I am a noob when it comes to miles. I have started with an AMEX SPG card as it seems to be a great all around card. I am planning a trip to Europe next October and the 50,000 mile Chase United promo has me curious. My goal is to get 2 round trip buisness class tickets for me and the wife. It looks like United, Continental, and US Airways are all part of the Star Alliance Program which I assumer means a mile on one is good for redemption on any.

Does this mean I can apply for the Chase United Promo and get 50,000 United miles. Also apply for the US Airways reward card from Barclays to get the 30,000 mile promo and some time down the line apply for the Chase Continental card and get the 25,000 mile bonus. These 3 cards just in promo miles with limited spending nets 105,000 miles. At that point combine them all together thru Star Alliance and redeem for one business class trip to Europe?? It almost seems to easy if that is the case. If that is right I could have my wife do the same thing and now we have both our tickets and I can use the SPG card for free hotels. Am I missing something or is that pretty much a free trip to Europe??

You cannot combine miles from multiple airlines even though they are all in the Star Alliance. You can use United miles to book flights on CO, US, or any other Star partner but all of the miles have to come from one account. So doing what you propose is not possible.

You can't combine miles from multiple Star Alliance partners, or transfer from one partner to the other. Sorry!

I think I understand. I had a feeling I was missing something. I guess I could still go for the United Promo and start off with 50,000 miles, I guess it doens put me almost half way to the goal. I would have 18 months to accumulate another 60,000 miles or so. I guess I could also transfer from my SPG account to make up a potential shortfall, or even just buy a few miles if the right offers come about.

Arent there rumors of a US Airlines and United merger? I guess this is a hypothetical but I wonder if you had two sperate accounts with United and US Airways if they would combine to one account. This is obviously contingent on a merger and some management decisions. I guess I shouldnt bank on it.

Definitely not. There is a large thread on the merger talks on page 1 of the United forum in case you'd like to see what FTers are speculating....

I'm pretty bummed that United requires 2 Starpoints for 1 UA mile. Unless you really want the MP miles, I'd try to find a cheaper way to get them. Though it's cheaper than mileage accelerator if you value 1 Starpoint as $0.01

You can redeem one ticket from each of two programs using the same flights if you can find the availability. You can transfer SPG points to US at 1:1, so you could get the US card for the bonus and then put your SPG points there to have enough for one ticket and earn enough in UA with its bonus for the other ticket. Note that mileage requirements differ by program so check how many miles you need in each program.

United also now has the reward travel for less miles by throwing in some cash. Not always a good deal, but another option for you.

I think that's coach only but it would be a way to get tickets with a smaller mileage balance.

It's true you can't combine accounts, but if you are shooting for 2 tickets, you can buy one from each account.

Any thoughts on the easiest way to book two tickets with the same itinerary? I want to book one international flight using United miles, the other using Continental miles.