headinclouds

Due to limited flights between ORD and DCA, I am considering switching to the * A for future travel. I usually travel to Europe 3 to 5 times per year and it was easy using AA via ORD and JFK, especially the 6 PM flights from Paris and London to the USA. A quick look at destinations other than hubs in Europe indicate that FRA is a good connecting city. Since UA has many non-stops to Europe from IAD, as well as many flights to FRA is it time to switch ? I fly discounted economy class and have the middle tier status on AA. AA is not bad in economy with the more room thru coach product. How does UA and LH compare ? If one flies barely 50K miles, would the UA or LH be the better program ? I glanced at the * A comparison guide yet I remain uncertain which is best. If the coach product is OK, then upgrades are less important than accumulating miles. I prefer a straight biz/1st award over upgrades. I still don’t understand all the ‘domestic’ upgrade scheme. On AA it is 4 500 mile upgrade credits for every 10K base miles on ALL OW flights except BA transatlantic. The *A does not seem to have this feature. But it is a moot point because one can exchange the upgrade credits for 2,500 FF miles per credit on AA, making it triple FF miles for every 10K miles flown. I really do like AA, but if the schedules make it a pain to fly, why bother. Thanks for any and all advice.

Hagbard Viking

AA is nice with MRTC and AAdvantage seems to me as the superior FF programme giving the tier-bonus on all oneworld flights and with upgrades exchangeable for miles (in practise triple miles on all oneworld flights if you're Platinum). Does any Star FF programme get close to this?

However, for those of us flying transatlantic, AA has suddenly become a (much) less attractive choice, they've cut routes and most of their intra-European codeshares are on Sabena or Swissair. Like headinclouds said: if the schedules make it a pain to fly, why bother?

I'm switching to Star myself. What FF programme to choose depends on what your priorities are. If you want lounge access on your international trips I think UA (50k miles for Star Gold) would suite you better than LH (100k). For someone flying mostly business class LH might be the choice because of 100% class-of-service bonus miles counting towards status. If you fly a lot on other Star carriers you may also want to take a look at AC. As far as I understand they give mileage bonuses on all Star flights as opposed to UA who only award bonuses for flights on UA metal.

Finally, if you want comfortable flights in coach you may want to try SAS. Coach on their 767's is very nice with ample leg room. Haven't tried their new A340's.

BlondeBomber

upgrade credits for every 10K base miles on ALL OW flights except BA transatlantic.

The *A does not seem to have this feature.

Not so
Hagbard is right, AC does give threshold bonus miles and upgrades for every 10k (miles after 35k, upgrades after 20k). For top tier members it works out to 2 one way, system wide (V fare and higher, confirmable at time of reservation) upgrades for every 10k qualifying miles flown--if you fly transatlantic a lot, you might end up with more upgrades than you can use. If you fly 100k qualifying miles (class of service bonuses count towards qualifying miles), you will have received 95k threshold bonus miles on AC plus there are other gifts as well (e.g. at 60k qualifying miles you get a free North American ticket in econo which for 10k points is upgradeable to business).

Not quite as good as LH if you fly in paid business and first class though. LH also allows use of points for upgrades on any fare tickets. AC does not.

Not that difficult flying to US on AC via Europe. Depends on your origin and destination whether it is more or less convenient. AC business class (really a hybrid of First and Business) offers more room than any of the Star Alliance across the Atlantic.

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BlondeBomber's Star Alliance Gold Comparison Chart 2001
Dorian's Star Alliance RTW Price Chart

pb9997

For someone with headinclouds' profile I would recomend UA's Mileage plus because :

Once you achieve 25.000 miles you're Premier and you're entitled to Economy Plus, much more space than AA's economy.

Once you get 50.000 miles you're Premier Executive and you've 4*500 mile certificates for upgrades within North America, plus access to *A lounges the day you fly (departure AND arrival), priority Orange luggage tags issued by check-in staff, plus 100% miles in Atlantic routes (United's, Lufthansa's or any other *A carrier).

I´d say go with UA as they've a very good coverage.

Rudi

100% miles in Atlantic routes (United's, Lufthansa's or any other *A carrier).

The 100% bonus that Mileage Plus (UA) 'grants' is on all UA segments (not just transatlantic), but otherwise only on LH transatlantic (not on any other Star-carrier flying transatlantic like Austrian, Air Canada, Singapore) and with Lufthansa only if booked as a UA-code-share flight number (which you than can't upgrade).

