How to Maximize the *A Experience
 

I would be grateful for some help on how to maximize my experience with Star Alliance, given the following details about travel patterns, existing elite levels, point balances and point earning options.

I live in Denmark so home airport is CPH, consequently, I've always tried to earn any *A flight miles on SAS EuroBonus. I was EB Silver for some years, but then Delta became a better option for my travel so I haven't flown with SK much in recent years. However, I recently took a business trip so do have some SK points accrued, but will just miss Silver this year.

I don't travel a lot, perhaps 2 or 3 TATL return trips per year with my husband (CPH-MCO), an occasional business trip (CPH-NY), and an occasional intra-Europe trip (CPH-UK).

Based on my AmEx Centurion, I have US Airways Platinum, Delta Platinum and VS Gold, so have *Gold status via USAirways. Generally, I use my US *G card for access to the lounge only, but don't accrue miles on the card because (1) I have not flown on US for 20 years, and don't see it happening any time soon based on itineraries, and (2) US is no longer an AmEx membership rewards partner so I would never have the opportunity to top-up miles if needed for an award.

After my recent SK/LH TATL for which I credited miles to SK, I suddenly wondered if I should have credited to US based on the extra 75% bonus points for being Platinum, and using those miles eventually for a *A award on another *A carrier. Thoughts?

My travel pattern the last few years has been to fly CPH-MCO on Delta in BusinessElite based on purchasing an M fare ticket and using my SWUs for free upgrades - usual price is ca. $2,000 all-in and with the free upgrade confirmed in advance. But after Delta stopped flying CPH-ATL, or CPH-JFK (except in mid-summer), we are annoyed at having to take 2 connections via either AMS or CDG and then ATL or DTW to reach MCO, so we are looking to return to *A.

There are very good itineraries on AC via YYZ and LH via FRA, or with SK via EWR or IAD (although I dislike connecting in IAD on the US inbound; don't mind the return MCO-CPH via IAD).

I have not joined AC, but could transfer AmEx membership rewards points to them if needed. I can also transfer AmEx membership rewards points to SK from my UK-issued AmEx, and I earn some SK points via an EB-branded MasterCard (but not significant amounts). So those are the two airlines where I can easily add points to top-up miles in the accounts if necessary. Although I don't have an unlimited supply of AmEx points!

What am I ideally trying to achieve?

1. Round-trip TATL C class travel for around $2,000, give or take a bit, understanding that this may mean booking high-fare economy and upgrading with miles or some kind of elite-earned certificates.

2. If upgrading, ideally that the upgrade can be confirmed in advance. I have tried both Optiontown and SK's standby upgrades at the gate with miles in the past, with mixed results. I hate playing this game and not knowing until the last minute if I'm stuck in economy or upgraded. (Loved the DL confirmed upgrades with 'free' SWUs and not even having to burn miles for it.)

3. An itinerary with only one connection. While I am willing to go DL via a 2-connection itinerary in order to have confirmed C, my husband is not. He actually prefers to save 3 hours on a one-connection itinerary and sit in economy, than have to use an extra 3 hours + an extra connection to be in confirmed business! Consequently, a good flight itnerary (shortest duration) is important. So that's why I'm back to *A.

Would be interested to try AC or LH, or a combination of the two, but either booked in C or booked in Y with a confirmed upgrade. From what I could understand on AC's website, their FF programme does not offer upgrades for miles, but only via certificates earned as a top elite flyer. So being able to transfer miles to AC isn't necessarily useful, as I understand.

Our trips to MCO are usually in the late autumn (Oct-Nov) or first quarter of the year (Jan-Mar/Apr). So not sure if SK, AC or LH ever offer sales on business class seats at these times?

We don't earn enough miles or points with AmEx to try to get C class award flights, so prefer not to burn miles for a full award, but rather for upgrades (also so we can earn miles on the trip on which we might be upgrading).

Any advice for how to maximize the experience with *A in these circumstances? I'm also wondering if there is a chance of status match with AC, SK or LH based on our DL Platinum status and, if so, if it would be at all beneficial. (I missed the offer last year that LH had for a status match.)

Would you stick with SK as the main point-accruing programme even if it won't be possible to reach EBG? Or post miles to US since I'm already US Platinum / *G even though I never fly their metal? Or start with AC based on the relationship with AmEx? Or LH because . . . ?

Which airlines is best to book through if trying to snag a *A confirmed upgrade - or is this dependent on which flight one wishes to upgrade?

Sorry this is so long and thanks if you've made it this far and have any advice!

Susan

How to Maximize the *A Experience
 

Wow, you do have a lot of questions...

US*G is a good thing to start with since it gives you lounge access on all *A flights except on pure domestic USA itineraries. Have you looked at US' program at all to determine if there are useful benefits for you besides lounge access? Their new Envoy (business class) seats are pretty nice so maybe there are some ways to grab a confirmed TATL upgrade even if that means a connection through FRA/MUC/ZRH/LHR etc. Within the USA you would get a spot on the upgrade list anyway from the unlimited domestic upgrade program.

Regarding AC, I do like their Executive First seat (business class) and the nonstop to YYZ where you can do US pre-clearance is convenient. You can infact use miles to upgrade, AC participates in the *A upgrade scheme. However these seats come out of the award bucket and are generally limited to 2 on each flight, so they are gone very quickly. The better way to upgrade though is through their eUpgrade credits you already mentioned, these can only be used by AC Top Tier members. Once you reach at least 25K status miles, including a minimum of 5 flights or 10K on AC aircraft, you get Prestige status the following year (instant recognition starts at 35K) and can start using the credits. If you buy a flexible fare, AC calls these "Latitude", you can get a confirmed upgrade at time of booking if R class is available. Not sure how much a Latitude CPH-YYZ-MCO return is but CPH is one if the cheapest points to start from within Europe.

