Questions and Answers

Hi,

I’m based in London and normally complete all my flights on BA/OneWorld (using BA Executive Club). However, I am now in the situation where I will have at least 2 upcoming return trips to the US (from London) both on United. I’ve never been a member of Star Alliance before, and I will still plan on using OneWorld partners for my future travel.

Even if it’s just two return trips for now, I still think it’s silly to miss out on any potential points and was wondering what the best Star Alliance programme is for a London-based flyer like me. I’ve looked into Mileageplus and was going to sign up (in my mind it makes sense to earn on the airline you fly on?) but am now second guessing. A few pointers:

– If I were to do anymore flights on Star Alliance, it would be between London and US east coast on United. This would be relatively few flights per year, as I already do 1-2 BA/AA trips to the US per month.
– Given that I’m likely to earn relatively few miles on Star Alliance, I also know that I will probably redeem them [I]towards [/I]a short-haul Europe flight, and so would probably redeem them on Lufthansa or another European Star Alliance partner, rather than United. How is Mileageplus for redeeming in Europe, and whats the best programme vice versa if I do want to redeem for US travel?

Given that no Star Alliance airline is based out of London, and what I wrote above, what’s the best way for me to 1) earn miles for transatlantic travel and 2) redeem them (probably in Europe, but could be elsewhere).

Thanks for all your help! 🙂

Hi Seb,

MP is actually pretty good on redeeming miles in Europe as they partner with LH, SK, and LOT, they usually have decent intra Europe availability on LH and SK. A good thing with UA is they do have a UK credit card and as long as you earn miles once every 18months your miles never expire

Seb, do you fly economy or business to the US?

Also, United awards miles based on the cost of the ticket, so unless your upcoming travel is an expensive ticket, you might be better off looking at other Star Alliance partners.

[URL]http://www.wheretocredit.com/united-airlines[/URL]