Amex Platinum with United Airlines

[randomguy1]

This is quite an interesting thread as I am not that well-versed in Award Travel but want to start traveling again very soon with points Internationally. I fly about once a twice every other month so I am not that big of a frequent flier.

The thread has me wondering, if I needed to travel United, why not stick to UR (Chase+UA) for flying domestic and utilize MR more efficiently in other with better redemption rates in other areas? Seeking to understand here, why is OP insistent on using MR to fly UA when the points can be used better in other ways?

Also, why UA over SW in Houston? If  frequent flying with the spouse domestically, is the Companion Pass an option?

[MyFault]

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@randomguy1 wrote:

This is quite an interesting thread as I am not that well-versed in Award Travel but want to start traveling again very soon with points Internationally. I fly about once a twice every other month so I am not that big of a frequent flier.

The thread has me wondering, if I needed to travel United, why not stick to UR (Chase+UA) for flying domestic and utilize MR more efficiently in other with better redemption rates in other areas? Seeking to understand here, why is OP insistent on using MR to fly UA when the points can be used better in other ways?

Also, why UA over SW in Houston? If  frequent flying with the spouse domestically, is the Companion Pass an option?

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Because United has a hub in Houston. Most my points are UR points, however i have and will have SUB MR points to burn. So, likely i will use them on another trip, as stated, or somehow through aliance partners. The whole point of this thread is not solely to use MR points with UA, but to be able to use them alongside my UR points to maximize the deals i can get for my upcoming honeymoon. Which is an unspecified location as of now.

Also, i live closer to IAH. SW doesn't fly out of that airport, only HOU which i rarely, if ever, fly out of. If you're not from Houston then you're not aware of the traffic and time it takes to get to Hobby when you live on the north side of the city.

I also am personally not a huge fan of SW. They have some great rates but it's not a top tier airline imo, nor an airline that i would ever consider being loyal to.

[iced]

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@randomguy1 wrote:

This is quite an interesting thread as I am not that well-versed in Award Travel but want to start traveling again very soon with points Internationally. I fly about once a twice every other month so I am not that big of a frequent flier.

The thread has me wondering, if I needed to travel United, why not stick to UR (Chase+UA) for flying domestic and utilize MR more efficiently in other with better redemption rates in other areas? Seeking to understand here, why is OP insistent on using MR to fly UA when the points can be used better in other ways?

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Your specific question obviously needs to be answered by the OP, but I'll throw out a speculation in the meantime. My guess is OP got the Platinum for a specific non-spend perk (which one, I do not know) and is looking for a way to make the most of the leftover potential value from the card; specifically, the MRs earned.

My experience has been that MRs aren't magically more valuable as soon as you go international. DL has the weakest mile valuation of the 3 major US airlines, so that means MRs are best spent on other carriers, which can indeed return decent value, but also means you're 100% dependent on earning those miles via CC spend unless you just so happen to fly internationally a lot to a location served by a particular international carrier you can also build miles from flying with.

[coldfusion]

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@iced wrote:

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

From BOS, there's not really a lot of time difference between flying to the west coast or Western Europe.  I'd much rather do both in J or F whenever possible!

I know the title of the thread says United, but you mentioned Delta early on and some of the destinations you mentioned are Delta hubs.  While the bottom redemption would be $0.012 per mile, it's actually fairly easy to get $0.02 or more per mile domestically with Delta.  That was my bottom number for redemption in 2019 and it worked out well.  During sales it's even possible to get $0.10 or more per mile!

So certainly check out Star Alliance partners with Amex, but don't completely discount Delta, AF/KLM, or Virgin Atlantic as options just because neither IAH nor HOU are focus or hub airports (Delta does fly out of both).

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Eh, United also flies into ATL and MSP, but let's not kid ourselves in thinking those aren't fortresses for DL. Similarly, EWR/IAH/DEN are pretty much fortresses for UA. While DL does fly in and out of them, it's often on RJs instead of mainline narrowbodies, and often at a higher cost than UA. That is, from the perspective of a resident of a fortress airport, this is like choosing a direct flight on a 737 for $X or a flight on a small RJ with a connection in many cases for >$X.

