Air Canada seems to be the obvious choice for some based out of YYZ. Bonus points for having AMEX, since AC is a transfer partner of MR. AC does come with high YQ (surcharges) on certain awards.

I believe the answer to your question is no. Points must be pointed towards one airline, you can point them to United or ANA but not both. The "Gold" status will work on both airlines but the points only feed one mileage program. If you fly ANA and credit the miles to United they will count towards your MileagePlus status but you will not earn United Lifetime Miles, that only accumulates when flying on "United Metal".

I have been pondering DL , being based at RDU the are the biggest carrier,downside is the number of DL elites that are here.UA has always treated me well here.

I'm on BOS on the edge of making Platinum each year. I have 1-2 PE or J trips to East Africa each year and 1-2 TPAC to HK each year plus domestic travel. I too am wondering if a switch to DL or AA makes sense.

I recommend you do some dummy bookings on DL and AA to see what they offer to your destinations in East Africa.

I decided to play the field 2 years ago. Continue to do primarily at *A but have done a couple of Middle East carriers. Not flying as much but when I do it is almost always F domestic and J International. Now about 200,000 short of 3MM. Any thoughts on whether it is worth it to go for it?

No. If you’re not flying much, it’s not worth it.

Air Canada?
 

Hey, does anyone here fly AC a lot?

I found a pretty cheap fare (4.2K) in biz to NRT from the East Coast and am wondering how UA flyers like their J cabin and soft product?

In addition, I always travel with commercial merchandise. Are there any additional hassles with transiting through Canada with such?

To benefit from the PQP exchange advantage, I know that I need to credit my points to my UA account, but what if I have an old Aeroplan account? Could this be automatically resurrected once I start the booking process and mess things up?

Thanks!

So I have sense there:

• Skyteam: AF or KL has options but generally much more expensive than LH or LX. I can fly Kenya airways but its hard get MQM's or MQD's that are worth much.
• Oneworld: BA has options decent PE options with Qatar as a backup again. Qatar is not great for earning EQM/EQD. I'm not thrilled with AA being my domestic carrier especially because they don't have a credit card EQD wavier.

I like OW's options to Asia much more than DL with both CX and JL having flights out of BOS where as KE does have one flight.

I do and for the same reasons. Quality tends to be superior to UA, especially the seat. It is Polaris all over the long haul fleet as far as I know: direct access. Only drawback: your seat may deflate, but if it does press the maple leaf for a few secs and reset lumbars, works every time.

It is fairly easy to transit. On your way to Asia you won't have to go through security. If doing YYZ it is child's play: there is a transit place where you scan your passport and voila you are on your way to international departures. In YUL it is a bit more complicated because in addition to scanning your passport you also need to speak with Canadian immigration. You won't need to go through security though.

Coming back from Asia is as easy in YUL as in YYZ. There is a place where you sit and wait until your luggage is scanned by US authorities. Then you go through security and then US border (since both airport have preclearance). That means you arrive US side at your arrival, no need to speak to US immigration.

The he only drawback I could see is if you are checking in your commercial material, the immigration authorities scan it and then have questions about it. I believe it would only matter when coming back, and the customs agent after security may ask about it (they have a picture of the scan I assume). When going to Asia, Canadian authorities are just trying to make sure you are just transiting, no question about your luggage at all.

p.s. All considered, this may not be the ideal thread for this question. If a mod wants to split the thread please, with my apologies,

Thanks for the help.^
I am feeling pretty upbeat about how reasonably AC biz can be purchased. And the transit times are equal to my normal UA flights.

no,the free unlimited changes were the best thing about it.now that has basically disappeared with an additional 3*5k *3 on a round trip with perk ticket..
wasnt doing that much flying to get to 1k-i was doing a lot on award tkts as well..

1K here based in NYC. Moved to Delta and doing the Platinum match there

Yeah but then you would have to frequent the BAEC forum and, as they say, those who are about to die salute you! :)

Reminded me of the AC/DC song.:)