Last year i made UA Prem Exec status. However, due to a change in my travel patterns i won't be *G this year. Most of my flights last year were with AA and i am currently AA Plat and will be again this year.

I was thinking of using the Status match with AC and would like to get some comments from you guys.

I was thinking of AC because of the following...

Lower Threshold for *G
Access to RCC on US domestic flights

Are my assumptions correct?
Do i need to fly a certain number of AC segs to qualify?

Any thoughts welcome

Thanks

Jon

I'm currently AC*E (the mid-tier to which you will get comped to) and I think it's a pretty decent elite tier.

1. Lower threshold: The biggest advantage, IMO. For those who fly mainly in Y, it's very doable (except in non-transatlantic LH, which only yields 50% of flown miles). 35,000 miles is only about 3 r/ts in Y from Europe to Asia (or about 5 r/ts from Europe to USA). I think SK and BD are similarly easy to qualify for, but AC seems to be the easiest in Y.

2. Access to RCC on domestic UA: As with any non-UA *G tier

3. AC segs: Oneworld have their 4-segments in home carrier rule, but Star do not. So you can just fly other airlines (As I usually end up doing), and get the AC status.

If you indicated your main routes etc, I or others might be able to suggest a program more specifically.

-stargold-

Thanks Stargold,

Things are pretty much as i expected (and hoped )

My flying is indeed y (paid for by myself, so usually cheapest of the cheapest).

Almost all of it is LHR to California (LAX/SFO mostly.. sometimes BUR/SJC/ONT).
Hence currently UA membership.

The only downside i can see is that i can't 'buy' an upgrade with miles or stickers. Something i haven't ever been able to do anyway with UA, but have done on most trips with AA (hence my shift in loyalty in fact the last trip with AA saw me bumped from Y to F LON/NYC with no cost due to heavy loadings).

You may also want to consider BD (gold at 38K). An advantage out of LHR is that you can burn miles on VS (you could earn too, but not EQM, though)

With AC, you will get a pair of SSWUs which can be used on any fare, and a pair of SWUs which can be used on transAt and other international routes -- but not NAmerican -- from H-fares. These fares are only a couple of hundred $s more than the Q-fare you could buy on AC to fly from the UK to LAX via YYZ, YUL or YVR. So if you actually flew to NAmerica on AC, you can likely upgrade, albeit confirmation would not be until 4-days prior to flight.

I just requested to match BD for this reason myself. Plus, I may be able to requalify on BD while maintaining OneWorld status (MRTC, and BA is the only non-stop on a few key business routes).

I thought about BD, but i need to fly them and send some boarding passes with the application. I'm not likley to be flying BD in the future.

The status match WWW site didn't mention anything about boarding passes--it seemed to accept my application without difficulty.

I can say without any fear of contradiction, BD doesn't enforce this rule. For the purposed of this comp, it's mute anyway - you just need a UK postal address.

Hmmm, Maybe i'm being really dumb here but how do i join?

To qualify for the promotion i need to join Diamond club first, in order to enter my membership number into the web page. To join Diamand club i need to

"Simply download the application form and forward it to us, together with two original boarding cards and corresponding ticket receipt from bmi for travel completed within three months of the date of your application."

So, as far as i can see... no boarding pass/tkt = no membership.

What am i missing?

When I registered for the status match, the links never actually took me to the BD WWW site--there was a registration function within the Status Match WWW site that generated a code that I was to enter for the rest of the matching promo.

All i get when i go to ukstatus.co.uk is the registration form that asks me (in step 2) to enter the *A FFP that i want the status in and the membership number.

With BD, when i go to their website to join i get the info detailed in my message above. I can't seem to find a way to register without the membership number of the *A programme.

Help anyone??

As GoldCircle states, the rule is not enforced by BD. Send your application form without ticket and boarding passes and they will still enroll you.
If you want to put your mind at rest, call BD first and explain the situation. I am sure that it will be no problem.

For those of us who have suddenly realised that we actually live in the UK and have changed our addresses to there, will that be enough to trigger the bonus packs etc or do we need to register? I couldn't find anything on the ukstatus website about needing to register for the various perks - the registration links seemed to be only for the status match or for referring others.

I have just looked at the paperwork i got from UA about the match program.

I have discovered that by using ukstatus.co.uk/mgm i can enrol online. I never used the mgm but before.

Does a BD member want to refer me?

i just need your name and your Diamond Club Membership number. 2000 points for the referer.

Thanks Jon.

p.s. Posted to BD forum too




[This message has been edited by jonhansen (edited Feb 16, 2004).]