Questions and Answers

Hey all,

I’m a M&M frequent traveller (silver status) and will be now flying a lot (bi-weekly) with United including some overseas flights (also with United). Is it better for me to start accruing points using MileagePlus or to stick with Frequent Traveller Miles&More?

I called MileagePlus and they seem to have about the same redemption as Miles&More (e.g. a one-way coach class ticket to Europe using MileagePlus is 35,000 points and using Miles&More is 25,000 points). They also seem to have a better bonus: so for basic you get PQM at 5 x Cost_of_Ticket (e.g. if your ticket costs $100 you get 500 PQMs). To take the example further, let’s do a flight that gets me 1500 Miles&More points. That flight goes for about $700, so I think I would be getting 3500 PQM. Given that I need 10 one-ways under my 1500 point example to get a free one-way flight from MileagePlus, it appears that I would need ~16.67 flights to get the same with Miles&More.

My back of the envelope might be completely wrong, and I am guessing I am missing some key info. I look forward to the forum’s help!

Thanks!

[USER=1184]@SanF[/USER] – are you planning to redeem the miles in coach or in a premium cabin? M&M will have much more availability in advance on LH/LX in premium cabins than UA will.

[USER=184]@MidSouth Skier[/USER] Thanks for your quick reply! The only reason I collect points on Miles&More is because I travel a lot to see family, and the best and most direct flight is through LOT airlines. If I can, I tend to book Business going there (good to get rest on the plane). I can do Economy back, but would prefer a premium class.

Does that change anything?

[USER=1184]@SanF[/USER], you’ll have to do the math to figure out what your earnings will be for each program, and more importantly, what those miles will get you for each program. As [USER=184]@MidSouth Skier[/USER] mentioned Miles and More participants often get earlier and better access to award space on flights though they do pass on fuel surcharges although that might be less of an issue with LOT.

In terms of earning if you usually buy a lot of expensive tickets for short flights, United is likely a better choice. If you are flying longer distances on the cheapest ticket LH is probably better.

United all the way here. Plenty of availability even for the exotic cheap runs like Tokyo – Rarotonga or Kona – Majuro.