Bongiorno Ventimiglia

All you say about 1K is correct .. my problem is just that I make 1K too easily,
as I am already have my 1K level for 2007.
Traditionally, I would now switch to collect M&L boni until the SEN requirements
are filled.
But B on UA does not give me the required 150% status miles and Z or D
also credits somewhat less than it used to. Plus for me the M&L miles are nearly
worthless as the awards I used to get now cost so much in taxes that I may
as well pay for them.
You memory does hold and it is cheaper but it is not my problem. I will need
both the 1.5x EQM and the double mileage promo to reach the 300K level.

The second part you suggest, I do however plan to either do in 07 or 08.
Flying 2 Z RTW or North America en lieu of my usual United flying which then
will revive my SEN level.
The decision still open is if I shall let my SEN expire for 2-3 months or not.

I know but I have an old Air NZ membership so I am grandfathered ..

Bongiorno weero,

In M&M elite members earn in booking Class B on UA 175% miles flown. In booking class C, D & Z 225% miles flown. As a 1K in M+ you earn in every booking class in coach and in Biz booking Class Z 200% miles flown.
I agree: If you get decent fares, fuel surcharges and taxes makes coach class M&M awards too expensive. Even if I compare the M+ Saver Award chart to M&M *A chart, out of Australia M&M is not that competitive.

It’s a little bit problematic as you have your reasons to maintain SEN status, please don't blame if I come up with another suggestion: You have time to think about it, look also at BD’s Diamond Club. As I wrote in post # 21, if you redeem an award, you can pay in part with miles and cash (1 miles is approx 1 €cent in cash). A Biz r/t award Australia/Europe is 75K miles + GBP 510 or 150K miles + taxes. But don’t blame me if they are going out of business!
As I am not familiar, what are the perks if you reach 300K EQM in M+?

Buonasera Ventimiglia]

You right, I was wrong - upon 08.04 comminication I read that B and Y
earn 1.5x bonus on LH and its minions but not on UA. That must have changed
and is good to know. Thanks for the elucidation.

Almost: it is a 25% for class of service bonus and 100% 1P/1K/GS bonus.
so MP 1Ks earn 225% redemable miles as well on D fares. Plus about another
20% from expired 500 mile upgrade certificates...
Yes, I keep reading your posts, Rudi's and bertheike's suggetions
regarding BMI's FFP. Very tempting, I must say.
If I did not have bunkered so many M&L miles, I would actually consider a
transfer. For the very reasons you list: getting dirt cheap *A C awards from
Oz to Europe.
No one knows exactly. The publishe perks are that you can nominate 2 people
Premier and one person Premier Associate. You can get some certs or goodies
OR a dinner with a UA executive.
Less well known is that UA flies you to this dinner in F class from anywhere
in the world.
Believed benefits are tier breaker upgrade priority over mortal 1K members.
There are no 3Ks as of today yet, so we will see next year what else comes
with the package...
For me, this is not a happy move as 3K is far beyond my travel needs. Last
year - after abandoning LH - I flew ~260K EQM on UA, so 3K is a strech
for my pattern.

Not true. Trans-tasman flights with NZ are a mixture of A320 (shorthaul business class seat and DVD players), 767 (old mediumhaul business with clunky IFE), 747 (mostly new business class seat and new avod IFE) and 777 (only new business class seat and new avod IFE). Really need to keep an eye on aircraft type as there is a big difference.

I think you misunderstand. Each membership year, if you do not fly at least once on NZ then you get charged (20 airbucks IIRC) - deducted automatically from your account. If your account becomes negative they will close it.

This is separate to any joining fee (yes airpoints has one of those too!).

Weero, as you know, I am not solid on M+, please have a closer look on mileage earnings on Z fares: Maybe it’s only in theory, but award miles in booking class Z should be the same as in every coach class fare.

