Travel
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
FF Programs
Right now DH and I are members of US Airways dividend miles program, but very rarely fly with them (we flew a lot with them when we signed up so that's why we have the accounts). We do fly a lot on other star alliance members so we can keep accuring the miles for the flights we take on their partners.
My question is, how many FF programs are you a member of? And would it give us better perks if we were FF members of both US air and United (who we seem to be flying a lot lately) or does it not matter because they are all partners of star alliance?
Thanks!
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: FF Programs
Since United and US Air are both the same alliance, I would choose one or the other and stick with it. If you don't have status with US Air, making the switch to United could be real easy. Keep in mind United has a LOT of FFs now with their merger to Continental, so my understanding is that the real perks for FFs don't kick in consistently until you hit 1K status with them.
If you're just thinking about which airline is easier to use miles on - you generally will have greater selection for using your miles on the airline you have the account with, and United has a good international network so that might be something to consider.
If you want to cover all your bases, open a FF account with either Delta or American. They are the two large American-based carriers that aren't part of Star Alliance (they're Sky Team), so that way you'd be accruing miles for flights you take outside of the Star Alliance network.
I have only one FF account (Alaska, which is basically like being part of Star Team) and just stick to flying those airlines exclusively. If you fly a lot, it can really add up - DH and I have over 1,000,000 miles combined, and I just burned 250K to get us two business class tickets to Australia. We've been able to redeem our miles easily within the network - but you do have to plan in advance.
United's benefits do not transfer to USAir and vice versa, except Star Gold priveleges, which mostly means free bags. I don't get upgrades on USAir or premium seating. I'm a member of both FF programs and am only elite on United. I like earning United miles on USAir, though, since I split my time between PHX (a USAir hub) and DEN (a United hub).
Our wedding on Wilson Island!
I have noticed this. I'm Premier Gold (fell just shy of Premier Platinum, which now angers me! LOL) and while I do get my choice of economy plus seating and the freebie bags, I almost NEVER get upgraded anymore. I fly back and forth almost every weekend, so it's a little annoying. I used to get upgraded on every flight. I now find myself on the upgrade list at #8 on average once I arrive at the airport.
Our wedding on Wilson Island!
We're members of Jet Blue, Southwest, and American.
We haven't flown American in years, as we're not a fan of their service or baggage fees and pretty much exclusively fly Jet Blue and Southwest. Jet Blue for domestic, Caribbean, and Mexico and Southwest for domestic.
After only 2 round trip flights on Jet Blue, we already qualified for a free one way ticket back home to CT from FL last year which we cashed in to go home for a wedding. You earn a lot of "bonus points" for booking online through their website. Plus, I love their app on my iphone.
Green Fashionista Blog Updated 2/25
Planning bio with lots of DIY
Married Bio with For Sale
So you have both USAir and United? Do you just put in the FF# for whatever brand you are flying or are you only accruing the United miles regardless of who you are on?
Regarding your US Air and United accounts, if you fly United more and don't have status with US Air, I would start using United exclusively, so that you have a better chance of earning status with one of them. While I don't really see huge advantages with Silver, I will disagree with the earlier posters that I cherish Gold status. Gold is the level where the benefits are recognized by the entire Star Alliance, and in a lot of non-US airports, being able to use the Business Class check-in desk is a huge advantage. Also, Gold grants you lounge access across the network on international flights, which is definitely a nice perk. Before the merger, I flew Continental almost exclusively, and as soon as United and Continental started offering reciprocal benefits last year, I started getting upgrades on most of my flights even though I was only United Gold. Upgrades really depend a lot on the route and the aircraft.
Yes-I just happened to have a USAir account, but then decided I liked United better. So, whenever i now fly USAirways, I use my United FF number. Most of the time, you can just select "United" in the drop down box in the FF mile number part of the reservation form online. If for some reason it doesn't take, you can also enter it in upon check in at the airport. There is a specific format you have to use, but the kiosk provides you directions. (It's something like UA-XXXXXXXX.)
Our wedding on Wilson Island!
This is interesting because I recently heard rumors of a merger between American and USAir, so I wonder what that will do to the alliances & FF programs.
To answer the question, I have frequent flier accounts on American (where my status is), United, Southwest, USAir (but I also use my United number since I fly USAir so rarely), Delta, & Jet Blue.
Good point! Most of my recent trips that i have taken internationally ended up with me flying non-Star Alliance airlines or if i did fly a Star Alliance Airline, they didn't have a separate check in available. I did use the business class check in at Heathrow when we were in London and it did help, but when I flew to Mauritius/Seychelles, I could not find the business class check in for South African Air and the Qatar check in at the Seychelles was super small. I flew on British Airways for our long haul flights, and as someone mentioned, they are One World. I used to accrue on American when I lived in Maryland and I had 300k miles to burn! We did fly to Jamaica on USAirways last year as well, but I checked in at like 4am and the airport was empty! So, yes, Gilli is correct- having Star Gold is nice! I'm just stuck in the mindset of my interstate commute between CO and AZ
Our wedding on Wilson Island!
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain
My Travel Blog
I am a member of Alaska, Delta, and United. I used to use Delta almost exclusively and had the Delta AMEX but I wasn't happy with the way they changed the numbers of miles required for award travel. As a result, I instead switched to Alaska Airlines and now use Alaska Visa. Redeeming miles with Alaska is a lot easier than it was with Delta. Additionally, I live in Seattle which is Alaska's main hub so there are way more flight options. Unfortunately I have about 20,000 miles left with Delta that I wish I could do something with!
I also have an account with United because sometimes I can't find the lowest priced flights or the flight pattern I want with Alaska, Delta, or American and end up flying with United or US Airways or one of their partners.
I will echo the previous posters and recommend that you sign up for an account with Delta or Alaska (or whichever airline makes sense for you) so that you can always accrue miles no matter which airline you fly on.
Regarding your first point, here's an informative blog post I read earlier this week:
http://thepointsguy.com/2012/03/my-thoughts-on-an-american-and-us-airways-merger/
With air, hotel, car, cruise programs - I have about 40. I have status with AA and Hilton and use those the most. I collect points even in programs I use less frequently - these can be very handy for occasional mileage earning bonus events like the US Airways Grand Slam.