MilesBuzz! - If You had to Choose 1 Mileage Program for life?

If you had to choose just one mileage program to stick with for life which would it be? And why?

Some reasons could be that the hub is in your hometown, or you've already accumulated xxx number of miles. What if you had to start over?

one problem i see here is that milage programs change, therefore i will not get married to a mileage program.

Echoing the previous poster, what is good now may not be in 6 months.

As it stands now, I would pick AA as their cc's are still churnable. Possibly United as they are UR transfer partners and there are several different ways of earning UR points.

United for me, even though I primarily fly DL. It's a large airline with a good network, has the best international partners, and good award redemptions. I also live near the SFO hub which is an added bonus. The Chase Sapph Preff is a great card as well and allows transfers to UA to help build points. Being a transfer partner of Chase UR is probably what puts them over the top. Without that, I'd probably stick with DL even though award redemptions are much worse than with UA.

one problem i see here is that milage programs change, therefore i will not get married to a mileage program.

That's a good point. For argument sake, let's say all mileage programs stay the same as what it is today.

That's a good point. For argument sake, let's say all mileage programs stay the same as what it is today.

well on the other hand "i might change",
i used to fly coach to vegas alot then WN worked great for me especailly with the free flight after 4 flights when booked on line, or heck even with the old stamp card( some might remeber WN with the busnes card they stamped each flight and then you mailed it in)
now however we like to goto europe and fly up front. also now i have a 4 yo so i need to find 3 tickets on the same flight in premium, therefore i think BA is best for me right now, i know it has high fuel surcharges but at this point in my life getting 3 premium class seats on the same flights is worth some extra cash layout.
I might change my mind in a few years when the boy is old enough to fly by himself in coach and i only need ot find 2 seats in premium class

United for me, even though I primarily fly DL. It's a large airline with a good network, has the best international partners, and good award redemptions. I also live near the SFO hub which is an added bonus. The Chase Sapph Preff is a great card as well and allows transfers to UA to help build points. Being a transfer partner of Chase UR is probably what puts them over the top. Without that, I'd probably stick with DL even though award redemptions are much worse than with UA.

I agree (for now). Even though they've had their SHARES of struggles, imo, of the domestic carriers, their award redemption is the best.

one problem i see here is that milage programs change, therefore i will not get married to a mileage program.

That's a good point. For argument sake, let's say all mileage programs stay the same as what it is today.

I marry a person for life.
I participate in a loyalty program based on my personal whims.

I accumulated 600k miles on AA to travel on CX, pointy end, with the family.

I am accumulating US miles to take the DW on a nice trip to Europe on LH.

If I were still flying 100k miles a year I would fly AA because of the 8 SWUs.

AAdvantage mos. def. The award avalibility and easy-to-use award search tool wins it for me.

Gotta be Baltic Air. They are the Apple Computer of airlines. What other airline sells their own sneakers? And people actually buy them! They are one mean green marketing machine!:D

I'm reminded of the way Charlie Luciano answers questions in the movie Mobsters, where he says "I don't accept the premise of the question." (I think he's being asked if he wants to join one Mafia family, or die then and there.)

The entire point of loyalty programs is to re-earn your loyalty every day.

Right now, if you asked me if I could pick just one steakhouse to go to for the rest of my life, it would be Morton's of Chicago, because of the secret "Steak and Seafood For Two" menu they've had for the past few years. But if they ever stopped that, I'd quickly go to Del Frisco's or Ruth's Chris or whomever offered something similar. Why should I pledged my loyalty.

Now if I were offered a promise "for life" that the airline program would never change their rules or availability or mileage earning opportunities, I might be able to answer the question. Which is about as likely as Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Bob Hamman saying to me "Hank, we need a 4th for bridge, can you be at the airport in an hour to fly you on a private jet to Switzerland for the weekend?"

Used to be US but now back with UA.

Echoing the previous poster, what is good now may not be in 6 months.

