if you fancy using those miles....
 

imo UA is a lot better than DL. Granted I have no status on DL (and I understand this may affect award availability), but I have a lot of DL miles that I always try to unload when I have a domestic US trip that would otherwise cost me anything north of $300. Over the past 3 years, my success rate on DL is zero. However, on every single occasion, I've been able to use UA miles, half the time for 25k miles and half the time for 40k miles in F (never needed a standard award).

Several years ago, I placed AA miles on a higher plateau than others because their award availability was great. These days, I think UA is the best of the breed in this regard.

Internationally, UA isn't quite as strong, but *A is nice and has saved me thousands of dollars this year alone.

Again, maybe it's a different world for DL elites, but as a passive user of DL miles, DL isn't very useful. (Worry not, guys; one of these days, I will stumble upon something cool to do with my stockpile DL miles.)

After almost 20 years and 2.5 million lifetime miles on Delta, I switched to United as my primary airline in 2001 and have never regretted it. Of course, in 2001 Delta really was just ghastly, with their "simply good business" policies and anti-customer attitude, along with a malevolent group of top executives. All that has changed today, so the decision is a closer one, but I still give United the edge. United has better planes, better routes, better award availability and better alliance partners. What else is there?

Bruce

I am sort of deciding this base don a multi-level playoff. I have Gold on all 4 airlines (pretty pathetic right...I do around 300,000 miles of flying).

Round 1 - NW vs. DL and UA vs. US
Round II - Sky vs. Star

R1 - Despite NWs incredible bonuses, I have more miles with DL and over 500K in lifetime miles. Moreover, I have a upgrade success rate of over 90% with DL - even including DL-S last year.

- UA vs. US -- I will come to that.

R2 - I have sort of decided on Star. I will miss Sky's generous RTW plans (140K), but they just dont have the international network in Asia that I need.

Now for the big battle:

I cannot decide between US and UAL. Here are the factors:

- UA+ : 100% bonus miles
- UA- : Upgrades - these 500 mile upgrades are not that great and I am used to unlimited upgrades
- UA+ : Gold = 2/3rd level
- UA+ : Many more EQM opportunities
- UA- : Diluted program = less upgrades
- US+ : F class upgrades - this is a big deal - can someone tell me about success @ getting them?
- US- : 50% bonus miles
- US- : Gold is only level 2 of 4.

HELP!!! Seriously, I am so confused. This is my major consolidation year, so any help in deciding is strongly appreciated.

Thanks,
A.

Don't worry about this. Assuming a high percentage of your trips are international, you will always have 500s at your disposal. Otherwise, I dare say that E+ isn't a whole lot worse than DL or NW F (CO is a different story).

I'm not sure what dillution you're referring to. In fact, I think UA has always been easier to u/g than airlines that don't require u/g currency and I haven't noticed any changes in availability over the years.

Ditto everything moondog just said. I have never run out of upgrades on United. Some of mine even expire unused -- and it's not due to lack of availability!

Bruce

I guess I am just not getting it. Ok, let me post what I have read and everyone is saying, and correct me if I am wrong. This is all for GOLD level.

- You get 4 500 CR1s for every 10,000EQMs of flying. So if I get 50,000 EQMs, I will get 20 500 CR1s. Thus, I can get upgraded for a total of 20*500 = 10,000 miles of flying - so basically 1.5 transcon flights. Am I right on this or am I completely missing something?

If this is true, why is everyone so sure of getting international upgrades?

Help - and thanks so much,
A.

Lots of thoughts - no wonder you're confused.

I clearly prefer UA to DL - and I have comparable status and millions of available miles in each program. DL has sadly gone down the tubes in the last few years, while UA has been making positive gains while in BK.

The most important comparisons exist at the highest level of FF participation. The international upgrades (other than with miles) are something you get at the top tiers -1K or Plat. Of the 2 carriers, DL's "PMU" certificates are much maligned (see the DL forum) due to their many restrictions (Y,M,B fares only) and the roulette-style use (it's largely chance whether you will actually get to use them.) UA's "SWU" certs are good for most fares and are easily confirmable in advance - with a bit of planning.

As far as domestic upgrades go, I have had much better experience getting advance confirmed UG's on UA (except to Hawaii - but you don't get free elite upgrades to Hawaii on DL at all - unless you're a HI resident.) And as some of the other posters mentioned, between 500-milers and confirmed regional upgrades, I am never in want (currently 52 500-milers and 6 regionals in the bank, and if you don't use the 500-milers, they convert to real miles.)

The *alliance is much superior to SkyTeam - better carriers, better route maps and destinations. ANd you can spend your miles in more ways than on SkyTeam. CO is the odd-man-out in ST - they should be with another alliance as they are much better than their partners IMO.

I'm currently trying to spend down my DL account due to their precarious position along with their much diminished product quality, and I'm frankly having a hard time finding saver type awards. I'm even considering using the "nuclear option" of 250,000 miles for BizElite to Europe just so I can use the miles. DL's policy changes (unrestricted awards at 250,000 rather than 180,000 - and the broken promise of non-expiring old miles) along with a seeming dearth of award possibilities had made me believe that even DL's management is scared of their company's position in the long term.

I'm sure you'll find people at the DL forum who still ove DL, but I've had enough of them. Choose UA and flight A LOT (100,000/year) and they will treat you very well.

500-milers are not CR1s. 500 milers confirm just prior to departure.

You're leaving out the 8 real CR1s and 6 (or more) SWUs you get as a 1K. Those are confirmed-in-advance upgrades (if there's inventory). And if you fly 300K+ miles per year, you stand a good chance of being UGS and clearing upgrades real easy.

For more info on 500-milers, CR-1s and SWUs, you can go here: http://www.united.com/page/article/0...d%20Conditions and here: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51110,00.html.

For 500-miler upgrade rules, you can go here: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1170,00.html

For more info on UA elite status and perks: http://www.united.com/page/middlepag...3,1159,00.html

BTW, I flew DL in Y last month (I know, I know ... Temporary bout of insanity) and I can report that the FAs were very attentive but the planes are just awful (hate those MD88s). And the pitch at the exit row is no better than regular E+. Let's not even mention their non-exit row Y seating. :eek: :td:

I could just kick myself for booking that flight last year when I could have booked US and gotten EQM/RDM on UA. :(

I also had to weather a DL transcon RT earlier this year and have one more longish trip (BOS-LAS-LGA) slated for later this month... just to help my gf achieve her NW status objective (she refused to let me take separate flights).