Is United a good alternative?
 

I'm EBG. I fly mostly TATL US and then some intra-eu.

I'm not so impressed with SAS lately and have been searching for an alternative. With credit card spend, it seems I can become gold at United. Thus I'll still have lounge and upgrades are more common.

It also seems, that segments with SAS out of CPH will earn 100 % on most classes with United.

Thus, it seems lige a pretty descent alternative for me. Although i read much negative stuff about united, all my flights with them have met SAS-standard. (Except for crew).

Am I missing something here? Have any of you other guys thought about changing away from degraded Eurobonus. For me it's mostly the bonus trip and the upgrades that matter (lounge, of course), and they seem better with United.

I have also glanced towards United and their 100% EB earning on all booking classes.
However, earnings for their own MileagePlus members will change (drastically I think) later this spring and become revenue based.
I wouldn't be surprised if they degrade the percentage earned with EB after that.

After the lowering of points earned on SK metal, there are itineraries to the US where you earn more EB points on UA metal than you do on SK metal - even after factoring in the 25% EBG bonus.
That can't be sustainable in the long run so after both carriers are done deflating their own loyalty programs, they will probably have the time to deflate earning credited to other programs.

You don't really benefit from the upgrades unless you go out of your way to fly UA as well and since they don't have a direct CPH service anymore that by it self probably isn't worth it. You get lounge access with SK at Silver which you can leverage when you fly to EWR and ORD or on your intra-EU trips.

I've never found UA's program appealing even though I fly their ARN-EWR in C a few times a year, though that will stop once SK's new interior with lie-flat is available.

Are you far away from EBG or could you qualify with a nominal push or better leveraging of promotions?

?????? only during Christmas and some summer days.

UA upgrades are only on US domestic flights (and certain short-haul international routes), and as a gold you'll generally have few if any at all. Also UA *G only get lounge access on international itineraries. Only 1Ks and GSs have upgrade instruments to use for international flights. While RDMs will be revenue-based starting March 1, elite qualification is still distance-based and spend-based (which can be waived with an international address).

I would also question how long this statement will hold. Surely the *A partners will be adjusting their earning tables now that SAS has reduced theirs. It might look good now, but I would not be so sure in 6 months time. Therefore I agree with AGCPH that you should be wary of switching if you are basing your decision on the earning tables.

I wouldn't think it will be 6 months. I think the changes are going to take effect on March 1.

At the moment we are crediting to UA as long as they give out the most miles for the segments.

One good thing about ua - their miles never expire. SK is great too - most carriers have like 3 years expiry.

I have been looking a bit at UA (especially that I fly little UA domestic, so lack of lounge access is not really important for me). However, I decided that it is really a bad moment to switch. I will wait a few months to see how SK earnings look in different programs, once the tables have stabilized a bit.

It is not that clear that reaching status anywhere else will be so much easier for Scandinavian residents. So far I am staying with EB, waiting to see how the word looks after the point deflation Armageddon.

To be honest, I started to fly a lot more with United now that SAS degraded its own earnings on TATL. I probably wouldn't make it to a very high status with MileagePlus as I don't spend so much money directly with them, but with United earnings it's relatively easy to maintain *G with SAS.

The experience with SAS is about the same as with United, with the difference that United sees itself as the best airline in the world (which is explicitly stated at the beginning of the safety video), so it's a very American experience. At least some crew at SAS know that SAS sucks big time. Food is appalling on both of them, both of them are cheap on drinks and alcohol. Seats are not very comfortable on any of them, but I expect this to change in the advantage of SAS with the new cabin layout.

The major advantage of UA gold is that UA gold can get a free upgrade with United from eco to Eco plus by default.

Actually the new United earning system might be attractive to people in Scandinavia who fly SAS. Formerly the disadvantage with United's program if you fly SK:

1) No multipliers like 2X miles in all classes if you are 1K and fly SK. The only multiplier is 25% extra miles if you fly business or Plus.
2) Business travelers did not get much whereas SK offered 100% extra miles for earning and status. With UA you at least get 50% extra status miles (PQM).

On the other hand LH had the same multipliers and bonus points as flying UA metal, so I would normally prefer to fly LH if I had a choice.

But now if you spend $150 one way ARN-CPH in Go then you will earn 150*11= 1650 miles if you are 1K. (It is 8X at the lowest *G level). So you would get 1650 miles on the flight that formerly earned 500 miles, or the gold card holder would get 1200 miles. Not bad!

This only works if you buy the ticket from UA (016 stock). But this is possible; I have been doing it for a while because it is more convenient for intra-nordic flights. Same prices as on the SK website. I think this will work OK for intra-Europe. Unfortunately SK is not part of the transatlantic JV (forget the name) so I don't think you can buy a transatlantic ticket with SK metal on 016 ticket stock.

Consider another example. You pay $500 to fly CPH-FRA one way in Plus. Formerly you earned 625 miles on UA. Now it is 4000 points with a gold card if you buy a 016 ticket. Buy the ticket from SK and it is the old earnings scheme.

United gives 50% bonus status points (PQM) if you fly SK Plus and up. Not as good as with SK but pretty good. You also get this with LH family airlines and ANA, and maybe some others.

I also do not think UA will adjust their earnings. SK's changes are not dramatic except for intra-Nordic where you only get 250 points.

But consider the new system with $. You buy a cheap $50 ticket ARN-CPH. A passenger without status earns 250 miles (5X multiplier), which is inline with SK's own earnings.

The biggest concern is if they cut back on status (PQM) with cheap SK fare classes. But most of their customers are US based where they need spend a certain amount of $ for each status level, so people are not going to get status on very cheap tickets. Note that people with non-US address are exempt from these PQDs.

Are you 100% sure about this? I'd actually change to UA if this is indeed true. One of the things that kept me from changing to the program was the introduction of PQDs.

Also, do you know if there is still a lifetime status available now that their program got a major 'enhancement'?

Thanks!

100%. My address is not in the US. The PQD does not even appear in my mileage account summary like it does for US folks.

The only thing now is that if someone wants to change from US to non-US then they have to prove that the address is valid, which is a pain.

A bad thing is that UA will not match status. (At least the conventional wisdom.)

This is good news, I'd say. I've been tempted to switch to AY, as my company got a great offer there, but it'd be nice to keep *G as well. OZ and TK may be the way, were it not that I've been flying quite a bit on UA as well recently. In that case UA may be the way to go forward.

Thanks a lot for the info. :)

Is it worth considering Aegean? They give at least 100% mileage on all SAS flights but it's lower with United - seems to be 50% on most cheap economy tickets. You'd need to fly 4 segments per year with A3 to qualify under their rather low requirements, but you say you do some intra-EU flying anyway so it may work.

A3 doesn't fly to Norway or anywhere close. And to fly from OSL to AMS or HAM via FRA and ATH is a bit overkill... Apart from that A3 doesn't fly to any of those either...

I do fly TK sometimes and OZ has as advantage that the status is valid for 2 years. I do also fly quite a bit with UA these days (but not always booked directly via UA or booked on UA stock, so I'm not sure how that would have been with PQD).