best FF program to complement UA/*A?
Jan 13, 2009 | 3:01 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: UA 1MM 1K AA PLT SPG Gold HH Gold
Posts: 128
best FF program to complement UA/*A?
I apologize if similar questions have been raised and addressed elsewhere: I couldn't see to find those.
I am UA 1K/GS and am planning to keep that status for the indefinite future. I am considering adding another FF program, ideally something not in *A, so as to add more flexibility on award ticket choices. My own travel is mostly for business, to Europe and Asia. I expect to fly 100K+ elite qualifying miles under the new program, so I am looking for the highest status on the new program.
I am based in BOS. My considerations are as followed:
- I mostly use miles for award tickets for family vacations to Europe/Asia over the summer and South America over the winter. I find that UA saver award choices for European destinations are often limited. It looks to me that AA, DL and CO have more destinations in Europe/South America, and thus might compliment UA in award choices.
- Since my travel schedule often changes at the last minute, I typically purchase refundable tickets for domestic travels. This gives me complimentary upgrades to first class on UA (and for GS those UGs mostly clear). I am allowed to purchase business class for international travel. I am budget traveller for family vacation travels, so would typically go for the lowest fares. I would like to be able to use upgrade certificates to upgrade family on those tickets.
- I've so far concentrated on flying UA, with about 350K life time miles under my belt. I want to keep flying UA to achieve the million miler status, for a guaranteed 1P on UA. So one option is to concentrate on UA for the next few years, before adding another FF program. But UA don't really reward people beyond achieving the 1K/GS status, so for example if maximizing the number of upgrade certificate is the goal of the game, one would seem better off spreading a 250K EQM over the year into UA and AA (150K UA, 100K AA), to get 8 UA and 8 AA SWUs, rather than concentrating on UA to get 14 UA SWUs.
- On a few recent family vacations we flew DL (to Europe and the West Coast) becasue they have very reasonable prices. We received at best mediocore treatments (compared to the treatment by UA). We are all GM on DL. I was wondering whether it might have helped if I were an elite member such as a PM. Also, for the few domestic business trips where I have to fly AA/DL/CO because of better routing (I prefer the shortest flights), I guess having elite status there might have helped putting me on the front of the airplane.
Has anyone had similar experience? Your suggestions would be highly appreciated!
I am UA 1K/GS and am planning to keep that status for the indefinite future. I am considering adding another FF program, ideally something not in *A, so as to add more flexibility on award ticket choices. My own travel is mostly for business, to Europe and Asia. I expect to fly 100K+ elite qualifying miles under the new program, so I am looking for the highest status on the new program.
I am based in BOS. My considerations are as followed:
- I mostly use miles for award tickets for family vacations to Europe/Asia over the summer and South America over the winter. I find that UA saver award choices for European destinations are often limited. It looks to me that AA, DL and CO have more destinations in Europe/South America, and thus might compliment UA in award choices.
- Since my travel schedule often changes at the last minute, I typically purchase refundable tickets for domestic travels. This gives me complimentary upgrades to first class on UA (and for GS those UGs mostly clear). I am allowed to purchase business class for international travel. I am budget traveller for family vacation travels, so would typically go for the lowest fares. I would like to be able to use upgrade certificates to upgrade family on those tickets.
- I've so far concentrated on flying UA, with about 350K life time miles under my belt. I want to keep flying UA to achieve the million miler status, for a guaranteed 1P on UA. So one option is to concentrate on UA for the next few years, before adding another FF program. But UA don't really reward people beyond achieving the 1K/GS status, so for example if maximizing the number of upgrade certificate is the goal of the game, one would seem better off spreading a 250K EQM over the year into UA and AA (150K UA, 100K AA), to get 8 UA and 8 AA SWUs, rather than concentrating on UA to get 14 UA SWUs.
- On a few recent family vacations we flew DL (to Europe and the West Coast) becasue they have very reasonable prices. We received at best mediocore treatments (compared to the treatment by UA). We are all GM on DL. I was wondering whether it might have helped if I were an elite member such as a PM. Also, for the few domestic business trips where I have to fly AA/DL/CO because of better routing (I prefer the shortest flights), I guess having elite status there might have helped putting me on the front of the airplane.
Has anyone had similar experience? Your suggestions would be highly appreciated!
Jan 13, 2009 | 9:34 am
#3
Senior Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: UA Plat/2MM [23-yr. 1K, now emeritus] clawing way back to WN-A List; MR LT Titanium; HY Whateverist.
Posts: 12,457
Overall this discussion would be more appropriate in our MilesBuzz forum as it's more about the workings of the best loyalty programs than travel, per se, so let me move it to MilesBuzz for further discussion. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.
Jan 13, 2009 | 10:19 pm
#6
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: Various memberships
Posts: 544
Interesting I have a "similar" question. I am based in the UK and a member of a *A program (BMI).
However I managed to get a very very good (negotiated!) fare from ORK (Cork, Ireland) to LAX on Aer Lingus and BA.
As this is a deep discount ticket it won't acrue many miles on AA or BA but I am loathe to lose out on any miles even if they sit dormant for a while.
As I (and the family) mainly fly economy (
) which program would be best for us to join in One World?
TIA and apologies for a partial hijacking of the thread!
However I managed to get a very very good (negotiated!) fare from ORK (Cork, Ireland) to LAX on Aer Lingus and BA.
As this is a deep discount ticket it won't acrue many miles on AA or BA but I am loathe to lose out on any miles even if they sit dormant for a while.
As I (and the family) mainly fly economy (
) which program would be best for us to join in One World?TIA and apologies for a partial hijacking of the thread!
Jan 13, 2009 | 10:28 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Soon to be LEGT
Posts: 10,928
Jan 18, 2009 | 12:58 pm
#10
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,716
I'm surprised that someone who flies this much is asking this question. Putting miles into a different program will cost you...a lot. You likely won't be flying enough miles on the other carrier to get the status you need for the 100% miles match. That means, for every mile you fly, you'll lose 1 mile you would have gotten with United. You could probably status match to avoid this issue for the first year, but in the second, you'll probably lose the extra miles.
With that said, if you insist on doing this, join Alaska's program. You can fly AS, DL, NW, AA and CO and still get miles on the program. They also partner with a ton of programs internationally such as BA, Cathay Pacific, Air France, Korean Air, Qantas, etc. They have a direct flight from BOS to their SEA hub. To boot, if you fly on their metal, you only need 40k miles to hit MVP gold.
With that said, if you insist on doing this, join Alaska's program. You can fly AS, DL, NW, AA and CO and still get miles on the program. They also partner with a ton of programs internationally such as BA, Cathay Pacific, Air France, Korean Air, Qantas, etc. They have a direct flight from BOS to their SEA hub. To boot, if you fly on their metal, you only need 40k miles to hit MVP gold.