I am attempting to decide which way to go with obtaining miles. I am new to this and would appreciate any opinions anyone might have. I fly 3-4 times a year, across country and once internationally (vacation with my wife). I am more interested in upgrades than free flights, especially internationally. Which program/credit card(I would charge approximately 20K annually)would provide me with the best deals.

Welcome to FlyerTalk. For you, the most important thing is concentrating all of your annual air travel into a single FF program. 25,000 miles a year will earn first tier elite status with most carriers, and that's going to help.

If I had to pick one piece of plastic, there's no question which one it would be: Diners Club

Goliard --

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

Just a quick note -- when you post a new thread, it's much more helpful to the readers to have the topic give a hint of what's inside the thread. "Help" is a bit general. Something like, "Tips for a new flyer getting upgrades" would be much better for everyone involved.

I'd have to agree with EPS. The first thing you need to do is to concentrate all of your travel onto a single airline. Three transcons and one int'l trip might be enough to get you to the first tier elite status.

Unfortunately, to get int'l upgrades, you usually have to spend miles for each trip. No airlines just "give htem out for free". If you're top tier on some airlines (AA/UA/DL) you get a limited number of systemwide upgrades, which can be used for int'l travel, but hitting top tier requres flying 100,000 base miles on that airline each year.

Having established that you ought to first consider concentrating with one airline, you may want to consider American Airlines (AA), since by accumulating 1MM miles - whether earned through actual flying or through "partner credits" such as credit card charges, car rentals, floral orders, etc. - you can earn liftime Gold Elite status, which will help you to qualify annually to receive upgrade certificates, or whatever the program may be offering in a particular year.

Do charge everything and anything you can to your credit card, however, whichever affinity program you choose.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Harold Bahls (edited 03-07-2001).]

You might want to pay attention, as well, to number of segments. Most airlines have both mileage and segment qualifications. E.g., if you have the time on a transcon flight, instead of connecting once or doing a non-stop, you can make two connections each way usually for a handful of dollars more, resulting in 6 segments (1/5 of the first tier requirement) per round trip. Last year I had 60 segments but only about 40K miles, due to 1/3 to 1/2 of those trips being United shuttle and United Express trips on the west coast. Given that those quick trips always make 4 segments RT each, I then look for ways when I travel "back east" to get more segments. So, for example, instead of flying Oakland-Denver-Indpls, for usually $3 to $10 more I can fly Oakland-Denver-Chicago-Indpls or Oakland-LAX-DEN-IND.

Good advice from everyone so far. A few more thoughts:

1. If you're not sure yet which airline you want to focus on, consider a Diners Club card. It will let you transfer miles to just about any program. Its value to you will depend on where you would charge that $20K, since it's not widely accepted in the US outside the transportation business. (You can e-mail me for an application if you want. That gets me a mileage bonus, in addition to the 12,000 free miles you'll get your first year if you charge something to it every month.)

2. Watch out for Visa/MC cards that accumulate "miles" in their own program and don't let you transfer them to an airline's. These are great for people who want free vacation trips but useless for someone who wants upgrades, since airlines generally give upgrade awards only for their own miles.

3. Collecting segments can be chancy if it involves changing planes in the northern US in winter! I've had two involuntary overnights at ORD so far this season. (Neither routing was to collect segments, but the same concept applies.) Allow for interruptions, and don't plan a segment run if you can't stand to arrive a day late.

Consider the American Express Optima / Sheraton Starwood card rather than the Diners Card. Although there is no signup bonus, there is also no annual fee, it is more widely accepted and you can convert 20,000 Starwood points to 25,000 miles with most major airlines. As an added feature you could simply retain the Starwood points and use them for hotel stays which in pure dollar terms makes them even more valuable.

I'd say it's a close call between the two. Goliard says he/she will charge about 20K a year. With Starwood Optima, he/she pays $0 and gets 25K miles. With Diners, he/she pays $80 and gets 32K. That's $80 for 7K miles, about 1.14 cents per. That's a pretty good deal if you're using them for upgrades.

After the first year it's another story. The trade-off would depend on the size of any retention bonus he/she can talk Diners into (or out of).

Plus, of course, there are places that take AmEx but not Diners, so it also depends somewhat on who you charge with.

(Pushing travel-related threads ahead).