Help a guy out!
 

Hello FT world
Time to get the popcorn out, this is a pretty long concept. I would really appreciate any help I could get.

I have been torn on which FF program to choose for me and my dad. I'm a fifteen year old who flies a lot and my dad also does his fair share, quite a bit more than me. I do around 30-50K and he does 70-90K on *A and Sky.
Thing is were torn between a lot of programs, we've been using M&M for a while but I'm sick of it, especially considering I barely fly to M&M based countries, it just seemed like the best option for a while but it's not. Me and him are most certainly switching from LH, their ridiculous 35K/100K/300K status level splits prevented us from ever even hitting senator.

He flies an avg of 40-60K/year on *A and sometimes is forced by his work to fly Skyteam so he racks up 30-35K on that too. He has LH Frequent Traveler until Feb 2014 and DL Silver until Feb 2013. But now we've decided to switch to United, unless you guys can suggest a better option for us. That is problem A, I would appreciate if anyone had any better ideas for us, were looking mostly for decent upgrades and good awards (something united is imo is the best *A wise). A big question is how good are United's intl upgrades, I don't expect to have a biz class seat waiting for me every time I fly but, I'd like to know that I can get the occasional Biz class upgrade if the flight is full or maybe just as a courtesy sign (I have no idea how, but my dad managed to get a free F upgrade from economy on Delta, although he was silver status, it's possible it was because of Christmas, but would UA give something like that if they were feeling gracious).

So on that note, from knowledge from the forum or personal, would you guys say that I would have a bigger chance getting a complimentary upgrade on DL or UA?

Also, who knows which is better mile accrual-wise? So for instance would I get better milage from travelling on Sky partners being a DL customer, or *A being a UA customers. I know you guys might be biased but please try to give it to me straight. By the way, don't think about the Sky element, but me and my dad fly mostly TK,UA,AC, occasionally VS. He also flies LH quite often, and he does some Sky flying, but that could be toned down depending on if UA is a much better option.

Usually he flies C/D on buisiness (most of his flying) and some (around 10-20K) on quite cheap economy flights mostly operated by United and Turkish. I however fly mostly discounted Economy fares on United, Turkish, and Air Canada. Sometimes Virgin, as I stated above. I mostly fly *A. Our most frequent routes will be at the end of the post.

Basically this is the basis of my question, is there any option which is better for me and him *A wise, if UA is the best (which I believe it is) then is it better as an option for me and my dad. The routes below are mostly used by me, my dad has different routes, most of which could be routed with LH or other *A, the point is we want to get full milage on the flights we take, I jut got pretty screwed by LH giving me 125 miles on a LHR-IST flight -_-

Thanks guys,
Zoui21

My Frequent Flights
LON-NYC
NYC-LON
LON-PRG
PRG-LON
LON(or NYC)-IST-DYU
DYU-IST-LON(or NYC)
Occasional Inter-US flights
Dad's are similar to this but substitute all LON to DYU and add DYU-FRA and FRA-DYU also DYU-MOW and back


Again, I really appreciate if you guys can help me out.
Thanks so much

First off, United doesn't offer free upgrades on any trans atlantic flights unless it is going to be an op-up, where they have oversold your cabin. Too long didn't read: Don't expect one.

That being said, if your dad can make it to 100k miles on *A and credit them to UA then he will get some GPUs which can be used to upgrade international flights at the right fare code.

UA's reward program is fantastic and probably the best in *A. There are some situations where shorter flights are better in other programs, but there are some amazing redemptions available for long-distance premium cabin stuff (at least from North America).

The only benefit with staying with M&M is that you get access to more reward seats within their program that they might not release to the greater Star Alliance. Things like LH C/F are much easier redemptions from within the program.

Extra note: UA has been screwing around with the fare basis redemptions lately, but they seem to have leveled out in a very beneficial (for the consumer) spot. It used to be that cheap LH fares earned half or nothing.

US Airways is slightly better for outright *A award redemption (not upgrades), and we have a promotion each year called Grand Slam where you can earn a ridiculous amount of bonus miles with minimal spend on partner offers (and yes, there are different offers for UK vs. US residents.)

On the downside, you can't upgrade non-US *A tickets with miles unless you're on a full Y fare and there's a co-pay when upgrading a US Air TATL flight with miles (unless you're on a full Y fare). Systemwide upgrades don't kick in until you make Chairman's Preferred at 100,000 miles. Another thing to consider is that most discount fares on LH only earn half or no credit, although this is not the case for United.

So United doesn't give free upgrades. Period. That sucks a bit, but it's survivable. Have you heard of any other *A urban legends of free international upgrades, that (although not the most important element) is one of the big reasons I want to switch from LH (also the fact that I basically don't fly it). It was pretty insane that my dad got a transcontinental 2 class upgrade for no real apparent reason.

I was interested in what the fare classes were for SWU upgrade? Is DL the only airline that actually gives free upgrades occasionally to premium members? I'm just still dumbfounded by the fact that my older brother (DL Platinum) has had 4/6 of his flights upgraded this year, two of them were over 6hrs but inter-US, the other two were NYC-PRG which is pretty insane.

