Moving to Europe, picking new *A FFP (M+, Royal Orchid, M&M? Flights to Asia)
May 24, 2012, 11:26 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 3
Moving to Europe, picking new *A FFP (M+, Royal Orchid, M&M? Flights to Asia)
Hey all,
Been following FT for a while now (through TalkMail, mostly) but thought I'd finally post.
After being in the US for the past four years as an undergraduate student (and collecting miles on OnePass/now MileagePlus), I'm moving to Paris for at least the next two years for grad school. M+ has been great and although I never reached elite status, I got a one-way reward travel to Asia (when I was short on $ too).
Now I'm traveling to Asia from the US again, and then from Asia to Paris. I prefer *A (seems I fly most on the network) and have a few choices I'd love your thoughts on.
Here's what I have now:
United MileagePlus: ~2k Miles (and 32k Lifetime Miles)
Thai Royal Orchid Plus: 24k Miles (lost Silver status)
Miles & More: 0 (but makes sense for Europe maybe?)
I make trips occasionally to Asia (to Nepal, specifically), and plan on flying to the US after a year, maybe. I do also plan on traveling within the Eurozone but, as a student, would think of Ryanair for this. I would, of course, would prefer award travel on Swiss or Lufthansa or SAS.
Thai ROP would get me Silver quicker (and the miles would only expire in 2 years) and I could theoretically book award travel out of Eurozone countries, but I have very little connection to Thailand and I don't imagine I'd be flying Thai a whole lot. (I did when I lived in Asia).
United miles don't expire, I think, as long as there's activity in the past 18 months. I don't think this would be a problem. The Million Miler program might be worth shooting for?
I'm attracted to M&M because I do think I'd find ways to fly LH or Swiss for my long-distance trips, but I hear the miles expire faster and Senator's not that great.
Almost tempted to go the easy way with Aegean but I'd really like the to join an FFP that I can personally relate to.
Ideas? I'm booking JFK - ZRH - DEL - KTM on UA and Swiss now to get started but won't enter an FFP # until later.
Thank you!
Been following FT for a while now (through TalkMail, mostly) but thought I'd finally post.
After being in the US for the past four years as an undergraduate student (and collecting miles on OnePass/now MileagePlus), I'm moving to Paris for at least the next two years for grad school. M+ has been great and although I never reached elite status, I got a one-way reward travel to Asia (when I was short on $ too).
Now I'm traveling to Asia from the US again, and then from Asia to Paris. I prefer *A (seems I fly most on the network) and have a few choices I'd love your thoughts on.
Here's what I have now:
United MileagePlus: ~2k Miles (and 32k Lifetime Miles)
Thai Royal Orchid Plus: 24k Miles (lost Silver status)
Miles & More: 0 (but makes sense for Europe maybe?)
I make trips occasionally to Asia (to Nepal, specifically), and plan on flying to the US after a year, maybe. I do also plan on traveling within the Eurozone but, as a student, would think of Ryanair for this. I would, of course, would prefer award travel on Swiss or Lufthansa or SAS.
Thai ROP would get me Silver quicker (and the miles would only expire in 2 years) and I could theoretically book award travel out of Eurozone countries, but I have very little connection to Thailand and I don't imagine I'd be flying Thai a whole lot. (I did when I lived in Asia).
United miles don't expire, I think, as long as there's activity in the past 18 months. I don't think this would be a problem. The Million Miler program might be worth shooting for?
I'm attracted to M&M because I do think I'd find ways to fly LH or Swiss for my long-distance trips, but I hear the miles expire faster and Senator's not that great.
Almost tempted to go the easy way with Aegean but I'd really like the to join an FFP that I can personally relate to.
Ideas? I'm booking JFK - ZRH - DEL - KTM on UA and Swiss now to get started but won't enter an FFP # until later.
Thank you!
Last edited by livatlantis; May 24, 2012 at 11:28 pm Reason: Minor correction
May 25, 2012, 1:34 am
#2
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: MUC
Programs: UA Plat
Posts: 34
Moving to Europe, picking new *A FFP (M+, Royal Orchid, M&M? Flights to Asia)
There are a few threads concerning which program to choose based upon where you live, expected travel patterns etc, eg MP vs LH miles and more, etc. It would be worth a search, I'm on my phone now I'm afraid, otherwise I would post a few links myself.
It sounds like shortterm you would have trouble achieving any status. *S is honestly anyways rather useless across the network, so if you were to try to achieve status, I would choose a FFP of an airline on which you would fly most.
