Best program to replace UA MP with in 2005
 

Getting a bit nervous about having all my eggs in one basket with United's Milage Plus. Although I have been 1K for the last 7 years I am wondering if I should just redeem from United and earn new miles with someone else in the *A starting 2005.

I'm sure there isn't 'one' answer, but do any of you have any good recommendations of where to switch my loyalty if I decide to find myself a new program in 2005?

I am based in Asia (Shanghai) at the moment, so I travel mostly within Asia and back and forth from the US on UA right now, but that can change. Most of my travel will probably still be with UA, TG, SQ, ANA, LH, and SK. Business class is most common, but I like to do 'milage run' like trips in economy as well.

What I liked about UA was:
(1) The 100% tier bonus (although only on UA flight, OW is more generous with partner flights)
(2) The systemwide upgrades
(3) And the prospects of Prem Exec for life when I hit 1MM flight miles in another 300k (but not sure if they will ever survive that long....)

Has anyone else switched program to hedge their bets in case of liquidation?

I'm also a primarily business class fare traveller. I largely switched to LH M&M about three years ago. With the devaluation of the M&M program from August 2004, M&M is no longer the obvious choice it once was. Two to consider would be M&M and BD's DC. Both offer 100% bonus for business class, though DC offers only 50% bonus for SQ business class.

Not that it would be of much assistance to you, I am considering a switch to MP, after spending about four years with SK EuroBonus, after their recent vicious, sudden and mean chop to non-flexible fare mileage accrual rate. This practically brought them in line with M&M, which is good only if you fly EXCLUSIVELY flexible economy and above. I know few people who do that.

In my approximation, MP is currently the best for anyone who does a few flights a year in restricted economy.

I am aware of the risk in case UA goes under, but I have reasons to believe MP obligations will not be written off by whoever takes over the business. No-one in their sane mind can afford to slap the best customers on their face like that. Relative to other costs, loyalty miles commitment is not that expensive and it can make or break customer goodwill in a major way.

Good points
 

Adrius,
Agree with you that UA is quite good when you fly a lot on restricted fares. I am also a member of SK's program and that worked well when I was travelling business throughout Europe, but these days they are quite stingy with discounted tickets.
If you at least beat the Premier Exec hurdle it is a good deal, at least as long as they don't get liquidated. I see your point about the value of the loyal customers, I am just worried that a true liquidation will actually remove the UA brand from the map altogether and no-one will see the value of retaining all the FF liabilities. I don't even think they have to retain the liabilities in order to get get the mailing lists and profiles of the UA FFs. We aren't protected creditors you know...

zvezda,
Thanks for the idea of BD - too bad they don't provide 100% for SQ. They might even be a better deal for me since a lot of my travel is around Asia where I only get 25% class of service bonus for business class?

Do any of you have experience with ANA? I fly them (together with TG and SQ) a lot and the service onboard is pretty good at least?

Thai is not so bad
 

Hello,

I like Thai Airways’ Royal Orchid Plus. You only have to fly 50.000 miles in one year to become Golf for two years. Every time your Gold membership is renewed and since this year also if you have flown at least 50.000 miles in the previous year you get an upgrade award, two way with no limits as to distance. I have used my last one to fly from Frankfurt to Perth (Australia) in Business having paid a promotional rate of only 900 Euro. It can only be used on Thai metal.

Thai is also very easy in redeeming miles or these upgrades. I have asked for different free flights and upgrades during their peak travel season and invariably I have got what I asked for.

In addition, if you are ROP Gold, they upgrade you on Thai flights from the moment your class of service is more than 90 % booked.

On the other and I think only Economy and Royal First Class is good value. Royal Executive Class is a quite outdated, but still if you only pay the cheapest Economy ticket, you can appreciate it. I also like their First. It may not have all the gizmo’s of some other carriers, but it’s a very nice and genuinely friendly service. They also serve excellent wines in the different classes.

Henk

Come on over to the ANA board and check out hte sticky we're building. I switched over from MP to ANA and I'm happy. The biggest plus that I find is 3 intl upgrades for reaching Platinum (50K). Class of service multiplier applies to accrual for these EQM aka Platinum points.

A few drawbacks exist. 1) 70% EQM on anything less than a Y and 50% on ultra discounted group fares. 2) Miles expire in 2 years if you don't hit top tier at 100K. 3) Relatively, little incremental value other than non-expiry of milese between Dia and Plat levels.

I can hit Platinum easy each year. An then if I push it every other year for Diamond, the miles expiration is a non factor.

Cheers, Scho

Why not SQ?
 

I'm reading and appreciating the various posts, partly just out of general interest and partly because I might diversify from my MP membership down the line. I'm curious, then, why no one mentions SQ. It is a great airline, but I have the vague impression that its FF program isn't very good. Is that the reason no one has mentioned it as an alternative?

Thanks for any comments.

Which programs have expiry dates
 

Has anyone seen an overview of which programs have what expiration time for their miles?
As Schoflyer mentioned, ANA miles expire in 2 years unless you are a 100K flyer - I just don't feel like having to worry about milage expiry all the time, especially when you are harboring a lot of miles, it is a pain to make sure you keep track.
--Prytz

BlondeBomber's *G Comparison Chart includes expiry details, at least for elites.

As this question comes up often I will add it to *A Useful Reference Links once we have an accurate and reasonably complete list.

The OP flies primarily business class, so SQ's excellent PPS Club is relevent. However, one can achieve all the benefits of PPS Club membership while accruing miles to another *A FF program. The disadvantages to SQ's KrisFlyer program are: only 25% bonus for business class and only 50% for First Class, miles expire, redemptions require a relatively large number of miles, and KF (not SQ) customer service is poor.

Thank you zvezda for your quick and candid evaluation of the KF program. Now, for a question:

Is this the primary advantage of the PPS Club, or are there other compelling ones that I am missing? (The somewhat limited information on the SQ website didn't really offer many insights).

Thanks for the great, brief summary of KF, including its disadvantages. But doesn't it have the advantage of greater access to SQ business class and first class mileage tickets, as opposed to trying to get them through another *A carrier? Or is SQ as stingy about this with its own KF members as it is with other *A FF members?

That is a good point, although with PPS status paid tix arent any problem (any waitlists usually clear except maybe on the heaviest business routes).

Of course if you want to upgrade then only KF miles and DL miles work so crediting miles to other *A FFP is no help. The very rare op-ups being the exception of course.

I've never tried to get an award on SQ, but my understanding is that with PPS membership, one can easily get an SQ award using miles from another *A FF program. Just make a reservation for, say, a first class award and take the SQ Y seat available. Then, before ticketing, phone SQ and ask them to open up an F seat for you. Again, I have tried this, but I'm told that it works fairly consistently.

Will UA match QF Plat?
 

Does anyone know; and at what level? Any other suggestions? Thanks