Boston Elite

Hello to all the UA experts, I'm humbly coming to you for advice!

Sadly, I find myself in a position to have to learn a whole new program(s) and I could use some expertise to make the right decision.

Because of a new contract my company has for corporate discounts with LH, I am going to be forced to book LH flights whenever possible. I need some help deciding (maybe understanding is a better word) which program is better for me, so I hope that I can get some direction from the UA/LH experts.

My flying is mostly to India with some domestic (I estimate 10 trips/year) and 2-3 trips/year to Europe/other-Asia.

I'm posting this in the UA forum because MP is the program I am leaning towards. I've been happy for the most part with SkyTeam for years, and I am not thrilled about changing.

Is UA the right program for me? Or am I better off with LH since that is the majority of the metal that I will do BIS?

If UA is the choice to make, should I do a status match request this year (I will only get another 20-30k eqm the remainder of this year) or should I wait and request the status match in January? I see mentions of 'challenges', but I haven't had much luck searching for specifics to understand how they work.

Thanks for any help!

cstead

I think the typical follow up questions for you are as follows:
1. What class of service will you be purchasing? Faid C and F credited to M&M gives 200% and 300% respectively, while only 150% on UA. Lowest booking classes on UA still credit 100% to UA, but as low as 25% to M&M I believe.
2. How do you use your miles? Upgrades, awards?
3. Do think you have a shot at HON?

Also, will your BOS-Asia flights be through Europe, RTW, or something like BOS-JFK-NRT-XYZ?

1K will give you 6 SWUs which can be used on a day-of standby basis on LH to the next class of service, while SENs and HONs get fewer. If you travel enough to get SEN and 1K, but not enough to get HON, then SEN/1K dual status is probably the way to go. You'll get the 6 SWUs with all of the SEN benefits. Remember, tis better to be an airline's own elite than *G.

If you are only buying Economy fares for domestic US travel, *G does not get E+ access (exit rows-anyone know?)

You might also want to consider BD as your primary or secondary program. They also give 200% and 300% for C and F, and for Golds that earn over 55,000 status miles in a year, all additional status miles convert to RDMs, meaning an F ticket can earn 625% (Golds get 25% bonus on all RDMs).

leech27

Non-UA *G only get priority boarding (Seating 1 I think) and standby. No E+, definitely no exit rows.

Lightman7

Remember there are a lot of potential intangibles when you have status - Being 1K on a LH iron with problems won't get you the same treatment as being SEN on LH iron with problems. My experience with LH is that while they honor *Gold commitments, they won't go out of their way if irrops occur.

iwillflytheworld

If your longhaul flights will be in paid business (or first), LH. Otherwise, UA. It's really not very complicated.

kkjay77

If long haul flight is in F, then M&M. No doubt about it. That being said, if OP flies C, then it becomes a little bit harder. I've heard a lot of successful stories of upgrading at the gate from C to F using SWUs, so getting 6 SWUs instead of 2 e-Vouchers might be better.

Boston Elite

Thanks for the follow-up questions.

I should have specified that my company pays for C international and Y domestic.

For whatever reason, I find the LH website hard to understand from an earning perspective. I was under the (apparently incorrect) impression that there was only a 25% bonus for elite status (speaking in terms of RDM), and I didn't pick up the 200% EQM anywhere (are these RDM also, or just EQM?)!

I also wasn't sure how UA treats the non-TATL portion (FRA-India, for example) from an elite bonus perspective. Looking at their website, it seems like I wouldn't get anything other than the flown miles.

I don't think that I would have enough mileage in 24 months to hit the HON level with M&M, but I would have no problem with hitting SEN.

As a longtime NW/CO flyer, I have always been jealous of your famed SWU's (and your wide variety of other upgrade codes that I have yet to learn), which is why I considered UA to begin with rather than just go the obvious M&M (since it would be my primary carrier).

Domestically, I am really going to miss the near 100% complimentary upgrades of NW, and I still see other asian trips being East to West, so that would pull me off LH and back to UA. But I'm not that concerned about this aspect, since it is minor in my opinion (since the number of these flights is minimal).

I like to use my miles mostly for award tix (and I am looking forward to trying some of the *A asian carriers with famous J-Class reputations).

Suffering irregular ops on KL as a NW FF, I definitely recognize that alliance status (even as close as NW/KL are) is not the same as irregular ops on ones home carrier.

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations so far.

cstead

Seeing as how you won't make HON, I say go for SEN and 1K. You have 2 years to make and requal for SEN, and if you're buying full fare Y on UA, then you'll be able to take advantage of the 150% EQMs on full fare and the upgrades with no instruments (but not confirmable in advanced).

I believe LH also sells some decent enough BOS/NYC-Asia D fares, which would yield a ton of miles and keep you on LH metal.

You might want to check on participation of LH and UA in *A upgrades. I don't think UA does anymore, but if LH does, its a nice way to upgrade to F on TPacs (NH especially).