BlondeBomber

Rudi's point is important and as Hagbard mentioned above, other Star carriers like LH and AC give their bonuses on ALL Star flights not just their own metal like UA.

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BlondeBomber's Star Alliance Gold Comparison Chart 2001
Dorian's Star Alliance RTW Price Chart

Pacha

Rudi/ BlondeBomber,

does that mean, that if I want to credit a transatlantic LH flight to UA MP it would have to be on a UA ticket? If so, could I upgrade this with LH miles??

I would prefer to fly on LH metal transatlantic, but wanted to switch to UA due to the domestic Upgrades. However, If I have to choose between upgreades and the 100% bonus, Mileage plus just lost a lot of its shine....

Rudi

* will your rtw ticket be paid eco or paid business?
* it doesn't matter whose tickets (UA or LH) it is, it matters what flight number and what carrier per segment you are booked on
* with LH miles&more miles or LH-vouchers you can upgrade any LH flight segment (must be LH flight number and LH = carrier) in any paid class; you can also upgrade any UA flight segment (must be UA flight number and UA = carrier) in paid eco by one class, in paid business to first only on inner North American (three class 'rides') segments.
* with UA Mileage Plus you can upgrade any paid eco segment wordlwide on UA or LH (flgiht number must be the same airline as actual carrier); regarding certificates outside North America you can only upgrade with SWU upgrades by one class on UA flights (must be UA = flight number and carrier). Inner North American segment can be upgraded one class with any UA voucher (as long as the flight number = carrier).

Rudi

you can define segment by segment who you want as carrier and with which flight number for any StarAlliance-ticket.

You can also change segment by segment the frequent flier program that miles of the next segment should be credited to.

BlondeBomber

and only UA codeshares on LH flights are eligible for PremEx/1K 100% bonus -- is that right Rudi? So you will have to choose between upgrades and elite bonus if you want to fly LH metal using Mileage Plus upgrades.

Pacha

Thanks guys for answering. My question was not related to rtw's, but I figured I'd ask here while we're at it. I fly transatlantic paid eco and upgrade with miles. BlondeBomber has clarified my question above: Do I have to choose between upgrades and elite bonus? Or is there any way to get around this by using LH miles, but crediting to UA? I only ask this, as my airport here is LAX and the only direct flights to GER are on LH. I hope I have clarified myself a little here.

-would like to fly LH metal/paid eco
-would like to credit to UA and receive 100% premex bonus
-would like to upgrade with either UA or LH miles

IS this possible?
I really appreciate these promt answers guys...

BlondeBomber

As I understand it (and stand to be corrected), you have these options:
OPTION 1:
-would like to fly LH metal/paid eco
(no problem)
-would like to credit to UA and receive 100% premex bonus
(only if you choose the UA codeshare flight number on each LH flight)
-would like to upgrade with either UA or LH miles
(cannot upgrade UA codeshare with LH miles or certificates since must be LH flight number and LH = carrier; cannot upgrade UA codeshare with UA miles or certificates since must be UA flight number and UA = carrier)
============
OPTION 2
-would like to fly LH metal/paid eco
(no problem)
-would like to upgrade with either UA or LH miles
(no problem if LH flight number and LH = carrier)
-would like to credit to UA and receive 100% premex bonus
(no can do since you are on LH metal and in order to get the upgrade you had to have a LH flight number; bonus only credits for UA flight numbers, regardless of metal)

With AC and LH, you can have your cake and eat it too, but not with UA

[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 10-07-2001).]

Pacha

Again, thanks for the quick and thourough response,

I guess I'll either have to stick with M&M and forget the domestic upgrades,

or,

Fly UA metal (through SFO), get the dom. upgrades, but (then again I forgot this one) pay the higher upgradable fare on UA intl.
I don't know yet what I'll do, but at least have my options figured out now. AC sounded interesting, until I read on your chart, that they only give 250 min miles ( I fly intra california a lot)...
Thanks again

Pacha

Rudi

now BlondeBomber communicates this much better then I do/did. And he is 100% correct.

I am soooooooooo jealous (about BlondeBombers knowledge).

Hagbard Viking

Since this thread has got the attention of some experts I'll take the opportunity to ask also this:

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