jsloan

Oops. Sorry, yes, that's exactly what I meant. :blush:

FlyingBaker

The UA Premium Award Flight availability concerns me. It seems my date of flight choices and airline choices are pretty limited. UA 1K status will certainly earn me more miles, but I don't know if I will have very much luck using them. Especially because I like to have control over which days I depart and arrive.

It does seem clear that I will earn less miles with M&M, but I've been told with Senator Status I have a ton of Premium Award availability. Is this true? If yes, then it seems I will have more success booking the flights I actually want with M&M.

Kacee

Sure, at $1100 per RT in fees and surcharges.

Aussienarelle

Very excited I can fly directly from SAN to FRA (and elsewhere in Europe) on LH. It is limited service during the summer months but it made me start thinking if perhaps I should switch to Miles and More (from MP) since I am already MM.

Are there any others who are MP members and also M&M members?

Thoughts on both programs?

Thank you.

BlueZebra

When did LH start flying SAN-FRA? I see they are in the summer months. First I heard of it...

findark

What class of service? Generally speaking, M&M is terrible if you fly Y, and pretty decent if you fly J/F. Are you looking primarily for RDMs and their usage, since you have lifetime *G?

Aussienarelle

I saw something flash on a board at SAN when I was there last weekend, and then when I was searching for flights to Greece it came up as an option (on UA.com) and it made me start thinking that with all the European travel I can fly directly from SAN via LH (well at least during summer)

Aussienarelle

That was the type of information I was seeking. I fly a combination of Y and J. I also fly PE with NZ (via LAX) to LHR. I want to stick with *A since I am *G. (BA flies SAN-LHR but I do not fly BA.) Being able to fly straight out of SAN and not having to go through UA hubs is attractive to me.

Just trying to work out if I should switch to M&M or stick with MP.

Based on Y not being good that would weigh staying with MP.

findark

There's a whole thread on this somewhere, but I think the biggest balancing points here would be:

Pro UA MP

- UA MP earns 100% PQM or more in every fare class on own metal, and 100% or more PQM on NZ and LH (excl. LH K). M&M earns a pittance in discount Economy fare classes
- If you value GPUs and UA 1K, then there is absolutely no comparison for the quantity of upgrades to J. UA is a standout winner here, and you can use UA GPUs on LH (and from PE, be comfortable waitlisting them).
- M&M has fuel surcharges on awards. UA does not.

Pro LH M&M

- M&M has much better availability for booking LH Group J and F awards
- LH SEN/HON gets much better treatment than UA *G (access to blocked seats, etc) on LH Group metal
- M&M earns nicely for paid premium fares, using distance based earn and a high percentage, which can be good for cheap premium tickets, although they've been gutting P earnings


A big concern though, as you cite lifetime UA Gold, is whether you are focusing on high tier status benefits with either program, or purely on earn&burn opportunities. The biggest benefit of being LH SEN is extremely good LH Group award availability.

Aussienarelle

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...428658153.html

The article also mentions limited service for Condor (to FRA) for May through September and Edelweiss (to ZRH) through November.

Kacee

The fees are outrageous. About $960 per RT in J or F.

garykung

Let me make this short for you.

Unless you live in Germany (or any EU countries that are served by a M&M airline) or can make it to HON Circle, there is no apparent advantage choosing M&M over M+.

schlang

Here is the long story of the short message above: always go with MP, make your 4 mandatory UA flights and then fly LH only where possible.

Here is why:
- LH will always prefer your GPUs over any M&M eVoucher or M&M Miles Upgrade (because they get revenue from UA for it)
- LH metal will always give you more award miles than UA metal, even when being 1K with 11x fare rate
- LH metal will always get you 100% PQM on every economy fare (only exception being K fare, which is 0%)
- LH hardware and service is usually far superior than what you will experience with UA

I'm both LH SEN (requalified in 2016 for 2020) and UA 1K (just requalified for 2018) and apart from the fact that LH status is valid for 2 years in a row I don't see ANY benefit in the M&M program:
- United Clubs in the US are ridiculous, I don't see this as a benefit having LH status when flying US domestic
- Miles are worth nothing, e.g. you need at least 50k Miles for a Y-C upgrade (unless you have a Premium Economy or Y/B fare)
- Fuel surcharges make any Award Flight a total loss