to London and try this method. It's not free but gives you at least another idea to consider.

There's more ideas to come.... will be back later.

And one little tip: you might consider removing your email address from your original post. Those pesky spammers will likely scrape this out and you'll have more useless email than you will know what to do with - no matter how good AOL's spam controls are. If a member needs to contact you they can do so with looking up your profile so posting the information is not necessary. Just a tip for better posting practices on FT.

Cheers,
Randy