The good thing is, that you are planning well in advance: Under current conditions your first choice FFP will be M+ (did you have a chance to look at EK/UAs RTW ex Thailand for approx AUD 5.3K in Biz?). IMO you need a second FFP for flights without exec. bonus earning potential in M+. But which one?

I know it’s very difficult to stop maintaining elite status if you bank one million miles in your account. I value this € 10K, which is an awful lot of money for me. You earned it the hard way therefore you should get the most out of it. You can use the miles for yourself or to help others, the latter might be the most efficient way.

If you decide not to maintain SEN you going one step down the ladder to FTL for two more years. Before you do that you should have a look at perks you are losing and how to substitute it. Eg you can gain lounge access through Mastercard Platinum (not in every country) and Priority Pass.

If you like to top up miles, earning in M&M other than flying is not that expensive (eg. Coop & ricardo seems to be a good combination).

True and I was inaccurate. Should have said that on the Tasman there are
still aircraft with old C in service and hence award availability is acceptable,
even though not good.

Greetings Ventimiglia]This is why I write "D class" :D ... for Z you are right.

I am reluctant about switching to BMI. Mainly because I am not sure if BMI,
let alone their FF benefits will be around forever. Second because I do not
fly them. Ok once by mistake last November but that will not happen that
quickly again...
Nope ... mainly because when on promo, I can get the UA/LH restricted RTW
for about 5.8K AUD.

I could easily live without SEN card for a few months but I need to fly LH and
LX at times. My intention is not so much collecting miles as I will do this mainly
on MP but to keep the few privileges I still have aboard LH.
So one plan is to renew my SEN level every 3 years which is fairly easy. That
would leave me with my 1K card alone for about 3 months out of 36.
After 3 cycles, I can still decide if I want to go for lifetime SEN or quit for good.

Thanks for the hint about ricardo (I knew about the Superpunkte offer) but
as stated, mileage earning is of low importance to me.

You can pay for all flights that are bookable on ual.com or at UA reservations, which is basically UA metal and *A codeshares, the latter with the usual restricted fare bucket availability.

Which is no problem for RTW, as he intends to travel 50k BIS miles on UA metal in paid F every year. It's not a problem to spend $20k that way, so in return for providing a $20k prepayment to UA, he'll get immediate 1K status and a "cashback" of 6 fully transferable SWUs ("worth" at least $3,000) that can be used on UA and LH metal. But he'll still be able to credit the miles for all UA metal flights to M&M, getting (as a HON) 350% status/bonus miles (no HON miles, though). Best of both worlds.

Would it be possible - as they are tranferrable - to get a second one of those
prepaid 1K cards for one's little nonexistent friend and then use the other 6
SWUs for him?
That does not even have to be 'illegal' as per MP rules. There was this UA forum
thread where a Cello reached the 1P level. So why should someone's piano not
be a prepaid 1K which then sponsors its owner?

I have split a number of posts off from the original thread since going in a different direction.

I am likely to move this to *A forum which seems a better place for the discussion, with a wider range of views.

Cheers

Kiwi Flyer
LH Moderator

Good idea. Thought the same thing yesterday evening but didn't wanna bother you.

The problem is that UA prepaid cards can only pay for flights of the guy the card is issued to. How could a nonexistent friend get on a plane (if he's not a Cello)?

Otherwise everybody could get a 1K prepaid card and simply pay flights of his family, friends or other FTers with it, or, if everything else fails, sell discounted flights on E-Bay.

It might indeed be possible to issue a prepaid card for a Cello (or a piece of your armored luggage). But this means that your luggage has to travel on a fully paid seat next to you. :D But yes, UA will issue SWUs in the name of "Weero's luggage", and those are fully transferable to Weero or anybody else. As long as the luggage doesn't object. ;)

I honestly did not know that ... and I also do not see what the problem might
be. It's still interest free 20 grand pro anno revenue without any risk involved
for United.
Kiwi Flyer interesting strategy ^ - I also did not know that one (that is moderators)
can split threads. Learnt two new things in a single thread today!