LucyP

I am absolutely new to the whole frequent flyer thing, but am approaching Silver Preferred level on USAirways (the only program in which I have a lot of miles). At some point I will open a credit card, but can't do it quickly because I froze my credit reports due to an identity theft and it will take some time and be a nuisance to un-freeze them. My ultimate goal is acquiring enough miles for business class travel to Asia.

In September and November I will be traveling round trip RDU to Chicago, paid for by someone else. It looks as though there is no direct flight from RDU to Chicago on USAir at an appropriate price or with appropriate times.

So here's the complicated question. Should I

• Fly on United and credit the miles to USAir, keeping them all in one place?
• Fly on United and credit the miles to United?
• Fly on United and credit the miles to a different *A partner, where they may be more effective?
• Go out of my way and take a stopover flight just to be able to fly on USAir?
• Do the latter (fly USAir) but buy miles to get me to Silver Preferred first, so I can get a bonus on the miles to Chicago?

I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer. And I should add, I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask this question.

Gamecock

Welcome to FT.

This is not a complicated question at all. Many of us would fly RDU-LAX-ORD, given the chance. Why can't you fly RDU-CLT-ORD? Seems reasonable enough...

skitch23

I agree completely. If that doesn't work for you time/cost wise I'd say go for the UA flights and then credit to US.

Gamecock

That too!

Or, if push comes to shove sign up for AA FF account and fly the. The miles will all become one soon enough.

LucyP

This is kind of funny. I told my husband that I was posting this question, and he told me that it was way too complicated and that no one would understand it.

I will check into schedules. I may split the difference and do the first flight (very tight, two-day timeframe) on United and the November trip on USAir. That will give me more time to get up to Silver Preferred on USAir so I can get the extra miles. I might even be able to get a credit card by then so that I can have Gold Preferred status--who knows?

Thanks for the advice.

aztimm

Not sure if you ever look in the US Airways forum?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...end-miles-612/

There's a rumor that US will be moving to oneworld around 11/1 of this year. Right now an employee posted that he saw it somewhere, but we don't have anything concrete yet.

As someone else mentioned, you could fly RDU-ORD on AA nonstop, credit to American. The US and AA programs will be merged eventually.
Or since you're close to US status now, then just stick with them.

This may throw a wrench into your plans of redeeming for travel to Asia. Well you'd just have to look at other carriers.

Given the uncertainty with US remaining in Star Alliance for very long, I'd avoid booking travel on UA, if your goal is to credit to US and get US status.

LucyP

That's a very helpful point. I think United will probably be okay in September, don't you?

The travel to Asia thing is annoying. I should have left my miles from my last trip to Asia on Asiana instead of putting them on USAir. Although I knew about the American merger, it somehow hadn't occurred to me that it would end the affiliation with *A. Now I'm waiting to see what happens, and thinking that I may end up flying to Asian on Cathay Pacific. Our specific goal is Vietnam. There were lots of possible itineraries with *A.

skitch23

Sadly (or fortunately depending on the way you look at it) gold status does not come with the US credit card.

NewbieRunner

No, US will not be moving to oneworld in November. I understand they will have to give a minimum of 6 months notice to leave Star Alliance and haven't done so yet.

LucyP

Do you mean that the miles you get with the credit card don't count toward gold status? Because I'm almost at Silver now, and so would get enough miles by getting the card, unless those miles aren't "preferred" and don't count?

hard2please

Nope, they aren't preferred and they don't count. Unless you spend 25K on the card in a calendar year, in which case 10K will count toward preferred.

LucyP

Wow. That's annoying. Is USAirways the only carrier that does that? Or is this a common practice?

hard2please

I don't know of any carrier that gives you status/preferred miles for having (or spending on) their credit card. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong! There are, however, several hotel chains that you can get elite status on with their credit cards. Perhaps that's what you were thinking of?

Boogie711

As a vague rule, the only way to get "Frequent Flyer Preferred Status" is with your butt in the seat.

Lots and lots of airlines will give you FF miles for using their credit card, but the only 'status earning' miles out there are ones you earn.

(And before anyone 'corrects' me, yes - there are always exceptions - extra status miles for certain fare classes, or bonus miles for certain promotions and credit card signups. But for the most part, if you want elite status, you have to fly it.)

LucyP

Got it. Thus the "mileage run" threads.

As I say, I'm new to all of this. I had seen the "preferred" miles mentioned, but it had then slipped my mind. Thanks for enlightening me. I was thinking that a mile was always a mile.