eMailman

LH metal with SK flt number - as a M&M member I got the same miles and bonus as if a LH flt number.

BlondeBomber

Pacha: the 250 mile minimum is only for domestic Canadian flights. All flights on UA have 500 mile minimum

"On flights of up to 500 miles, you earn 500 Aeroplan miles, and on flights 501 miles and over, you earn one Aeroplan mile per actual mile flown."

Hagbard:

"As far as I understand, non-Atlantic flights on LH only earn 50% miles on AC as well as on UA."

-- that's correct

But what about codeshares, for example, LH metal but SK flight number. Is the mileage earning governed by whose flight number it is or by whose metal?
-- it is supposed to be but the problem I have found is that when you check in, the system defaults to the flight number of the actual metal. This has worked in my favor as I was on a British Midland metal flight with a LH codeshare. I got the full British Midland miles. Technically you should get the miles based on the codeshare number provided that it is Star Alliance of course. Miles are not earned on codeshares where metal is non Star Alliance, e.g. LH flight numbers on Qatar Air are not eligible for Aeroplan mileage.

headinclouds

Thanks for the info. A couple of extra questions though. I am intrigued with the Air Canada FF program. It is not as many total miles, but lower threshold. Do you get access to UA lounges while flying in the USA? In oneworld alliance, the middle tier (saphire) allowed lounge access for intl flights on the same day. So, US travellers would get the saphire level in BA/CX etc and use that elite level to enter AA lounges, since they were travelling 'intl', yet flying AA domestically.
Does anyone have any experience getting 'comped' to the same level in UA or AC FF program ? The check-in facilities and access to UA Econ + seats right from the begining is the main reason, not the miles at this point in time.
Does * A have a mileage based award using multiple carriers ? I used such an award to go to Africa (AA/BA/EI/IB) in biz class for only 130K FF miles even though the standard N.America to Africa award was 150K FF miles.
Lastly, there was a cryptic statement on UA web site that said expired E-upgrades will be converted to miles. Any ideas as to what this means ? AA's domestic upgrades (earned every 10K base miles) never expired.

BlondeBomber

Do you get access to UA lounges while flying in the USA?
-- yes even on domestic flights with AC Star Gold (Elite level, 35k qualifying miles)

getting 'comped' to the same level in UA or AC FF program ?
-- no one will comp to top (SuperElite or 1K) but we have heard of comps to PremEx and Elite if you can show them your current status and proposed flying/actual flying activity.

The check-in facilities and access to UA Econ + seats right from the begining is the main reason, not the miles at this point in time.
-- I have been put into Econ+ seats on UA as a Star Gold; get to use UA Star Gold check in

Does * A have a mileage based award using multiple carriers ?
--they are just starting to appear. We expect all carriers to have them soon. AC has not yet published this yet.

expired E-upgrades will be converted to miles.
--someone else can answer this better but I think you get 500 miles for certain types

BlondeBomber

If you make SE on AC, you will likely have more upgrades than you can use (presuming rules stay the same for next year). Why settle for econo plus on UA when you can upgrade to business or business first on AC?

AC gives miles based on class seated in, not on fare paid, ie if you are upgraded, you get business class miles which all count towards status. On UA, even on paid business class, business class bonus does not count towards status.

Pacha

The E-Upgrades are valid for one year, after which each 500 mile upgrade gets converted to 500 miles into your acct.

headinclouds

Ah, good news and bad news. Good that one can use the the UA lounges and check ins. Bad that one only gets 500 miles for the 500 mile e-upgrade (on AA it was 10K for every 4 500-mile upgrade). I only aspire to the middle tier of the FF programs since it is way too much effort to fly the requiste miles/segments to make the top tier. With the AA routing, I could fly 5 round-trips to Europe and just pass 50K miles for the middle tier status. With UA or AC, I will need to fly more often and get fewer miles.

BlondeBomber

"With UA or AC, I will need to fly more often and get fewer miles"

--could you elaborate. Unless you fly in Canada, you will get 100% miles on AC for every routing in US or transatlantic or transpacific, with any Star Alliance carrier. The only 50% miles routings come with LH when flying from Europe to Asia or Africa in econo. Since you only need 35k miles to get to middle tier (Star Gold which gives lounge access), I am not sure why you would need to fly more?

headinclouds

Sorry about the confusion. What I meant that was that at 35K qualifying miles, on AC I would have 40K FF miles, on UA 76K FF miles, while on AA it would be 100K FF miles. This assumes that UA and AA will still allow conversion of domestic upgrades to FF miles. Hopefully, this will be a moot point once DCA flight schedules are expanded and the commuter runs to JFK resume.

BlondeBomber

Thanks headinclouds, yes for lower mileage earners, there is a disadvantage. AC is trying to reward people at higher levels with greater incentives, sort of a logarithmic scale instead of a linear scale like other airlines.