Credit Cards & United Airlines MileagePlus

[ozstamps]

Only way to get UA miles ex OZ is to spend on Amex and move them to SPG, and move then to UA.

 

[kawoh]

UA miles

Not entirely correct:

1/ Diners Club - as mentioned above, earns A$2 = 1 UA mile. Now considering a trip to JFK on QFF is 256k in Biz, it is only 90k on UA. You are only spending $180k on diners for a UA Biz to JFK, vs. $256k on diners for a QFF Biz to JFK. You could however get a rewards maximiser which would even that out.

2/ American Express - as mentioned, it's A$1 = 1 amex membership rewards point (unless you're in the rewards maximiser or certain affinity programs where A$1 = 1.5 amex membership rewards points) And 3 amex membership rewards points = 1 Starwood preferred guest point. 1 Starwood preferred guest point = 0.625 UA miles when transferring in min mutples of 20,000 SPG points.

If you were smart, you'd be transferring them to ANA instead which is the same cost of a UA award (60/90/120k) to the USA. But your 1 SPG points is worth 1.25 ANA miles. Effectively means if you're on the A$1 = 1.5 amex points, then A$2 = 1 SPG points = 1.25 ANA miles/effectively the same redemption as UA on a 60/90/120k US award.

In this instance, you achieve the following scenario:

Outcome: want a a round trip business trip to the USA. Have an Amex Rewards maximiser or Affinity AMEX card where A$1 = 1.5 amex MR point. You can effectively get the same result with a Diners Club card, which is A$1 = 1 diners club point. 2 diners club points = 1 SPG point. whereas 3 amex points = 1 SPG point. It effectively gives the same result at the end of the day - the Amex is probably the better option because of the qff point earn rate being higher, the spg rate is equal and amex is more widely accepted than diners.

Choice one: Spend $170,667 for 1 round trip biz ticket on Qantas to JFK on QFF.
Choice two: Spend $144,400 for 1 round trip biz ticket on UA or Asiana to JFK via an ANA redemption through SPG
Choice three: Spend $288,800 for 1 round trip biz ticket on UA to JFK on UA Mileage Plus

There are some other scenarios from other mileage partners on SPG, but not as good as the $144k option with ANA.

So by doing this and being smart, you'll be saving $26,667 in spending to get essentially a similiar biz class flight to JFK (granted not in QFF's flat bed though - but you could do it on UA or Asiana biz).

 

[kawoh]

diners club

Just to further clarify the diners club option, see:

http://www.dinersclub.com.au/s16_rewards/displayRewards.asp?intID=1423

and:

http://www.dinersclub.com.au/s16_rewards/display_page.asp?catid=68

For a list of all the Diners Club airline partners:

Qantas
Air NZ
Thai
South African Airways
Asiana
Delta
AA
Northwest
Hawaiian
Korean Air

 

[infoworks]

I thought I'd heard Diners had opted out of the airline points frenzy. maybe it was only in the US.

 

[kooky]

Further to this previous post - http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/discus/viewtopic.php?t=1213&highlight= - it was mentioned you would need only 120k AA points to get business on QF MEL-LHR .. what's the best way to get these 120k AA points using Aussie credit cards?

PS i noticed you get points for cash advances on Diners - couldn't see anything more in their site, anyone that can comment on how this works, and if there's a fee for these cash advances other than the usual 1.5% etc.

 

[MetroAir]

The cash advance fee on Diners is 4% but no other fees.

Cheers

 

[uncawes]

Australian Credit Cards and UA Mileage Plus

I've been after doing this for about three years now.
Amex don't do UA - they do other *A carriers but not UA
NO Australian Visa or Mastercard that I've found does UA - if anyone has found one please let me know.
Priority Club does UA, and Amex does PC, but the exchange rate is awful.
Amex does Hilton HHonors, but HHonors doesn't do UA. Looking at the exchange rate of HHonors to the airlines they do deal with this would be a great way of moving points if UA were in the program.

Having just discovered these boards, and realising I'm not alone in this endeavour, maybe writing to Amex and UA and asking why they don't talk to each other is worth the 50c stamps. Maybe add HHonors as well for another 50c

Wes

 

[NM]

Re: Australian Credit Cards and UA Mileage Plus

Having just discovered these boards, and realising I'm not alone in this endeavour, maybe writing to Amex and UA and asking why they don't talk to each other is worth the 50c stamps. Maybe add HHonors as well for another 50c

Wes

Amex transfer 1:1 to HHonors and can be added and the transfer performed on-line.

 

[Kael O]

hey guys..

I've just discovered this board after my attempts to locate a card that does UA. from what I've learnt, and I've done a stack of searching, Diners is the only Australian card that does UA.

Does anybody use it? How acceptable is it? Any feedback is much appreciated.

Kael

 

[Kael O]

hey guys..

I've just discovered this board after my attempts to locate a card that does UA. from what I've learnt, and I've done a stack of searching, Diners is the only Australian card that does UA.

Does anybody use it? How acceptable is it? Any feedback is much appreciated.

Kael

 

[Kael O]

just to let anybody who actually reads these things know, Diners are no longer allowing UA MP rewards transfers from April 06.

If anybody knows of another CC that does allow them, let me know.

Kael

 

[baldman]

Can anyone definitively tell me whether there is some way I can transfer miles from my Diners account to my UA mileage plus account? Reading through this thread, I have the horrible feeling that the bird flew in April and I'm damned if I can remember receiving any warning from Diners to say they were dropping United.

 

[serfty]

Can anyone definitively tell me whether there is some way I can transfer miles from my Diners account to my UA mileage plus account? Reading through this thread, I have the horrible feeling that the bird flew in April and I'm damned if I can remember receiving any warning from Diners to say they were dropping United.

Methinks you are correct; here's a list of the Current Diners Club Rewards Airline Partners; UA is not mentioned.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Can anyone definitively tell me whether there is some way I can transfer miles from my Diners account to my UA mileage plus account? Reading through this thread, I have the horrible feeling that the bird flew in April and I'm damned if I can remember receiving any warning from Diners to say they were dropping United.

There are plenty of indirect ways (generally losing significant value) of parlaying DC -> UA. Check out http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/

 

[Kael O]

There is no effecient way to do it. I've spent ages looking at the problem and in the end decided I'd move over to TG.

 

[baldman]

Just wondering whether anyone has come across new opportunities that have opened up since the last post, to be able to efficiently transfer cc points (amex especially) into UA miles.

thanks for considering
baldman

 

[serfty]

Just wondering whether anyone has come across new opportunities that have opened up since the last post, to be able to efficiently transfer cc points (amex especially) into UA miles.

thanks for considering
baldman

The link provided by Kiwi Flyer is basically kept up to date, so that's basically it.

WebFlyer :: The Frequent Flyer Authority

 

[baldman]

The link provided by Kiwi Flyer is basically kept up to date, so that's basically it.

WebFlyer :: The Frequent Flyer Authority

Unless I've missed something, that converter doesnt include amex australian cards, only uk, us and ca.

any other clues?

 

[serfty]

There are some variances between US Amex MR's and OZ MR's.

Look here for your Ascent options: American Express Australia - Membership Rewards Ascent

Once across to the other programs you can transfer at generally the same rates as in the US.

Take the paths you can use,

Eg

MR->HH->MP @ 10000:1000 [1:1:.1]
MR->PC->MP @ 10000:1200 [1:.6:.2]
MR->SP->MP @ 10000:1650 [1:.33:.5] (60700:15015)