Which FF program is right for me?
 

Thanks in advance for any help. Here is my situation. I will be a 1K flyer with united this year but my travel pattern will change next year, less domestic and more international. I plan on taking 8 trips to Europe from Denver and 3 transpacs next year all for pleasure not business. So, I am paying for my own tickets. I would like a FF program that would allow me to upgrade into business class with the most comfort with the miles that I will be accruing. I guess my question is this...should I stay with United ( united biz class is pretty good) or switch, and if possible match status, with another program. For example, BA has a nice biz class and a direct flight to London from Denver...would it make sense to switch to that program? I have to do a connection via United out of Denver anyway since there are no direct flights. Looking forward to the input.
HR

I'd stay with UA since you'll be able to use your systemwide upgrades and/or miles you've already acccumulated. If you switch, those SWU's would expire and you'd have to fly for awhile to be able to use accumulated miles in the new program for upgrades. Also, some airline programs won't status match you to their highest tiers even if you are a 1K. As we always like say around here, YMMV.

Based on the information you have provided - I would agree with GarySAN that your best bet is to stay with UA. As far as UA not having a non-stop...view it as an opportunity to get more miles! Not many, but with a connection you will get more miles :D

Just like the last poster - the SWU's are extremely valuable and it would be silly to not put them to good use next year!

Good luck!
Chris

getting the 6 SWU's you will get as the above posters mention, makes the decision an easy one if in your shoes, stay with UA.

Does UA do the practice of awarding only non-stop mileage for "direct" flights (where the same flight number is used for two segments, sometimes requiring a plane change / connection)? If so, then accepting a connection may not necessarily give you more mileage than a non-stop flight.

An extra connection also increases travel time and the risk of problems (missed connection, lost checked baggage), so it may not be desirable in cases where meeting the schedule is critical for a business meeting or whatever.

Stick with UA
 

Stick with UA given you are based out of Denver, plus UA (and possibly NW) pretty much dominate transpac routes. Plus star alliance partners (AC,OZ, etc.) gives you more flexibility on transpac. Plus all the SWU UA gives you, I would stay with UA.

But Europe you have to rely on Lufthansa.

Have you considered joining something like NW as a second option? NW have a fairly good transpac routes, but they are pretty good for Europe also (with KLM and Skyteam network)

BA may have a nice biz class, but be aware that BA has four classes, not three, so you can't upgrade from regular economy (World Traveler) to business. You have to buy premium economy (World Traveler Plus) to be able to upgrade. Second, in my experience you may have to book way way ahead to be able to get those upgrades with miles! (Airlines differ widely in how easy upgrades are to get.) I mean, you have to have booked most of those flights already earlier this fall for the first half of 2007 to have been able to depend on upgrades! (I can't speak accurately for DEN-LHR, because I don't live there, but on plenty other BA routes I've found extremely limited upgrade availability, as in I have to change the month I want to go, not just the day, to be able to confirm an upgrade at time of booking!)

So IMHO BA would only work for you if you were willing to put up with WT+ in case your upgrades didn't come through. WT+ is more-or-less kinda like a mini-cabin full of exit-row-sized seats: A bit more comfort (tho nowhere near biz class), but the same service as in regular economy. I guess it's a bit like UA's Economy Plus except a bit better seat pitch I think.

Picking the airline that has your favoirite biz seats does no good if you're not going to get them often!

And keep in mind that in OneWorld you can't upgrade across partners. So BA miles would not help you transpac unless you wanted to go the very long way around (but then there's again the issue of how hard those upgrades might be to get). You'd have to use different OW partners depending on where you were going transpac and each one would need their own miles for upgrades. With UA, you can upgrade at least as far as Japan or Australia, and at least in theory (but what about practice?) you may be able to upgrade some other *A airlines sometimes.