Have a look at the Miles & Privileges section on aircanada.com.

If your travel pattern doesn't correspond to more than *S, then getting upgrades at all, let alone confirmed in advance, without actually paying for Business is a tall order. Have you considered Icelandair? They can get you to New York or Orlando with a painless connection in Reykjavik (which would keep your husband happy). And their business class product, although not the best in the air, is quite affordable.

Yes, I know I will need to at least pay for a high economy fare + some sort of miles / upgrade currency. It has been fairly easy to fly Delta BusinessElite by paying for an M fare and using upgrade certs, with the only drawback now being the double connection.

I was hoping to find a *A option that would come in at a similar fare cost + miles for an upgrade, since I can top-up miles to either AC or SK with AmEx membership rewards points.

Yes, we have flown Icelandair several times in the past, but they now fly into Sanford instead of MCO, and I agree the transfer at KEF is great. Their Business Class seating is similar to EcoExtra on other airlines, with quite nice Business Class service and meals. I just found them a bit pricey for what you get, with fares near $3,000 last time I checked, and their FF programme isn't terribly useful. Since we'd been paying ca. $2,000 for DL BE, I found this a bit steep for Icelandair's Business Class, but it's always worth a check of pricing whenever we know our dates.

Thanks!

Sorry for being verbose, but I guess I'm the opposite of those who just ask "which *A programme is best." I wanted to provide as much detail as possible, also indicating that I have done a fair bit of my own research. :)

My reason for wanting to come back to *A was specifically to fly CPH-MCO with only one connection, and US doesn't allow me to do that. So my US *G is great for the lounge access and the ability to possibly book with them on another *A partner and upgrade with miles, but I doubt I would fly with them based on their current itineraries, since we are quite happy with DL *if* we want to make two connections.
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Thanks, I'll look more closely at this.

Does anyone know which *A partner is easiest to book with to get the *A confirmed upgrades?

For example, let's say I want to do a confirmed *A upgrade on an AC flight westbound, returning LH eastbound. Is it just as easy to do this via booking with SK as AC or US? Would I have better chances as a *G on US, even if my flights are all on another *A carrier?

Susan

It makes no difference how you make the booking or which carrier issues the ticket. By using the *A upgrade scheme there would be no difference if you have status or not with any *A airline.

To confirm an upgrade you need:

1) A FFP participating in the *A upgrade scheme
2) Flight booked with the operating carrier's flight no. (no code-shares)
3) An eligible booking class
4) A confirmed ticket
5) Enough miles for each sector
6) Availability in the award booking class

Thanks - perfect checklist!

Just wanted to come back and say thanks for this detailed information. AC has Latitude fares for ca. DK 15,000 / US $2,500 in B class, which is upgradeable with a *A upgrade. Using ExpertFlyer, I've checked lots of dates and while many dates have only 1 seat available for *A upgrade, I have found dates with 3 seats. So once we can set dates, I know what to look for. As you said, R upgrade availability is quite good - R9 on most dates I checked, but it's unlikely we can fly enough to get AC status.

SK's upgradeable fare is also similar but I'm not able to check availability of upgrades. LH, who have the best itinerary, are around $2900 for an upgradeable fare.

I also checked some dates on Icelandair as suggested, and found some business fares for around $2,000, so that is an option, although not quite the same as Business class on other carriers.

This has been very helpful!

How to Maximize the *A Experience
 

Glad you found my advice of help. ;)

If you find seats in I class on TATL flights on AC grab them right away.

Basically, you are looking for RT TATL in C for circa $2k

I assume you are aware of the regular mile sales that US run. miles sell at 1.9C US and you can usually buy 100k per person which gives you enough for TATL C (or some much better options to other parts of the world). See some of the threads in the US forum for more details.

Actually, no, I'm not aware of this, except that I'd read this thread which hinted about it:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...-alliance.html

I was going to ask questions there, but it seemed as if there was hesitation in that thread to provide too many details. I'll take a look at the US forum, but if anyone wants to share anything via PM, feel free.

Would this suggest that I should start accruing all my flight miles to US? I have hesitated doing that since I cannot top up US with AmEx MR points, whereas I can do so for AC or SK, and I also have an SK MasterCard on which I earn some EuroBonus miles. But I'm all for optimizing my ability to fly C at the most reasonable cost.

I usually like to book an upgradeable Y fare, and upgrade with miles because then I also earn miles on that trip, but if I can buy miles and get a C award for about the same price as an upgradeable Y fare (usually $2,000 - $2,500), I'm all for it! I guess the only challenge will be finding the awards for the flights and dates I want when that time comes.

Cheers!
Susan

Booking Y/B on AC is not cost effective in my experience. AC charges nearly as much, sometimes more, for flexible fares as it does for business class.

If you want to use *A Upgrades I think your options are LX or SAS which allow upgrades from cheaper fares. For LX I would only book if there was I availability at the time. For SAS you could book Premium Economy and if the upgrade never clears you at least get Premium Economy. But that has the same problems as optiontown.

Otherwise the option of buying US Airways miles is good.

The other option is to look for UA SWUs or upgrades that people are willing to trade online. There are a lot of people selling UA SWUs online. Other programs usually dislike the existence of this market and have put barriers in place to reduce it.

You could read first thread here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...ad-merged.html

also see http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...liance-awards/

The only other thing I would note is that you can get some fantastic rewards with US. Last year I had DUB-FRA-BKK (stopover) - NRT (destination)-FRA-DUB all in First with TG and LH for 100k US miles + $100 taxes. Full fare would have cost $$$$$$

US have run about 2-3 100% bonus on purchased miles promos each year for the past few years. I would expect we will see another before the end of the year.