Which Star Alliance FF program is the best?

[Arthur Hodgson]

Does anyone know if the UA Mileage Plus frequent flyer program requires you to fly with UA to get status. EG: QF requires 4 flights per year on their metal to go up in status.

If I fly on Lufthansa, Swissair etc but nothing on United, will my status with United still grow?

I got the impression that the star alliance airlines are much more star alliance focussed than the one world airlines are one world focussed.

You can get status on UA flying *A airlines.

But why would you?

 

[Siegfried]

I'm going to put the thread topic question again, but my aim is slightly different.

I'm approx 2.6K SC away from QFF LG, and if my current travel schedule continues, I should hit the magic 14K by the middle of next year if not sooner.

So, I'm thinking about climbing the status pole with *A. I'm not that interested in gathering points for award flights - I do a lot of long-haul travel, so I'm more interested in lounge access and quality, and upgrade arrangements (I'm just tall and wide enough that many Business Class seats still seem a little cramped).

Work funds my travel, so its usually J/D class, but there have been several occasions in the last year where I have received a phone call saying "you need to be in Ireland / Namiba / Santiago by the day after tomorrow at the latest", and I would like to expand my options outside the OW range without sacrificing "comfort".

Any feedback gratefully appreciated.

 

[docjames]

Sigfried, others here will have more knowledge than me, but if I were in your position, if travel is Asia/EU/Africa, I'd be joinging SQ.

If USA then UA would be my choice.

My $0.02

 

[Siegfried]

Thanks for the input docjames. Probably not so much to Asia as through it. For the next 6-8 months, most likely South America and UK/Ireland, with 1-2 trips to South Africa and Namibia (and possibly Ivory Coast and Ghana - not looking forward to that!!). After that, mostly US trips at this stage.

Forgot to mention in my original post that I may be looking to relocate to either UK or US in approx 2-3 years. Not sure if that would affect a choice of *A program.

 

[futaris]

Best to ask this question in the Star Alliance forums on Flyertalk.

At the moment, the stand out programs are (for flying in Economy):

Asiana (OZ) - easy to earn *A Silver / Gold, all *A flights count towards 1MM lifetime *A Gold
BMI - great value redemptions, see the BMI thread on this forum for examples

There is an overview of *A Silver and *A Gold that may also help you make your decision.

Since you're flying Business then the above doesn't probably apply as much to you. There are some programs that offer higher incentives for Business / First Class.

If you're flying to the US and want to upgrade, then you'll need miles in UA or NZ or Air Canada.

And don't forget to try to do a Status Match...

 

[HardieBoys]

Hi... I've been offered a work trip to the US West Coast on UA, in business. I'm LG with QFF, travel regularly on QF, and this is unlikely to change, hence, my main program will be QFF. Not necessarily planning to do much *A travel over the next few years, but may end up doing a 2 - 4 flights per year with a *A carrier, most likely one of the Asian or European carriers.

Should I join Kris Flyer and credit my UA points to that program? I can't imagine I'm going to consistently use UA hereafter.

Thanks