bbzidane

looking at the flights i have flown this year, I would have enough to earn status with United with Mileage Plus, but I have been charging them with Aeroplan as I use to live in Canada. Because I have only flown 3 segments on Air Canada this year, I'm not qualified to gain status unless I fly 2 more segments.

As I live in USA now, it seems to make more sense for me to collect on Mileage Plus instead of Aeroplan. I was wondering if I can move all my status miles from my Aeroplan account to Mileage Plus or is there something I can do about it? Or should I just continue collecting Aeroplan miles and try to meet the 5 segment minimum on AirCanada ?


Thanks

tann1001

Welcome to FT!

Pretty sure there's no way to transfer EQMs from AC to UA. I don't even think you can request a status match because both airlines are in the *Alliance.

Xyzzy

A status match is almost certainly nt going to happen between *A carriers. Neither is retroactive credit to UA if the segments have already been posted to another carrier. How much more travel do you have planned for the year? If it isn't enough to gain status on UA then I would suggest crediting to AC if that will put you over the top for the status level you are looking at.

Oh -- and Welcome to FlyerTalk!

sbm12

I agree with all of this in general except that the new rule with Aeroplan/Air Canada requires actually flying on AC metal for elite status and the OP doesn't seem to have enough AC segments for that. If those can be had then crediting to AC is the smart move. If not, may as well pull the bandage off quickly and move on to the new program.

sskl1998

I am an AP Elite and will probably get SE status by the end of the year. With my new position, I fly mostly in the US on United. As an *G I am priority boarding and lounge access. If I started flying under MP which I have no status, I would probably board at zone 8 and have no premium access at security. How do I start collecting MP miles while still having those perks as a *G on AP?

keloutwest

This doesnt answer your question, but I did this a few years ago. As a UA *G, you'll lose domestic lounge access when flying domestically. You'll still get priority boarding and security. You'll also get free E+ and unlimited free upgrades (though don't get your hopes up until you're at least Plat.).

You can credit miles to your no status MP account to build your status and tough out the first year. Here's how you make it less painful: carry your Aeroplan/AC Elite/*G card with you at all times. While your BP won't reflect this status, you can use the priority check in/security/boarding...just show the card and you should be fine. You won't get free E+ (at least in advance) and certainly no upgrades.

A second option is to match your status to UA. As a SE you may get Plat or 1K. Usually they dont do *A to *A matches, but if you explain your move to the USA you may get it.

That said, if you are moving to the USA, consider DL. They are much better than UA, especially given the UA merger debacle.

rwsteelers

I made a similiar move a move three years ago (was AC Elite or SE for a decade). For several years (moved full time to US in 2003) I continued to fly CO/UA but credit miles to AC. With merger I decided to pursue UA MP status. Poster above is correct w/respect using your AC Elite Card for check-in, boarding, lounges etc. (as noted above a big benefit of AC Elite card is gives you domestic lounge access without buying membership - something you will carry forward in 2013 even when booking/using MP account).

What won't work - at least not easily is getting a status match. Star Alliance policy is not to match amongst partners. I ultimately got an exception to this after a lot of aggrevation - demonstrated I had flown approx. 75k FF miles in 4Q on then CO metal - match was Gold.

sskl1998

Thank you, KW!!

Would DL do status match with Aeroplan?

keloutwest

Yes.

emcampbe

Perhaps consider DL, but the "much better" statement is highly subjective, and even assuming same service standard, which program will be better is going to vary highly on priorities and where one flies. Personally, the UA merger mess has not been too bad for me - despite hearing some to the contrary, I'm still treated extremely well as a 1P, and the couple of delays I have had since March have been relatively minor in the scheme of things. On the occasional DL flight I've taken, they've always given me reasons why I don't want to buy another ticket with them again. And reports are that if you actually want to use your miles, SkyPesos are not the currency you want to be collecting.

Long Time Reader

Short version:

Been working in Canada last 5 years. Air Canada Super Elite.

Come back to US Nov 1 and will travel weekly (Houston, base).

Have 200K miles a year last five years.

E mailed United. They recommend I keep my Air Canada # and use that. Say they can do nothing because of Star Alliance.

Can someone post advice, or PM me a number of a real live person that will understand I can never use Air Canada again and want everything to accumulate on United.

Passmethesickbag

I guess you could get DL to match you, deal with a year of connecting flights, and then get UA to match you when you've earned top-tier status on DL.

aacharya

Ugh. But then those SkyPesos will be orphaned.

There really is no good way - *A rules don't permit this.

I would recommend this:

November 1st - December 31st - Credit to AC, or until you hit some milestone of redeemable miles.

January 1st onwards - Credit to UA. I don't think SHARES will let you credit to UA while using the benefits of AC, but at check-in, show your AC card (free luggage) and at the lounge (free lounge access for non-US-based *G on all flights). Both are YMMV, of course. Best you can do for now...

jhayes_1780

aacharya is correct, generally they do not poach flyers from within *A.

You may want to get one of the credit cards that would offer E+.

star_world

At 200k miles per year, that's only an average of about 2 months before reaching Silver and 4 months to reach Gold. I'd just pay for E+ on the first few flights if I was in the OP's position rather than dealing with opening a new credit card account.