Joining Smaller Programs
 

I'm seeking some advice and counsel from my fellow mileage experts:

I have an upcoming flight on Alaska. I can join MileagePlan and earn approximately 8500 miles as a new member with new member bonues, Internet offers, etc.

OR

I can apply the AS segment to either AA (I'm Platinum) or CO (I'm Gold) where I'll only earn 500 miles plus elite bonus along with 1 segment towards next year's elite.

I have approx 600K in CO and AA each and 200K in DL.

Do the higher mileage benefits of initial start up (and value of Alaska's program in particular) justify the potential creation of future "orphan" miles?

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I have a friend who I signed up in the AS MP a couple years ago. He thought it was "ridiculous." He has since had unplanned travels on KL/NW and rerouted by UA on an AA flight and got credit and now has over 50K miles and is comped to MVP based upon his UA status. If you really fly AA that much, you can always change your program for mileage credit at the airport (I would think) after your upgrade and everything is taken care of... and then you won't have orphan miles.

Interesting idea booking AA flights to AS to ensure I don't have any orphans. I'm sure that there are many non-flight options as well.

My early inclination was to always join the new program and take advantage of the sign up bonuses, etc.

More recently, I've been concentrating on AA, CO and DL which leads me to book periodic HP flights -- for example -- to CO (one week left of that!)

Anyway, the 500 miles/1 segment for an AS flight booked to AA or CO seems paltry versus the 8500 or so I'll get by joining AS MileagePlan.

I'm curious to know how concentrated/spread out other regular travelers are among their favorite/secondary programs.

Also, in this instance, I'd like to know the general impressions of AS and the program's value? Is the potential value of MileagePlan worth taking on another membership that will require my attention?

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The short answer is that it is worthwhile joining MileagePlan even though the benefits of the program have been diluted in the last year. The main reason to have a bank of Mileage Plan miles is to get reward upgrades. 5000 miles gets one upgraded one way at point of ticket purchase even on the lowest fare tickets. You cannot do this with any other program that I am aware of.

Should you have some orphan British Air miles, 15000 will get you an AS RT upgrade, also at time of ticket purchase.

Welcome Red Wing! I like belonging to them all. For me the cable modem is key. High speed access is the reason that I can monitor and participate in many programs.

Diversify, diversify, diversify.

Who knows what will happen to any of these carriers. With that many miles, it's best to have the eggs spread across several baskets.

I'm confused...the CO website says you can earn actual mileage (or a minimum of 500 miles)on Alaska Airlines - is this not true?

I'm concerned because I Mr. Travlr has a business trip in Seattle that his company booked for him on Alaska (he's CO Silver). I told him to choose that over USAir since he will get the CO miles...

Have you considered a site like https://points.com? You can trade 8,500 AS points for 783 AA points; while you wouldn't be getting maximum utility from your points (as you would by applying them to an AS account) you could inherit an addition 283 points (you may find this negligable relative to the size of your accounts). Otherwise, I'd go for the 8,500 and build the account up with hotel and product offers. Good luck next season!

Very interesting concept - but of the numerous examples I tried, none of them were "possible" according to the site. Is there a master list of who converts into who and at what rate?

They could have saved themselves about 10 web pages with this one table...

Tino -
This link should provide you with the list of partners that the program has ... https://points.com/calculator1to1Step1.jsp

The two biggest airline partners they deal with are AA and DL and even with them the conversion rate is not that great.

I agree, the concept is good but the site has much to be desired.

I tried the calculator repeatedly, and I kept getting

XXX does not convert to YYY - TRY AGAIN

Join another program to take advantage of bonuses? You bet.

I do most of my flying on the West Coast, mostly on Alaska. But I had to take a trip to Houston last October. I wanted to fly non-stop on CO, and could have put the trip on my AS account for 3748 mi. But with the double-miles bonus last fall, plus a couple of promotions that I found out about from the Continental FT board, I was able to get 14,000 miles for the trip. Now that was an easy decision. I don't know what I'll do with my CO miles yet, but if I need to top off my Hilton account or get an intra-Hawaii flight, I'll use those rather than tap one of my higher balances in other programs.

Mehdron:

thanks for your comments. I joined MileagePlan and, after travel, will have approx 8000 miles.

I'd love your thoughts on Alaska MileagePlan

Being on the east coast and heavy in AA, CO and DL, I'd love suggestions on mileage accrual and use on AS.

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Hey, Red Wing! Princeton, the new home of Cornel West, one (1) of my favorite Americans! I am based in the Bay Area. For me the attraction offered by AS is that Cabo is only 1,248 miles away. This allows for the use of a 1,250 mile upgrade certificate to a truly lovely place. AS also allows for $50.00 upgrades on the date of travel.

Cheers!