Relocated to EU: Should I switch programs?
 

Hi,

After having been a United Mileage Plus member since the early 80s, this is a difficult decision for me to make, so I'm hoping that the wiser and more experienced FTers can lend a hand.

And it's the last day of the year, so fitting time, right?

I have relocated from the US to the EU. The two airlines I fly the most with now are SAS and Lufthansa. Rumors have it that they may merge in the near future. I am a United Premier Executive now, but won't make the status in 2011. I'll have lowly Premier. I do have about 150,000 miles to use up.

Since I now live in Europe, should I switch to Lufthansa's Miles & More or the SAS Eurobonus programs, or should I stay with United? I don't come to the US as much as I used to, so the benefits from United are actually not relevant to me anymore. The only thing I care about now is the fastest way for me to gain Star Alliance Gold status again.

I usually fly long-hauls with Lufthansa and shorter EU-only trips with SAS, although there are always exceptions to the rule.

I presume there are some FlyerTalk forum members who have made similar changes from one Star Alliance partner to another, so hopefully you have some insight for me.

My next flight is on January 5 and it is with Lufthansa - back to the EU. Help me decide!

Thanks, and Happy New Year!

You'll find when redeeming miles on M&M and Eurobonus that the surcharges, fees, and taxes will make the miles useless (i.e. you could buy tickets for less, even on something other than Ryan or ValueJet) except for long haul.

OTOH, many intra-Europe fares on LH, LX, and SK will not accrue miles on M+.

So without knowing your expected travel patterns, it is hard to say.

You might also consider crediting to Aegean Airlines.

I fly mostly within Scandinavia and Western Europe, with the occasional trip to the US. Super-cheap intra-Europe fares don't accrue miles on M+, but in my experience I've been able to pick up a fare class that gives me at least some miles. The problem with SAS sometimes is that unless you're flying full fare economy, they only credit 25% of the miles to M+.

Are the fees and surcharges with redeeming miles on M&M/Eurobonus really that different (or that much more) than redeeming miles with M+?

I know nothing about Aegean Airlines, other than they entered the Star Alliance this summer and I flew twice with them. Are they easier to use and gain status with?

I've switched between AC, LH, UA over the years depending more on my anticpated travel patterns than my location. I have been using UA as my primary and LH as my secondary for a few years now, although I very rarely fly UA long haul. Besides UA I fly LH and LX with some regularity, AC and BD (as well as the Baby product which does nothing mileagewise), and then assorted other *A carriers depending on routes.

I also keep miles in my AC account.

UA for E+, LH for mileage upgrades, AC for lower mileage requirements. Taxes and fees on award travel are definitely an issue, so I spend my miles wisely.

However AC and LH are also changing more than UA is changing so I would look at various programs carefully and their recent and upcoming changes before making a decision.

Other than that, being a non-US UA customer can be annoying at times. There are a few threads in regards to that here. Others would say that we receive 'better' benefits than US based customers, but I am not yet convinced of that fact.

Actually, SK EuroBonus is pretty good for redeeming on SK, since you don't have to pay fuel surcharges. But you need 70k miles (or points in EB-speak) for Gold status with a Swedish address. You can find some discussions about Star Alliance alternatives to EB for Scandinavians over at the EB forum. The previous darling BMI DC will be eaten by LH soon, and LH M&M has just annonuced an increase in long-haul biz redemption rates.

Where do you keep your elite status then? After living in Europe for the last 3 years and having Star Gold with M+, I value that program immensely. From a priority perspective, the most important thing when choosing a new program is the "fastest way to Star Gold", then ease upgrades, then free trips.

I think we receive better benefits from the perspective that I get to use all Star Alliance lounges, but that's pretty much it. Booking flights with United is a pain in the ... on their website since you have to use a US-based credit card, but miles redemption has been okay.

I just read up on Aegean Airlines' program -- interesting that you only need 16000 "miles" to get Gold status. Unfortunately, you need a minimum of 500 miles to accrue 100%, and many of my flights between Scandinavia are less than that.

I don't really understand their "flat miles" concept, for example, with LH. LH earnings with AA Anyone care to elaborate?

Thanks for all of your insight!

To get 70k could be hard, but I might think about trying it out for a year.

EB's site also says, "Nyhet! Du blir även uppgraderad till Silvernivå om du under din kvalificeringsperiod gör 20 enkelresor, gör du 40 enkelresor når du Guldstatus. Gäller när du flyger med SAS, Blue1 och Widerøe, oavsett vilken biljettyp du reser med (gäller ej inrikes i Norge)."

Thanks to my Swedish lessons, that basically says that you can get Gold status if you have 40 one-way trips with tickets from SAS, Blue1, or Widerøe, regardless of fare class (with the exception of domestic flights within Norway, which is not a problem for me). I saw this promotion a few months ago which is what got me thinking about switching in the first place. Then I started thinking about LH's M&M program...

I used to keep 1P and then accrue miles to get mid-tier in either AC or LH. But it all depends on what I think will happen with my travel, which is frankly impossible to predict. I knew that I would be doing more US travel in the recent past so went to 1K and then accrued into a secondary partner. Being 1P was 'good enough' when flying LH/LX/AC/BD etc but for major US travel being 1P was no longer 'good enough' so I decided to achieve 1K.

For the upcoming year again I have no idea what will happen for my own travel patterns, but I decided to achieve 1K for 2011. I think that the AC and LH pool of elites will shrink in 2011, but that is just speculation on my part based on what I read here.

More or less absolutely correct, let me just point out some details:

It's 40 flights rather than trips, so ARN-CPH-BRU counts as 2.

It's for SK (incl. Widerøe) and KF metal, so code-shares sold with SK flight numbers operated by e.g. LH does not count.

Good luck!

I'm based in the EU, but find the *A options in Europe useless.
LH M&M which seems to own almost every airline in Europe is useless - high redemptions, taxes and also to get *G its 100K miles.
BMI was great, but starting in '12 they will be LH M&M.
It depends what you are looking for. If you plan to fly UA a bit, stick with them. If not, then AC (as they got lower redemptions) or Aegean as *G is only 20K miles.

Or look into BA. As a EU resident, its only 400TPs for silver and 800 TPs for gold (which with a routing with AA Y-UP few segments you can earn gold for about $900)

I've been sticking with UA, since I have enough TATL trips to justify it. IIRC LH M&M miles expire after 3 years whether or not you use them. Upgrades intra-EU are useless too, as all you get is a blocked middle and, maybe, better food.

If you just want status, you should check out Asiana Mileage Club. When I joined two years ago, the policy for achieving *G was 40K miles over 2 years - and that status is valid for another 2 years. Pretty awesome.

Wow, that's not bad. That's essentially 20,000 miles per year, but I suppose as soon as you hit it, you're all set.

On their website:
Qualification criteria for Diamond members (that's the lowest to get to Star Alliance Gold)

* Accrue 40,000 on-board miles, or 50 trips with Asiana Airlines every 24 months from 'Reference Day'

Aegean
 

FWIW, I think Aegean is a wholly or partly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa. Wish I knew that in 2009 when I island-hopped around Greece on Olympic Airways, which AFIK does not partner with any alliances.

I changed from UA to AC after about ten years overseas and I've been pretty happy so far. With the changes in AC's program this year upgrades are reduced for E's, but I still prefer AC's economy class product to UA, LH (747), US, LX, or CO TATL. Only problem is that YYZ is a PITA to connect in, at least going to the states from Europe. Other issue is that although AC's *G threshhold is only 35K, intra-Europe flights on *A carriers don't garner much, for example, full-fare Y on LH only gets 50% when credited to AC!