UA and CO in *A, which FF program to focus on?

Background: I have accounts with UA, AA, NW. In the past (up to about 2006) I have flown both UA and CO when they were cheapest, work put me on them, etc. Although I find them both fine in-flight, UA's ground staff within US48 consistently made me feel unwelcome, so at present, my UA account just collects miles for my occasional flight on SQ or NH. Although I primarily fly SkyTeam, it's more KL, NW and DL - the only route I fly on CO these days is NYC-EDI, which UA doesn't fly. I have ~40K miles in my UA account from years past, but have never attained elite status (nor even come close) on UA, and since I don't have a CO account, I obviously haven't attained it on CO either.

As I see it, I could keep the UA account as a going concern, and just have CO miles post to it once CO joins *A. Or, since I do fly CO more than I fly UA, I could burn my UA miles, pick up a CO account, and have future UA flights post to that.

I like CO better than UA based on past experience, but having not been a elite on either, and having not been into the RCCs, and all that, I realize that I'm woefully ignorant of factors that would be valuable in making the comparison. So... what do y'all think?

Oh, and one point, to save people the trouble of making comparisons on this factor: I don't drink, so who has which booze on the planes or in the clubs, and how much it does or doesn't cost, and whether it's self-serve or not, doesn't matter at all to me.

Are you sure you still have them? They have an 18-month expiration with no account activity.

Keep in mind that CO's *A membership is probably another 18-24 months off. Their partnership with UA should happen before that, but no timetable has yet been given.

sounds like you have your eggs in too many baskets. Do you have any status? I would try to get a status match to CO (if you can) If you cant, I would open a CO acct. Then have all your NW (skyteam) miles post to CO. Then if CO/UA does happen, you will have status on CO + miles + ua miles which you would be able to use on *A

Thanks, those are both very good points. I just checked my M&M balance and I was off by a bit, I'm actually just shy of 30K, and they expire at the end of this year if not used by then. (The 40K I was thinking of were in AA, and those also expire in December.) As far as the timeframe, yeah, I realize I can't "replace" UA with CO at this point - just thinking about the future.

Also, if I were planning on going with CO as a *A carrier-of-choice in the future, it might (would?) make sense for me to join OnePass sooner rather than later, and (presuming I could maintain my NW status without them) credit my EWR-EDI flights on CO to that account, rather than to my NW account.

I haven't made my travel plans for the next 6 months yet, but given my probable travel patterns, I might be able to maintain top-tier elite status on NW and pick up bottom-tier elite status on either UA or CO. I'll have to see, though.

In most solvent programs, its not a "use or lose"... just fly them once between now and the expiration date, and you keep the miles for another ~18 months.

MP and OneWorld are two of the stronger global alliances - betting your mileage bank on both is a reasonable diversification strategy.

On the OP, I believe that UA treats its MP elites better, particularly above the 50K level (MP 1P, CO ??). Below that then its arguably a crapshoot, although E+ at the 2P (25K) level is a bonus with UA metal.

Of course. But at present I only fly *A if I can't get somewhere on ST (and only fly OW if I can't get somewhere on either ST or *A).

I presume you meant OnePass, not OneWorld?

Thanks! This is the sort of stuff that I don't have first-hand knowledge of, so I value input from those who do. E+ is a bonus, yes - is it available internationally too? I know on CO, as on NW, the 25K level gets you on the EUA (elite upgrade automation) list for free upgrades to domestic F - but that's only within North America.

For me, upgrades are one of the main reasons for joining a FF - and they are usually only really available on the FF you are signed with (sure *A has Star upgrades but you need to buy an expensive ticket with no guarantee your upgrade you will clear). If you do EDI-NYC a lot then CO would seem to be the place to be.

BD was the exception to this if you didn't fly lots of miles. Their program is generous and gets you to elite levels faster - but will almost certainly disappear into M&M now the sale to LH has been agreed.

Remember you can keep your miles alive for another 18 months with any activity, not just flights. Finding car hire/hotel stays from the past year will even revive miles which look to have gone to the great F cabin in the sky.