Best Star Alliance Partner

[1BADDAT]

I have been flying United Airlines for many years for work and for travel. Within USA, United is totally fine for me. Within Asia, United is pretty weak. They don't even fly from BKK to Japan any more and I end up having to fly partner flights to USA on ANA. I like to fly in to SFO or SJC. When I travel within Asia I normally take Thai Airways.

I am thinking about switching programs to Thai Airway or ANA. Anyone have experience with this? I have Gold status now and I don't want to go without that for very long. Does anyone know how that would work when I switch over? Will I lose my status if now I book using my new Mileage number and not my old United one?

[cigar7]

If you have gold today, it should be valid until 31 JAN 2017, the cards normally end on January 31. So until the expiry date on your gold card, you should get all gold privileges from all star alliance members.

I too am a United customer and have received the gold card privileges from Thai airways, Air Canada, Luftansa, Turkish Airlines, ANA, China Airlines, and few others. Be sure have the card with you, some want to see the actual physical card, not just your boarding pass.

[1BADDAT]

If you have gold today, it should be valid until 31 JAN 2017, the cards normally end on January 31. So until the expiry date on your gold card, you should get all gold privileges from all star alliance members.

I too am a United customer and have received the gold card privileges from Thai airways, Air Canada, Luftansa, Turkish Airlines, ANA, China Airlines, and few others. Be sure have the card with you, some want to see the actual physical card, not just your boarding pass.

Thanks. You are correct that it is good until Jan 2017. For some reason I thought I needed to be Gold on the airline I was collecting mileage with. I will pick up my new card when I fly home in a few months on hopefully my last United flight home (on mileage).

[matta330]

I've been collecting my Star Alliance miles with EVA Air, and am currently *G. The situation I am seeing with more and more of the Asian carriers is that there are less fares even eligible for mileage credit. EVA's program is not the best for free tickets, but decent for upgrades. As an example, when in the US even though I see award tickets available on United flights, EVA does not get any availability for their members, For EVA flights, availability is decent, but they require quite a bit of mileage. They do have some nice lounges though.

[1BADDAT]

I've been collecting my Star Alliance miles with EVA Air, and am currently *G. The situation I am seeing with more and more of the Asian carriers is that there are less fares even eligible for mileage credit. EVA's program is not the best for free tickets, but decent for upgrades. As an example, when in the US even though I see award tickets available on United flights, EVA does not get any availability for their members, For EVA flights, availability is decent, but they require quite a bit of mileage. They do have some nice lounges though.

I think the "alliance" is breaking up somewhat. I see the same thing from the United side with ANA. It's rather ironic because most of the flights I take from BKK to SFO are ANA flights booked through United.