OK, so basically I want to know straight up, should I go DL or UA, they seem like pretty similar equivalents of each other just in separate alliances, but it seems that DL gives better upgrades, while UA might have the reward benefit.

Is there anything that could put one of them as seriously over the top, or maybe any other one. One that would make me think this is the airline for sure, apparently DL rewards are pretty good as well.

As an interesting tie breaker, would any of you have opinions on the hands down best premium cabin in North America (between UA,AC,US,DL)
Also maybe, who has the better lounges *A or Sky?

Even though I'm IAH based the Delta option is definitely not for me. Their miles are worth much less than on UA.

Best premium cabin can vary quite a bit after you factor in international aircraft regularly getting thrown in on some routes. Also, a lot of people say the lack of UA's wifi is a big deal. The lounges here in the US are so underwhelming compared to the rest of the world that it probably doesn't matter.

Inter-US flights do have free upgrades available. There are a lot of flights to other countries that offer that as well, just to central america or Canada.

for TATL true but in North America and other "domestic" aircraft routes there is a complimentary program. No of aware of any TATL carrier that routinely offers "free" upgrades .

occasionally on all carriers for operational issues ( such as sold out economy cabin) due freebie ops-up --- but those are rare.

W and higher for UA

see above -- all do and usually is rare but some folks can get lucky

So if there was a sold out econ cabin, then who would get priority for upgrade? Also if you volunteer to get bumped from the flight would it be pretty certain for you to get bumped up on the next one, or would you just get travel vouchers. Would you even have a say in it?

As for UA's wifi, did you mean in the lounges or planes? I thought the planes were getting fitted with wifi, and I'm sure there must be *A lounges that have wifi. Either way its not a big deal, but a pretty important element it IFE, do most of the planes have it? I remember a big plus when I was flying AC was that 2 flights, both around 1.5 hrs had good IFE systems.

As for the seats themselves, I was talking about trans-atlantic flights, the business looks alright, but sub-par. DL's lie-flat biz look pretty similar to UA first, so I was just thinking like if you had to put the seats side to side for the same flight, but by different companies, who would come out as the winner?

As for the inter-US upgrades, I hear those are going downhill as UA attempts to sell them out for very low prices so to get some profit off them. Is that true or is it a rumor going around?

On UA you might still be able to get mileage upgrades on your TATLs, though probably with a copay.

I think the best seats are PMCO though views vary. (And excluding AC, which I haven't taken TATL for eons.)

are there any airlines that have straight up miles upgrades for TATLs, no copay?

Delta is the only airline that doesn't charge a co-pay, but only K Class and higher fares are upgradable.

YBM of Delta's 10 coach fare buckets, actually, on intercontinental fares. K+ for Hawaii; others are free for elites as available.

You've asked a lot of questions, and I'll just address the one regarding seats. UA's new business seat is a very nice full-lie flat, and is on virtually all 747 and 767's. It compares well to anything else out there including the Virgin Upper Class seat, which I also fly all the time. The conversions on the 777's are about 40% done and can be tracked at:

http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...onversions_(UA)

So it depends on what aircraft is flying the routes you're interested in, which you can find out by looking at the United flights to your destinations.

There are a lot of subtleties in selecting which airline is the best for your needs. Just a suggestion to spend some time just reading the various threads on many topics on here, bearing in mind that the people who post here are usually fairly well-versed on many areas of the airline - pros and cons. Another way to approach things is to read about each frequent flyer program on the airline sites, and the various status levels/benefits etc.

Also, you've gathered that United is going through a difficult transition in its merger with Continental - many of the comments you'll see reflect this and it requires even more work to separate what may be short-term issues with longer term and system-wide malaise.

Depends a lot on what you're flying -- on PMUA 777s, they're only 20" wide -- and there are two middles per row.

Yea, I've been researching the best FF program for a LONG time. It's just its hard to find one which fits our needs. That's often the problem that one airline has some great pros and then it gets crushed by a couple of cons. I like UA's award system, but then there is the upgrade system which suuucks. I bought a $900 ticket flying EWR-IAD-LHR-IAD-LGA, it's a pretty low class economy but still, a one way upgrade costs 20K miles and $550, still makes it lower than some discount biz class tickets but a one way reward.
Also, on a separate note, I was thinking of flying FRA-NYC on first class to experience the first class terminal there and just to experience first class itself :D . So I had multiple questions, I would be let into the LH First Class Terminal with a UA First Class ticket, correct? Also, if there are any two-cabin flights operating would I be let in with a BusinessFirst ticket to any of the First lounges, including the terminal. Finally, how big is the jump between BusinessFirst and First, I'm talking seat-wise, food-wise, and service-wise. Is it worth the extra 17.5K miles for the bump from BF to 1st?
Cheers
Zoui21

This is a 15 year old? Honestly? No offense intended, but shouldn't this kid be worried about zits and a summer job rather than the first class experience on UA, jumping from C to F and how comfy a first class seat is?