Switch from UA to a different Star Alliance member?
 

I am currently a Premier Executive UA Mileage Plus member, but will probably only make it to Premier this year. I live in Australia now, and frequently fly to Europe, usually Sweden. My last few trips have been with Thai.

Since I can no longer use my Mileage Plus miles to upgrade (a notice on the homepage reads "we will no longer accept Star Alliance Upgrade Award requests at this time") I am wondering if I should perhaps switch to a different FF program.

I would think that Thai would be the obvious choice, especially since applying at the right time of year will provide extended time to achieve elevated status, and once reached, that status will be held for two years, instead of one.

The only drawback I can think of is that I won't be enjoying my Mileage Plus status while collecting miles for Royal Orchid Plus status.

Am I missing anything? Are there any good reasons to stay with UA? Would possibly a program other than Thai's suit me better? (Singapore has been recommended several times.) Any gotchas I should be aware of?

I have spent the last four hours trying to make sense of the wealth of (often conflicting) information I have found. Any comments or links to relevant information would be greatly appreciated.

I come across this when booking CX travel in classes that don't earn on AA. I book the ticket using my AA details, then after checking in I go to the gate and ask them to change to CX so that I earn the miles instead of them being wasted. CX has upgraded me a few times based on my AA status.

Since UA will not give you any status bonus mileage for flying TG, you really have no disadvantage in accumulating miles on your Royal Orchid a/c. You can still show your UA-PE card to access *A lounges until 2/08 and hopefully you can build up enough FQTV miles on Royal Orhid until 2/08 to qualify for their elite status.

One caveat - there have been persistent rumours that TG may leave *A.

So I should be able to book the ticket using my UA number to get lounge access, and then flash my new TG card for collecting miles? (Because they do check the number on the ticket against the *A Gold card, don't they?) I'll try that.

After finding the thread about status matching I sent TG an e-mail explaining my situation, but they thought I was trying to have my miles transferred, not my gold status. Haven't had I reply since I wrote back.

Is there any verifiable substance to the TG rumours, such as credible sources? Any thoughts on going with SK instead? I am from Sweden originally, and travel there frequently, but hardly ever end up on a SAS aircraft, except for the occasional domestic flight.

Have done the same kind of research and decided that this is the best fare to Europe and this is the best program but YMMV

Moving right along.

Thanks for the info, Harry.

I have tried to book LH before, but they have never been available on the required dates. TG are only about $200 more and always have available seats, usually I pay $2100 roundtrip SYD-GOT. However, TG has the least number of perks for *A Gold members in economy seats I have ever experienced, so I wouldn't mind trying something else if I could.

The entire reason for switching is that the mentioned (and linked to) UA upgrades on other airlines have been discontinued. Will BD allow at-the-counter upgrades for BD miles on other *A airlines? The quick status elevation they provide does look tempting.

I did receive another reply from Thai, but I'm afraid it wasn't very helpful:

We must sorry for the misinformation given from our previous correspondence. Since the Star Alliance airlines group have their own benefits from each membership status for each of their members.

We cannot transfer the membership status between each Star Alliance airlines but we can join to use their benefits, for example, regarding to our Royal Orchid Plus concern , our Gold members can get the extra baggage allowance of 20 kgs when having a trip with THAI flights and Star Alliance airlines.

UA may have some of the same benefits as us too. You may please confirm with UA accordingly.

In the meantime, we welcome you to visit our website www.thaiairways.com/rop to find out some more full details of our program.

To be our Gold member, this's not difficult . When the Royal Orchid Plus account attains upon accumulating 50,000 qualifying miles within 1 calendar year or 80,000 qualifying miles within 2 calendar years.

I'm also in a similar boat. Thinking about moving from UA to BD next year.

Two major things I like about this are:

1. Ability to use *G lounge on domestic flights within US.
2. Less miles required to maintain a *G status.

I'll miss out on the bonus miles on UA, but I do not fly UA that much
anyway.

Is this a specific BD perk or is this something that all int'l *G get in the US?

"I think" any non US *G membership will get you lounge access in US while traveling domestic flights.
but I think the BD *G is easiest to get.

That is correct - any *G members can use any *A lounges worldwide. The only exception is for US-based *G's, who can not access UA and US lounges, but can access lounges of other member airlines. I believe this is because UA and US are the only airlines that require a seperate lounge membership - all others are complimentary when you are *G. When I was in based in Canada, and was a *G through Aeroplan, I used the UA and US lounges several times for US domestic and US - Canada flights.

I don't think it should matter which number you actually use to book the ticket with, as long as you bring your UA card, proving your *G status and eligibility for lounge access with you. I have experience with this when I switched from getting mileage with Aeroplan to MP. For my first year earning with MP, I was a Aeroplan Elite (*G), but booked my tickets with my MP number, where I had no status. I usually flashed my *G card at the desk to get priority baggage, and to go through the priority security line. I then flashed it at the RCC to get in there, even for domestic flights. I never had a problem doing this, even with the different numbers/programs. I presume they want the name to match for sure. I think I might have been questioned about why I did this once, but once I explained I was in the process of switching programs, there was no problem.

That is what I wanted to hear! It also looks like it is possible to book flights on other *A airlines using BD miles. Now, if I could just get confirmation that I can use BD miles for upgrades on other *A airlines, I will be a very happy camper.

You can't use BD miles for upgrades on other Star Alliance carriers. Also, UA is no longer routinely giving E+ seating to non-UA Star Alliance Silvers and Golds.