Advice re: which program to accumulate (for a 1MM UA)
Oct 8, 2024 | 11:52 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Bay Area
Programs: UA1MM, *G,HA Premier Club, Hyatt Disc, HHonors Gold, Marriott LTPlat, ClubCarlson Gold, IHG PlatAmb
Posts: 1,281
Advice re: which program to accumulate (for a 1MM UA)
Background
I reached my 1MM with UA shortly before COVID and now finding myself flying anything but UA metals internationally (on my own dime). My routes from the left coast are usually TK to/from IST (and beyond), NZ to/from AKL, NH/BR back from Asia and occasionally UA through their super expensive Biz award redemption. I will say I circle 1.5 of the earth once a year. Staying away from the pricey *A fleet such as LH or SQ (since they're never cheap internationally on Biz!). And rarely do I get to fly somewhere domestic anymore (and when I do, I take the cheapest/most convenient segments that don't involve EWR, IAD, or ORD).
As I'm mostly on non-UA (*A) metals on long haul and no longer looking to achieve the next milestone (2MM) or even trying to make PLT or 1K anymore, I haven't cared about trying to accrue the maximum number of miles with UA. I also tend to book via SkyScanner or Kayak, so my tix are almost never the UA 016 stock. After years of playing the upgrade game (and getting PTSD from frequently getting stuck in the back on a long haul), these days I decided to pretty much pay for my Biz seats (and when you don't fly UA, LH or SQ AND you use aggregators, you save a ton).
The question I have is whether it still makes sense to credit everything to my UA Mileage Plus. My strategy has been to use UA miles (on UA metal) outbound when flying over the Pacific (as it is way cheaper to buy miles esp during their 100% bonus promo and then redeem them for Biz...vs buying a Biz seat). It's still 150-200k miles one way however (and you can only buy so many miles each year)! I recently looked at Air Canada and saw their partner redemption for Biz is like 70-80k miles, although there may be a catch to it.
It's no secret Mileage Plus redemption for Biz is highway robbery. Given the garden variety of *A metals I fly regularly (on Biz), what would make sense in terms of accruing the miles?
a. sign up for EACH program (TK, NZ, BR, etc) and accrue miles slowly whenever I fly EACH metal (and every few years drain my account for a Biz seat, rinse, lather, repeat?) I won't fly them enough each year to make elite (but I'm already a lifetime *Gold so don't really care).
b. sign up for THE best *A program that offers THE most affordable award redemption in Biz? (Air Canada or something obscure like Copa or Aegean?)
c. The heck with this and stick with what I'm doing with UA (because other programs won't be any better)?
BTW I still have the Select UA Visa card that gets me 3 the miles when I buy UA (tix and miles) and 2x *A tix, but open to applying for other *A affiliated credit cards if I must.
Thanks for any advice!
I reached my 1MM with UA shortly before COVID and now finding myself flying anything but UA metals internationally (on my own dime). My routes from the left coast are usually TK to/from IST (and beyond), NZ to/from AKL, NH/BR back from Asia and occasionally UA through their super expensive Biz award redemption. I will say I circle 1.5 of the earth once a year. Staying away from the pricey *A fleet such as LH or SQ (since they're never cheap internationally on Biz!). And rarely do I get to fly somewhere domestic anymore (and when I do, I take the cheapest/most convenient segments that don't involve EWR, IAD, or ORD).
As I'm mostly on non-UA (*A) metals on long haul and no longer looking to achieve the next milestone (2MM) or even trying to make PLT or 1K anymore, I haven't cared about trying to accrue the maximum number of miles with UA. I also tend to book via SkyScanner or Kayak, so my tix are almost never the UA 016 stock. After years of playing the upgrade game (and getting PTSD from frequently getting stuck in the back on a long haul), these days I decided to pretty much pay for my Biz seats (and when you don't fly UA, LH or SQ AND you use aggregators, you save a ton).
The question I have is whether it still makes sense to credit everything to my UA Mileage Plus. My strategy has been to use UA miles (on UA metal) outbound when flying over the Pacific (as it is way cheaper to buy miles esp during their 100% bonus promo and then redeem them for Biz...vs buying a Biz seat). It's still 150-200k miles one way however (and you can only buy so many miles each year)! I recently looked at Air Canada and saw their partner redemption for Biz is like 70-80k miles, although there may be a catch to it.
It's no secret Mileage Plus redemption for Biz is highway robbery. Given the garden variety of *A metals I fly regularly (on Biz), what would make sense in terms of accruing the miles?
a. sign up for EACH program (TK, NZ, BR, etc) and accrue miles slowly whenever I fly EACH metal (and every few years drain my account for a Biz seat, rinse, lather, repeat?) I won't fly them enough each year to make elite (but I'm already a lifetime *Gold so don't really care).
b. sign up for THE best *A program that offers THE most affordable award redemption in Biz? (Air Canada or something obscure like Copa or Aegean?)
c. The heck with this and stick with what I'm doing with UA (because other programs won't be any better)?
BTW I still have the Select UA Visa card that gets me 3 the miles when I buy UA (tix and miles) and 2x *A tix, but open to applying for other *A affiliated credit cards if I must.
Thanks for any advice!
Last edited by Jamester; Oct 9, 2024 at 12:10 am Reason: Adding more info
Oct 11, 2024 | 2:25 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, AS MVP Gold, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 33,407
UA Plat get you access to IN inventory and much better/cheaper J awards - if you fly enough to get that, it can be worth it. That and PlusPoints can be a significant bonus if you go higher w/ UA.
If you don't buy JV partners (such as NH or LH group etc.) then your UA RDM earnings are not great, so that's a downside. You can get your PQP w/o too much hassle, say NYC-IST-TYO r/t - that is 4k PQP. If you pick TK for an example, there aren't a lot of better options though: https://www.wheretocredit.com/turkish-airlines/j
Air Canada is not a bad program right now, but w/o flying them, not sure there is that much benefit TBH. 70k redemptions are the same that UA charges 80/88k for - the ones you see on UA for more miles are not available w/ AC either.
Consider a CC that earns cashback on travel purchases, just that pretty much all the consolidator tickets you buy are not counting as 'Air' and won't e.g. earn 5x on Amex Plat. They are generally coded as 'TA' or something similar and you need to look for CCs that give multiples on the broader category
If you don't buy JV partners (such as NH or LH group etc.) then your UA RDM earnings are not great, so that's a downside. You can get your PQP w/o too much hassle, say NYC-IST-TYO r/t - that is 4k PQP. If you pick TK for an example, there aren't a lot of better options though: https://www.wheretocredit.com/turkish-airlines/j
Air Canada is not a bad program right now, but w/o flying them, not sure there is that much benefit TBH. 70k redemptions are the same that UA charges 80/88k for - the ones you see on UA for more miles are not available w/ AC either.
Consider a CC that earns cashback on travel purchases, just that pretty much all the consolidator tickets you buy are not counting as 'Air' and won't e.g. earn 5x on Amex Plat. They are generally coded as 'TA' or something similar and you need to look for CCs that give multiples on the broader category