tdk

I've got a couple of business class flights to and from the US coming up next week and I'm wondering where to credit the frequent flyer points to?

I've not flown SAS before and am unlikely to be a regular customer, but I am a member of United Mileage Plus programme and have a chunk of miles there. I was wondering if it's sensible to credit my UA account with the points, credit them to another programme or is there any good reason to open a EuroBonus account and credit them there?

I used to fly *A a lot 10-15 years ago, mainly on United to and from the US, but these days it's mostly oneworld on BA, unfortunately.

Thanks!

ExpatSomchai

This may help you to make a decision

https://www.wheretocredit.com/

Jainzar

Check your booking classes and then check the earnings for each *A FFP. This can be easily done at https://www.wheretocredit.com/englis...avian-airlines

CPH-Flyer

It also depends on your purpose If it just accumulate miles, you are probably better off keeping them with the rest of your United miles. If you are looking at building a Star Alliance status, you will find that SK is one of the easier places to do this. It would of course mean status without the domestic upgrade option that United can offer, but with lounge access for domestic only trips in the US.

tdk

Thanks for the information and pointers to the wheretocredit website - very helpful.

I'll be travelling in a combination of C and D to CPH, ORD and then back from SFO, so it looks like I'll earn 22,000 points which would equate to Silver status on this trip. Looking at the chart on wheretocredit it appears that I'd get 150% of points credited to my UA account, so 33,000 to add to my balance.

My next trip should earn me a similar amount and that looks like that'd put me close to Gold, but that might be all the flights for me on *A for the year, so I'm undecided if the status is worthwhile. I don't really need the domestic UA upgrades as I'm usually in business/first on domestic US flights anyway, although lounge access might come in handy on occasion in the US as my Priority Pass doesn't give me as much access in the US as it does in Europe.

Decisions, decisions!

Shoredreamer

lol, I have just been asking the opposite question on here...I have been an EB diamond for the last several years but because of some unfortunate, shall we say less than stellar experiences with SAS, I have deliberately been flying alternative, although star alliance, airlines just to maintain my star alliance gold equivalent, while still remaining in the EB program. I am really not experienced enough to answer very well but just given my own situation, I would guess depending on what your flight activity is typically like, and what you want to achieve mileage wise within these 2 airlines, it might be easier to achieve gold with SAS with strictly mileage and a few long haul flights, but not sure, again obviously depending on just how much you are really flying United too. If you fly long haul a lot, depending on what class you fly, it might be easy to get to gold with SAS as only 45k mi are needed and a typical long haul from EU to US, each way, may end up being anywhere from 4000-10000 mi, again depending on fare class but once you get the 45k the gold would be recognized along all star alliance airlines. With gold you would then have lounge access and the extra luggage allowance (very important to me,) especially when traveling UA domestically within the US, which is typically an extra cost. Im actually curious though on what you think about how BA compares to both of these airlines!? I am not ready to leave star alliance just yet as I have too many miles but my new mileage year has just started again and I am trying to determine whether I should switch to UA. My husband has recently begun flying long haul more frequently though and has been booking strictly based on fares and has therefore been flying BA and now wants to try to earn avios (or whatever they care currently called), this is despite my even giving him star alliance gold status (from my EB diamond status perk)!! He keeps saying his experience is so great and he really likes the planes on the long haul, so just wondered your opinion in comparison to both SAS and UA, as I have never even flown BA!?

CPH-Flyer

Side note, please put some line breaks in to your post it makes it so much easier to read.

There are many views on BA, and can share mine. Basically I would take SK over BA any day for long haul, and I would avoid connecting in Heathrow if at all possible. Short haul in Europe is probably about equally dreary on BA and SK. I am not sure whether I find BA or UA long haul the more abysmal. That does not mean that I think that SK is great airline, but in this comparison they do pretty well. It could depend a bit on what class you are flying, business and premium economy are the basis for my comparison. The main let downs of BA in my view are the dirty cabins,the terrible hub in Heathrow, the food (though I have not tried the new Business class catering yet).

The Avios program comes with very hefty co pays for booking awards, as compared to UA and SK not charging on their own flights, and additionally UA not charging at all. If you can reach BA Gold, the treatment accross the alliance of OneWorld Emerald is far better than the treatment of Star Alliance Gold.

Shoredreamer

Oops..thanks for the heads up..I didn’t even realize :/


Thanks for the interesting info too! Having flown several times on SAS and UA, in all 3 cabins, and having never flown BA myself, I certainly appreciate the insight! At least I don’t have to feel like I’m missing much lol. My husband is still fairly new to frequent flying and long haul at that, I suspect why he still enjoys it per se, but I think after a few more of those long hauls, 24+ hr itineraries, he may soon come to feel as I do about it. He seems to like the quiet of the upper deck, even in economy! I think because of my frequent and longer journeys, personally, I just can’t stand flying long haul economy anymore, but I am obviously quite spoiled in that aspect too.

I’ve only been to heathrow a handful of times myself, but can certainly come up with a few airports I’d like to do without as well! At least my home airport (CPH) is pleasant, along with GOT, both I try to use more than any other. It’s mostly the larger US airports that I’m not particularly fond of myself...ie LAX...customs there has always been on my list of worst experiences, then my connections are typically not very close there either.

Jainzar

I can't really follow you.

The distance between the city pairs are roughly:

CPH - ORD: 4260 miles (one-way)
CPH - SFO: 5470 miles (one-way)

I assume you fly CPH - ORD one-way and then SFO - CPH one-way.
If you credit to your UA MP account it will be less than 15000 miles (4260 * 1,5 + 5470 *1,5).
If you credit to SK EB it is 22000points (10000 + 12000).

nacho

It's all depending on what you want to use your miles for - whether you have plans to accumulate a long haul C or F award and how many tickets you need to redeem (for example if you are not travelling alone then you'll need a bigger pool of miles to redeem tickets). Everyone has different needs so it's difficult to give you advice on which programme to deposit your miles to.

Regarding BA vs SK based on my discounted Y experience, I'd say SK for short haul as you can at least get a free cup of coffee/tea. For long haul you get free drinks on BA but not for SK (You get 1 bottle of water and Y food on SK is barely edible IMO), so that's a minus.

I like the UA lounge at LHR - it's much better than the BA lounge at T5, the new QF lounge is nice but the restaurant breakfast didn't impress me.

GBobon

you can credit your flights on Miles+Bonus (A3)... it will give you *A Gold pretty easy. as youre in Europe, you can make a hop in Athens for the A3 qualifying flights (2 needed for Silver + 12k miles and another 4 A3/OA flights + 24k for Gold). business with SAS should give you 200% mile on A3.

tdk

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'm going to credit the flights to UA as I've got 60K points sitting there and my up coming flights would top that off nicely.

I don't really need *A status and don't want more point orphaned in another FF programme.

Thanks!