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switching to United FF program at higher level?

switching to United FF program at higher level?

 
Old Sep 15, 2009, 9:55 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 6
switching to United FF program at higher level?

Sorry because I'm sure this has been asked many times but I did a little scan and haven't seen anything.
I am about to reach Platinum elite for the new Delta medallion system (was gold with NW) and was thinking about United because of the possible international upgrades.
I fly almost all international and have only once been complimentary upgraded in about 5 years.
I was thinking about switching to United but don't want to start all over again and have to earn the various levels over time. Is there any history of United giving you a platinum card if you agree to fly a certain amount with them (because you are already a platinum on Delta/NW) It would be worth it to me if I had a better chance of being upgraded on international flights.
My most Common routes are SEA-Narita-Beijing/Shanghai
and
SEA-AMS-Dubai.
Would be happy to switch airlines and routing if they would bump me up once in a while.
Was also bummed when the cancelled the NW visa program and had to start using Delta AMEX.
Thanks for your repies,
Jesse
jlo72372 is offline  
Old Sep 15, 2009, 11:35 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: DFW
Programs: OWE AA EXP;*A TK Gold; Marriott LTT; Hyatt Globalist; IHG Plat; National VIP
Posts: 3,087
You can request a match with United, please refer to UA forum for details. They will only comp you up to United Premier (NW Gold), even if you are NW Platinum, they don't do matches to 1K unless you show some significant revenue (really significant). remember that UA upgrades work very differently from NW so choose wisely. Cheers
asnovici is offline  
Old Sep 15, 2009, 12:02 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Twin Cities
Programs: NW, UA
Posts: 918
i switched to ua for my primary international flying a few years ago and i'm very pleased with the decision and haven't looked back since. although i mostly fly out of a nw hub and flying ua means an extra connection half the time, having various upgrade instruments that one can actually use perpetually available and access to E+ are two of the tangible benefit differences.

at one point, wp was the best program for domestic flyers (it still may be, marginally) mainly due to unlimited upgrades. of course, on certain routes and flights it is almost impossible. with significant lessening of the elite membership value lately, i have less of an incentive to fly the no-longer-a-hometown airline.
i "jumped ship" (although i still fly enough on a higher-tier fares to maintain a PE status) when they were at the height of nickel-n-diming us to death (initial intro. of coachchoice or whatever the heck they called 'premiuim seats for more $$' was the straw that broke the camels back for me).

thanks to the carryover MQM policy, i'll probably just end up maintaining a mid-tier status just to avoid baggage fees when i have to fly on dl.
worldexpress is offline  
Old Sep 15, 2009, 2:07 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: ORD
Programs: ua 1k, hh diamond, spg PLT, marriott PLT
Posts: 617
i was just forced to switch from UA (1k) to NWA and a couple things to note: 1. internationally, i feel that UA if a far superior carrier simply because of the Star Alliance opportunities, 2. SWUs that you can actually use, and 3. Real First Class. However, unless you can prove that you fly multiple hundreds of thousands of mile per year, they will only give you Premier Associate membership (below what would be called Silver Elite, but still giving you E+) with a challenge to get to Premier Exec (equal to Gold Elite). I believe the challenge is like 15k or 20k miles in 90 days or something like that, but there is zero chance they would ever match you to 1K and most likely would not let you do a challenge to 1K unless you have been a 1K in the past and want to come back.

hope this helps
playbbg is offline  

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