Errrr.....tough decision here
 

So United Airlines is having the ORD-HKG double miles promo, right? http://www.unitedairlines.com.hk/loc...nus_miles.html

Problem is....I joined the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer FFP & I have about 30,000 miles with them. Flying to Hong Kong & crediting the miles to SIA would result in becoming *G.

But this double miles promo on United (where I have 0 miles in MileagePlus) looks SO appealing! What do you guys think I should do?

I wish I could merge the accounts or something, but this is due justice for poor judgment in choosing SIA KrisFlyer over UA MileagePlus. Shucks.

What do you guys think?

Perhaps get a match on UA from your DL status?

Uhhh....how does that work? I'm sorry, I'm unsure what you mean.

Check out this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...er-thread.html

Okay, I've just read that & I got the gist. I don't think I would be able to do it because my Delta plat has expired....I haven't flown Delta too much of late because I've been migrating to *A gradually, haha.

Anyways, back to my original conversation and massive goof-up, I think that I will credit the miles to MileagePlus because a double mile promo on a Hong Kong flight is just too good to pass up. Furthermore, UA upgrade awards and full awards are marginally less than SQ, so that's 1 benefit. I'll just try to reach elite status as quickly as possible on UA & then credit some flight miles to SQ so I'll have enough miles to use on an award & then maybe lose the SQ account & simply use the UA account from then on?

It will take me a little while longer to reach *G, but life isn't ALL about status, is it, now? ;) *GASP*

I think that's a rational choice. Passing up the double miles promo really doesn't seem to be too rational. Especially on a ridiculously long flight like ORD-HKG.

Yes, also consider that SQ miles are slightly harder to spend than UA miles, so in effect you're getting slightly more than double miles in equivalent value terms- because not all miles are built equal

Very Important Point: The UA promo is for double RDMs ONLY. It is not for EQMs which count for elite status. See T+Cs #11 for this.

Good point, UAPremExec. Now that I'm home and off work, I had a bit of time to process things & I think it's better to stick with Singapore Airlines & inch ever closer to *Gold rather than go for the UA bonus miles. The bonus miles will only get me a 1-way economy ticket that's worth $100, $150, $200 maximum. It's not worth that much to me. Whereas if I have status, I will have some tangible benefits that I will always get to enjoy. Therefore, why not keep doing what I'm doing? No big deal.

And the increased difficulty of redeeming SQ miles just means that I will be a hoarder! YAY! :)

That is a very bad way of looking at it, since the best value redemptions are not 25K mile awards in coach, but international premium cabin travel. 20K RDMs is 1/5th of a US to Europe round trip in business class, which often retails at ~$10K.

Well, yes, that's true. But it seems to me that I'll get better deals on mileage with SQ than even UA! Business class to Moscow DME on SIN was 136,000 miles. Same to DME was 180,000 on United via IAD...and it wasn't even business ALL THE WAY, only on 1 leg! I don't know about you, but that's a HUGE difference.

Furthermore, it's not supposed to be 136,000 on SQ....if you redeem online, you get a 15% discount on SQ, for whatever awesome reason. And economy tickets to DME are 34,000 on SQ with that online discount.

It just seems to be the better deal. I guess I shall have to say "do svidanya" to the HKG double-miles promo.

That's because for the United redemption, you purchased a Standard award, not a Saver award. All Star Alliance partner awards are priced at the saver level, so Lufty or Swiss business class transatlantic will cost 100K miles.

How much are the award booking fees on SQ? The cost of the award flight goes beyond the miles.

You need to consider other benefits. If you fly a lot domestically, you would get lounge access as a SQ Gold. But on UA/CO you would get E+ and a better baggage allowance, but no lounge access on domestic flights.

+1

I have usually found LH availability pretty good for awards from the US to Europe via ORD and DEN.

Sometimes it seems a waste to answer since your advice gets ignored, anyway. :)

?! How did it get ignored, haha? I answered in my 3rd post that my Delta membership expired since I haven't been flying Delta very often lately. C'est la vie, my fault.