If your goal is simply miles and awards, it might make sense to shoot more longterm and consider how much awards can be gotten for on each airline. That's not the only criteria, though. For example, booking award travel on *A is easier online with UA. You have to call to book non-LH award travel on LH.
Good luck with the move to Europe!
It sounds like shortterm you would have trouble achieving any status. *S is honestly anyways rather useless across the network, so if you were to try to achieve status, I would choose a FFP of an airline on which you would fly most.
If your goal is simply miles and awards, it might make sense to shoot more longterm and consider how much awards can be gotten for on each airline. That's not the only criteria, though. For example, booking award travel on *A is easier online with UA. You have to call to book non-LH award travel on LH.
Good luck with the move to Europe!
May 25, 2012, 8:58 am
#3
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Singapore
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 80
Because you're moving to Paris, it might make sense to consider SkyTeam. SkyTeam has good availability in Asia and the US as well and, if you'll be based in Paris, Air France has a direct flight to pretty much everywhere from there.
May 25, 2012, 5:26 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Zurich
Programs: BA GGL, TK*G EL, KL P ELPL, ex AB P, ex LH/LX Sen, HHonors D4L, Bonvoy P
Posts: 1,647
Perhaps you should consider Miles & Smiles (TK). It is generally seen as one of the better *A programs and TK offers many flights to Asia. Views on TK are generally speaking divers, but the most agree that they are on the bright side of life - as long as there are no irrops ...
May 25, 2012, 9:37 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 3
@mavit12: Thanks!
I did do a few searches but since I'm dividing my time (in the long run) between Europe, Asia and the US, I thought this warranted a new post.
Why is *S not very useful? (I'd be interested in additional baggage mostly, but I guess I wouldn't get lounge access until I hit Gold, which seems more likely with Thai ROP).
@wfu03: I considered this, but AF's program isn't that appealing and I find I've flown very few SkyTeam flights. In the US (Northeast), I almost always do Continental/United, in Asia I tend to do Thai (and possibly Singapore) and in Europe it tends to be LH/Swiss or SAS. I'm a student so I tend to go for the lowest fare and most of them tend to be on *A.
Maybe I should shoot for the Million Miler on M+; I'm only 3,2% there so far but at least that's something significant to shoot for in the long-term eh? And I wouldn't need to rush.
@PHLyer82: Oh, wow, didn't know that. That's going to make a difference. Thai is looking better now. At least they last for 2 years and I can book reward travel out of Paris.
@swiss_global: I hadn't considered this at all, thanks! I'll look into it.
I did do a few searches but since I'm dividing my time (in the long run) between Europe, Asia and the US, I thought this warranted a new post.
Why is *S not very useful? (I'd be interested in additional baggage mostly, but I guess I wouldn't get lounge access until I hit Gold, which seems more likely with Thai ROP).
@wfu03: I considered this, but AF's program isn't that appealing and I find I've flown very few SkyTeam flights. In the US (Northeast), I almost always do Continental/United, in Asia I tend to do Thai (and possibly Singapore) and in Europe it tends to be LH/Swiss or SAS. I'm a student so I tend to go for the lowest fare and most of them tend to be on *A.
Maybe I should shoot for the Million Miler on M+; I'm only 3,2% there so far but at least that's something significant to shoot for in the long-term eh? And I wouldn't need to rush.
@PHLyer82: Oh, wow, didn't know that. That's going to make a difference. Thai is looking better now. At least they last for 2 years and I can book reward travel out of Paris.
@swiss_global: I hadn't considered this at all, thanks! I'll look into it.
May 26, 2012, 6:08 am
#7
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: MUC
Programs: UA Plat
Posts: 34
http://www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/frequent-flyer/gold-silver-status/
Also, boarding privileges and check in counters are generally not passed on to *S (though I do remember this being done somewhere, I don't remember where).
Jun 1, 2012, 11:55 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 3
@mavit12: Ah, thanks. Looks like I'll want to think longer-term.
@Passmethesickbag: Yep; I had wrongly assumed that I would get reward flights only on UA instead of most *A flights. Lots to learn UA makes most sense at this point.
@Campath: ? I think I missed something.
@Passmethesickbag: Yep; I had wrongly assumed that I would get reward flights only on UA instead of most *A flights. Lots to learn
UA makes most sense at this point.@Campath: ? I think I missed something.