SAA is now a partner of United Airlines

Old Feb 17th, 2006, 01:12 PM
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SAA is now a partner of United Airlines

(not sure if this is news or not, but it is the first time I have heard about it).

Delta members can earn miles only through March 31, 2006 to apply towards SAA. Miles must be redeemed by September 30, 2006 for travel through September 2007.

(Not sure what this means to me as I get all my miles through my AMEX. Would I only be able to transfer miles to Delta and then book a SAA flight through March 31st or would I still be able to do this through September 30th?)

I wonder how many miles United will charge for the USA - South Africa route and how much they will charge for the Europe - South Africa route.
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Old Feb 17th, 2006, 01:26 PM
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Rocco, this won't affect transfers from Amex to Delta -- you can do that at any time. But you can't book an SAA ticket using Delta SkyMiles after September 30, 2006.
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Old Feb 17th, 2006, 01:47 PM
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I don't believe UA or AA accept Amex mile transfers...
 
Old Feb 17th, 2006, 02:07 PM
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I wonder how many miles United will charge for the USA - South Africa route

Same as now: 80K coach, 120K biz, 160K FC

...and how much they will charge for the Europe - South Africa route.

60K coach, 75K biz, 100K FC.
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Old Feb 17th, 2006, 03:40 PM
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Sure wish this would have happened before I got my tickets. I could have earned a ton more miles..... harumph.

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Old Feb 17th, 2006, 03:41 PM
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I posted this back in Oct http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...4&tid=34691213 (beat you all, hehe ) but the original announcement was redemption through Aug 31, 2006. I see we get an extra month!

BTW Delta Skymiles redemption on Virgin Atlantic flights ended last month, so that's another option that's no longer available to South Africa. You can still earn Delta Skymiles when flying Virgin and now you can even earn MQM's (Medallion Qualification Miles).
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Old Feb 17th, 2006, 04:08 PM
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I should also add that effective Feb 10, 2006, the award hold period for any international Delta Skymiles award redemptions involving flights on a partner airline will now be reduced to ONLY 48 hours (down from 14 days). Fortunately, the Membership Rewards to Delta transfer is near instantaneous.

I don't know what will happen if you're used to checking for outbound availability 331 days in advance and need the hold time to check your return
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Old Feb 17th, 2006, 04:11 PM
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This change doesn't affect domestic awards or international awards where all of the flights are operated by Delta.
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Old Feb 17th, 2006, 06:07 PM
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Patty - You sure are the flight guru!
I've been a member of Mileage Plus since '98, since I almost exclusively fly United out of Lincoln to Chicago for international flights. Had I waited, I could have gotten miles all the way instead of just for the London leg. (Just being greedy, I know!)
Cheers~!
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Old Feb 17th, 2006, 09:35 PM
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Sandi,

AA will accept Amex points, I just did it. And Patty, I also notified the board about the breakup of this partnership last fall!! When I booked my free flight, the Delta representative clued me in. I wonder whether there was trouble between the two airlines due to last year's strike and the resulting claims. Another interesting fact is that my insurance company, Travel Guard, will not insure against an SAA strike. I called them and asked why, the strike is over!! They mumbled some sort of reply that the union 'might' still be in negotiations. I haven't been able to find out more. My travel agent believes the strike has been settled, and that's what I've understood from the news. So watch out when you purchase insurance. I had already bought mine before I checked their 'strike list'.
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Old Feb 18th, 2006, 05:08 AM
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Lin -

Thanks - they didn't at the outset, but things do change and I haven't kept up.
 
Old Feb 18th, 2006, 02:54 PM
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Lin,
You can't transfer Membership Rewards points to American AAdvantage. Are you referring to purchasing a ticket on AA using your Membership Rewards points? That option would require a lot more points vs using an AAdvantage award as I believe it's based on the cost of the ticket on a 100 points = $1 basis, so a $7000 business class ticket would require a whopping 700,000 points

Or perhaps you have the Starwood Amex and you actually transfer from Starwood to AAdvantage? You have me curious now. :-?
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