Looking to plan Honeymoon with CO Miles\Starwood Points

[steve2]

Yes, hotel and airline programs are going to have devaluations, they are not perfect.  But they can also go up in value, like Continental miles did when they joined Star without any United-style blocking, or like United miles did when they eliminated their expedite fee.

But with nearly every proprietary credit card point system out there, there have been wholesale devaluations many times without notice.  And when they do it's across the board, there's no way to escape it.

True, so Starwood didn't decease hotel categories this year (although they have lowered some hotels).  But there are still so many other uses for Starpoints.  Not happy with the non-adjustments? Go transfer 20,000 of your Starpoints into LAN and get 3 RT tickets to Canada.

 well I for 1 never had a problem with CO even before they went to *A, as for going up in value maybe if a persons goal is to Sell them.But if its to use them CO is worse for a person who isnt an Elite now & the Unknown is what will be once CO & UA get together as 1 Airline, if One Pass bites the dust then it will be MP and then all your CO miles might be subject to Star Blocking :-( , my gut tells me most of what is UA today will be what is kept in place, since its CO being folded into UA.

 I couldnt care if it was only 5k with LAN to Canada, its worthless to me since if I was headed there Id probably drive it anyway,a nd I dont forsee any trip there at all. Last 1 was 11/09 the 1 before that was 11/93. So IMO unless a person has a need to fly to Canada the fact that it can be done for say 7k doesnt play any role if SPG is a good program or not.

 No different then if AA came out with a 1st Class tkt for 45k to Iran or Syria. Unless a person can take advantage of that it wont make AA a good program to bank in, if they can sell their miles at a great price and theirs demand to those locations then yes AAs program would have a couple of Gold Stars given to it.


 So it has to be looked at from 2 different view points, 1 - someone wanting to sell their miles, and 2 someone who wants to use their miles. the result might not be the same

IMO its not as Black & White as you wish to make it seem it is
 

[Daniel]

the Unknown is what will be once CO & UA get together as 1 Airline, if One Pass bites the dust then it will be MP and then all your CO miles might be subject to Star Blocking :-(
 

I always here the term Star Blocking but I never know what it means...can anyone help explain?
Dan, would you advise against transferring points into CO before we see what happens with the merger?
What are your predictions?

[Dan]

I always here the term Star Blocking but I never know what it means...can anyone help explain?
Dan, would you advise against transferring points into CO before we see what happens with the merger?
What are your predictions?

United uses Starnet blocking by not allowing you to redeem United miles on many Star Alliance airlines and routes.  This means even if you find Star Alliance availability on Aeroplan, Continental, or ANA they won't book you the ticket.

If more people use United miles for travel on Lufthansa then people using Lufthansa miles for travel on United then United will owe Lufthansa money.

They use Starnet blocking to avoid having to pay them money by trying to equalize the redemptions.

It seems like that if there is a merger although the United name will survive, the management will be taken over by CO people.  And those CO people have been very against Starnet blocking.

[Daniel]

United uses Starnet blocking by not allowing you to redeem United miles on many Star Alliance airlines and routes.  This means even if you find Star Alliance availability on Aeroplan, Continental, or ANA they won't book you the ticket.

So I can't use the 50k United miles I just got to book on CO to TLV once I get 75k AT ALL? Or you were saying it just has lower availability?

[Dan]

So I can't use the 50k United miles I just got to book on CO to TLV once I get 75k AT ALL? Or you were saying it just has lower availability?

It will probably be available, but there's a chance that United will block it. 

[Daniel]

It will probably be available, but there's a chance that United will block it. 

So there's no official or even unofficial list of blocked routes is there?

[steve2]

It seems like that if there is a merger although the United name will survive, the management will be taken over by CO people.  And those CO people have been very against Starnet blocking.

 very true, but who knows what will be with the Frequent Flyer programs, CO and UA arent the same besides for * Blocking. Top level with UA is 1K @ 100K , CO its Plat @ 75k will CO go up or UA go down??? 

 although they both have changed their own programs to be more inlined with the other , both programs are still not exactly the same

 will all of COs planes get E+ which CO has been dead set against putting in, or will UA get rid of theirs yet they make a ton of $$ off of it

My personal Crystal Ball tells me its way too early to figure out what will be and what will end up remaining and being combined into the new Airline, its basically we all have to wait and see. Theres no Slam Dunk for either Carrier adding or doing away with what they have as of now, but Changes are a commin if they do in fact Merge.

 could be Dan your Crystal ball is working much better then mine but that would mean you have Inside Info

[Dan]

very true, but who knows what will be with the Frequent Flyer programs, CO and UA arent the same besides for * Blocking. Top level with UA is 1K @ 100K , CO its Plat @ 75k will CO go up or UA go down??? 

CO's top level is 100K.  They get systemwide upgrades, 75K Plats don't.
And they also have a GS equivalent in Presidential Platinum for big spenders.

Noone has a crystal ball, I just tell it as I see it.

[steve2]

CO's top level is 100K.  They get systemwide upgrades, 75K Plats don't.
And they also have a GS equivalent in Presidential Platinum for big spenders.

Noone has a crystal ball, I just tell it as I see it.

 true the 100k gets SWUs but not as many as a 1K gets on UA.Then by UA its 50k = 1P then 100k for 1K, CO is 50K for Gold, then 75K for Plat something will have to give most likely So CO Plat and UA 1K arent the same today

 Telling it as I see It is all I try to do as well and I try to side on the side of caution = IMO way too early to know what will be left standing as very good arguments can be made for both sides and why things should go and why other things should stay. I guess it will come down to teh Heads of both FF programs sitting down and going over everything line by line , which to an extent they been doing for some time now, and why as you posted CO now has SWUs but 100k isnt a new Level just the # of EQMs needed per year to get the SWUs, a person with 100K on CO is still listed as a Plat and the only difference between the person with 100k and 75k is the SWUs otherwise they both are the same Plats

 But since very few people on here are interested like I am in the Status levels and what youd get, Id say most here are simply interested in knowing where is it best to park my Miles , where can I get the most for selling my miles, where will I have a better chance of scoring a free tkt to TLV from. Those questions unfortuantely have IMO 2 answers to each 1- where its best today (no merge) and 2- where would it be best post merge.

 # 2 IMO cant be answered as of yet since the T&Cs of what will be arent known and as I said very valid pts can be presented for both sides. when DL took over NW they did away with things NW was doing only in the end to bring some of them back and others they didnt, what will stay and what will go and what may be brought back, who knows I surely Do NOT

[shuller]

I'm in a similar situation - got the two chase accounts and continental card for a trip to Israel - anyone have 75K miles I can buy for a second ticket