Just a quickie.

I am going to be flying *A in the coming year or two so it only seems apprpriate to start collecting *A miles. I am currently plat with AA, soon to be EXP.

Basically i want to know which *A FF scheme offers me the best return for miles flown in terms of quickest way to *Gold and quickest way to gaining reward tickets.

I anticipate flying about 30-50k BIS miles, mainly on United/SQ and LH.

After looking it seems the BMI scheme could be the most favourable?

Chris

every program has its warts. The quickest way to *G is with Air Canada's Aeroplan (35K qualifying status miles vs. 50K for most others)

I presume you have looked at the comparison charts (see links below).

"I anticipate flying about 30-50k BIS"

In discount econo or business or first class?

If the former then BMI or AC programs might suit you if all you want is lounge access (Star Gold).

If you fly business or first, 30-50K might get you LH Senator which is good for at least 2 years (depending on the time of year when you achieve status. You get lounge access and some upgrade opportunities.

If you intend to fly UA and LH, you might also want to really check out UA Mileage Plus if you can do 50K status miles. They have lots of upgrades that they dish out. Unfortunately, except for international travel, you don't get lounge access with UA Star Gold status--Red Carpet Club membership is additional $$$.

. . . and if you are flying on SQ in business or first, you can build up status in two programs (SQ's and whatever other program you choose).

Most of my flying is done in Y. I'm just a student so i can't afford J or F yet. I do sometimes get put into J or F when travelling for clients however. I would say most is in Y tho.

So you would say that UA is better than BD? I have found out that on BD all UA fare classes accrue 100% miles. Is this true in mileage plus? Or are there some 50% fare classes?

Would you say that becoming a UA PE offers more chance of complimentary upgrades than say Gold with BD?

Does being PE on UA not allow me lounge access when travelling internationally? All my travel is part of an international itin and my understanding was that *G allowed access even in Y? My AA Plat card allows me to get into any Biz lounge on day of travel when on an international itin.

Sorry for all the questions, im still learning!

Chris

PE = StarGold, yes you get lounge access (even at the RCC), starting at the US-gateway airport (but not at any inner US airport you may com from on the same ticket). You would get RCC access on inner US-segments as a bmi StarGold.

I am a UA 1K (100,000), was UGS (high rev) until this year, and have flown on most of the*A carriers. While they recognize my status and treat me well I don't feel like I am anyone special. I think the number one rule is that all of the airlines within all the alliances still take care of their own customers first, than those of the alliance - nothing wrong with that at all. Your customers fly you all the time, those from the alliance less so. Being a BD member you would likely never recieve an upgrade on UA/LH/SQ unless it was a very rare op up, also BD is one of the smaller members of *A and are not the happest according to some articles I have read - I wouldn't want to pick an airline that might consider leaving *A. If you are going to be doing flying in the US on UA I think joining Mileage Plus is a no brainer. As you fly UA you will earn 500 upgrade certs and have the ablity to upgrade on UA - something that would not happen if you were a BD member flying UA. UA and LH are pretty tight so my experience has shown LH treats people in this maner LH members, UA members, * Gold, *Silver. SQ is associated with * but I have never had the feeling that they have their whole heart in the alliance (for example I still don't think UA and SQ codeshare). Plus SQ has so many paying F and J customers that those are the people they focus on.

On UA all fare classes atleast earn 100% credit and 100% eliete qualification.

Thanks for all the info there! I am thinking of going with UA mileage plus now, it seems like the better option for the points you mentioned there. My only reason for going for BD DC over UA is that with BMI gold i get access to the very plush Virgin Clubhouse at LHR which is my main airport. I fly a bit on VS on friends staff tkts and they do allow clubhouse access on a BMI gold card and staff tkts. Hmmm, it's a toughie!

Chris

Huh? Sorry, this is a new one for me--what does this mean? That if you belong to both the SQ and UA programs and you fly SQ in C of F you accrue EQMs in both SQ and UA? And for UA do you accrue them at the same rate as if you fly UA itself? Also, any bonus miles on both airlines?

SQ PPS status can be gained by either SQ F/J sector or mileage count. There is the option of accruing mileage (and hence EQMs) to UA, the FQTV field, and sectors to SQ, the FQTS field. So you can end up with both SQ PPS and UA 1P/1K.

Actually, the RCC access would be at all points on the same day of travel.

For example, if I'm travelling SFO-IAD-ZRH all on UA on the same day, I can access the RCCs in both SFO and IAD (though I'll only get drink chits at IAD�if I beg )

What's the catch with AC's program? How's its accrual policy? I have been thinking about defecting from UA's to AC's program because of the lower EQM requirement. I know I will lose out on the upgrades (e500s) if I fly UA metals as an AC elite, but I can hardly use those anyways. I realize I will lose the 100% 1P bonus as well, but the money and time saved on 15,000 less EQM can be justified. So, if I fly mostly UA/US metals in discounted Y and really not concerned about elite bonus RDM, is it worth while to make the switch?

As AC *G, would I be able to access *G lounges on purely US domestic itineraries? What about international itineraries? What about mileage earning and redeeming? Does AC restrict earnings to less than 100% actual miles on discounted tix? TIA.

LAX

There is a thread in the AC forum that covers some of this:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ht=carpet+club

This is a tough call but since you seem to have discounted some of the major benefits of staying with UA MP (upgrades and bonus mileage), then there wouldn't be any problem going with AC.

Mileage reward levels used to be cheaper on UA for some destinations but even there the difference has been narrowing lately.

Thanks for the link! I realize there are +'s and -'s with every program and which one fits best really depends on one's travel pattern. The biggest draw for me is AC's lower threshold for *G. With UA, I have to try hard every year to keep my 1P status. Upgrades rarely happen to me and nor do I care much for (I appreciate it if I get one, though). The 100% RDM bonus will be tough to give up, but maybe I can "buy" my awards with the money saved from MRs.

Anyways, it's a tough decision, so I want to know more about the goods and bads of AC's program before taking the plunge. Thanks again.

LAX

I noticed the priority of UA FF'ers clearing of 500 mi cert is UGS at 120 hrs then 1K at 100, etc etc. I do know about CR-1's and SWU's.

This yr I will make 1k by late Aug and am flying a fair amount of intl paid C & D tkt. Also use SQ when connecting in Asia.

Does anyone know how this status is given. I know as a PM EX now I'm star alliance gold so wondering what gives.

thnks in advance for help here.