This is the reason I now fly DL instead of UA (also out of BOS) - I got tired of connecting in ORD, EWR, DEN, and IAH month after month after horrific month since I was routinely flying to a DL fortress and decided instead to just have one flight with a decent F cabin instead of 2 flights with a RJ cabin and a 2 hour layover that exposed me to weather overnights in the winter. A casual flyer can probably look past this (or may not even know the difference) but for anyone who flies with any regularity trying to shoehorn themselves into one of the fringe players in a fortress hub is an exercise in insanity.

BOS is uniquely fortunate in the US in that it's not a hub for any of the 3 majors (loljetblue doesn't matter since their international offerings are !&%^), though DL is comes somewhat close to serving BOS like it were a hub. This does place people in Logan's service to have choices that frankly aren't viable choices in many other airports.

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Funny you mention ATL, many years ago after a couple of UA BOS <-> ATL Concourse T trips via IAD I started looking into alternatives (Airtran, until they got gutted by Southwest) and that's what started me back on the path back to Delta.

AA has been permabanned.   Even opportunities presented to ride the grAAvy train couldn't motivate me.

[recoveringfrombk7]

Really appreciate the thread and all of the feedback since I'm located equidistant from PHL, EWR, JFK, and LGA. I burned citi and chase in bk, so though we prefer flying out of EWR it looks like we will be becoming Delta folks and using JFK/AMEX.

Anyhow, thanks everyone!

[CaptJOB]

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@iced wrote:

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@randomguy1 wrote:

This is quite an interesting thread as I am not that well-versed in Award Travel but want to start traveling again very soon with points Internationally. I fly about once a twice every other month so I am not that big of a frequent flier.

The thread has me wondering, if I needed to travel United, why not stick to UR (Chase+UA) for flying domestic and utilize MR more efficiently in other with better redemption rates in other areas? Seeking to understand here, why is OP insistent on using MR to fly UA when the points can be used better in other ways?

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Your specific question obviously needs to be answered by the OP, but I'll throw out a speculation in the meantime. My guess is OP got the Platinum for a specific non-spend perk (which one, I do not know) and is looking for a way to make the most of the leftover potential value from the card; specifically, the MRs earned.

My experience has been that MRs aren't magically more valuable as soon as you go international. DL has the weakest mile valuation of the 3 major US airlines, so that means MRs are best spent on other carriers, which can indeed return decent value, but also means you're 100% dependent on earning those miles via CC spend unless you just so happen to fly internationally a lot to a location served by a particular international carrier you can also build miles from flying with.

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I'd guess the Centurion Lounge and maybe hotel status(even though I personally don't think gold at either chain has convinced me to choose either one over Hyatt where I have no elite status)

[MyFault]

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@CaptJOB wrote:

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I'd guess the Centurion Lounge and maybe hotel status(even though I personally don't think gold at either chain has convinced me to choose either one over Hyatt where I have no elite status)

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I get corporate discount rates at Marriott, and Gold would provide an upgrade at my cheaper rate. So, Hyatt can't touch what i pay per room. But Centurion lounge, Platinum concierge, Marriott Gold (which you're correct isn't that great), Delta Skyclub, is mostly the reason. Plus, the SUB doesn't hurt either.

[sghosh5]

Why don’t you use AMEX travel site to use your MR points? At least that is what i am going to do for my upcoming trip. I also have chase UR points which i am going to use separately for my return flights. Btw i am also from Houston and know very well how bad the traffic can play a part here

[MyFault]

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@sghosh5 wrote:
Why don’t you use AMEX travel site to use your MR points? At least that is what i am going to do for my upcoming trip. I also have chase UR points which i am going to use separately for my return flights. Btw i am also from Houston and know very well how bad the traffic can play a part here

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That's an option that i'll also look into. MR points work differently than UR points though regarding the travel portal. To get the maximum cpp with Chase, you use the UR portal to book flights.

With Amex, you get the maximum point value via xfer partners. However, with the point devaluation of having to transfer to multiple partners to get to United(if we fly united), then it could absolutely make more sense to book through the Amex site.

[Anonymous]

Avianca LifeMiles for the win.

About once a year, they'll offer specials like "Transfer MR points (or ThankYou points) to LifeMiles and receive a 25% bonus"

I try to take advantage of those when I can.

I booked a trip from Houston to San Fran for two on United for 40,000 LifeMiles.  Trip would have cost about $850 in cash.  So over 2.1 cents per LifeMile.

Or over 2.6 cents per MR point if you took advantage of a 25% transfer bonus offer.

Either way, you are looking at earning 8-10% for United flights on Gold card 4x spend and 10-12% on Platinum 5x spend.