As it stands now, I would pick AA as their cc's are still churnable. Possibly United as they are UR transfer partners and there are several different ways of earning UR points.

can you explain how AA cc's are churnable? I was under the impression only the barclay's US card was really churnable. 18-24 months is a long time to wait between churns.

You'll find that the best program hinges for any given person can hinge on where you are based, where to fly for work and where you'd like to fly for vacations, how much you fly, whether you value upgrades or awards more, etc., etc., etc.

But, having said all that, the answer for me is definitely AA for too many reasons to list here, but basically featuring award and upgrade availability. Of the major USA competitors, DL is completely out of the picture because it's devalued its miles to the point where you typically have to spend many more of them on a given trip in a given class of service than you do on its competitors. And with all due respect to those favoring UA, its frequent flier program is on a downward spiral that includes limited upgrade availability, a very non-transparent upgrade system, lots of trouble dealing with all aspects of its reservations system (including upgrades) online or within 24 hours of flight, the sale of upgrades that otherwise would go to members for free, often very limited award availability, other poor treatment of its program members, etc., etc. Check out the UA forum for many threads on these issues.

Now, some fear that AA's system will also deteriorate as it emerges from bankruptcy and in order to compete with UA and DL. While that's a possibility, I suspect any deterioration will not be too bad. And besides, it's a certainty that UA's system will continue to go downhill.

can you explain how AA cc's are churnable?

18-24 months is a long time to wait between churns.

You explained it yourself. I don't know of any card that is completely unchurnable if given the appropriate wait time. Some, like US, are just available at a faster churn rate.

As for the topic at hand, I'd probably pick AA if I could only choose one, but like many here, my opinion tends to vary from season to season.

If you had to choose just one mileage program to stick with for life which would it be? And why?

Some reasons could be that the hub is in your hometown, or you've already accumulated xxx number of miles. What if you had to start over?

Well, thankfully, we don't need to pick one for life. Thats all my answer is here.:D

Flying Colonels

If you are saying any loyalty program (not just airlines) I would pick a hotel loyalty program - Marriott (Just because they have more properties). Redeeming hotels is a lot easier.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I'm fairly new to this game of getting miles/points and just wanted to know where to put my focus and which mileage credit card I should be using. Thanks :D

Probably American. Overall I've had the most success on redemptions with them and as as it is, I'm quite close to my first Million Miles on them. They're also fairly decent out of RDU as it is.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I'm fairly new to this game of getting miles/points and just wanted to know where to put my focus and which mileage credit card I should be using. Thanks :D

Actually before you make a decision I would suggest you evaluate what's best for you. Or ask others why they like their program. Going by what most people recommended here may not be good unless you agree with their reason. For example I now like UA over US because they allow one way awards, have cheaper fees, have more flexible routings, more online bookable partners, allow star and non star partners to be mixed in an award (although the number of non star partners is reducing). Plus they allow changes to routing after departure for free. US does not allow any changes after departure even for a fee.

OTOH UA has made changes to its elite program and in that aspect US is better. So you need to examine what is important to you and them choose.

American for me. Cathay biz can't be beat.
Going to the Carib for 25k during the low season is kinda awesome, too.

I would go with UA just because of their strong network and the fact I have had good luck redeeming with them in the past into saver business

If you had to choose just one mileage program to stick with for life which would it be? And why?

Some reasons could be that the hub is in your hometown, or you've already accumulated xxx number of miles. What if you had to start over?

A very odd assumption....

Are you so sure you would live in the same home town for your whole life as folks in the 19th century?

That's a good point. For argument sake, let's say all mileage programs stay the same as what it is today.

A very flaw assumption as no program is alike. They all have their advantages and disadvantages, strong areas and weak spots. Plus things do change, and often enough before most here understand how the rules work.

Your focus is at first know which airline(s) serve your market, i.e. your current hometown and where you want to go in the coming few years.
Then put in time and effort to actually read the rules of said airline's program, the things that work for you and the things that dont. Pick an alternative program - do the same and compare them.

What work for others may not work for you at all - such as a person lives at or very near an airline hub would have a total different perspective as someone who lives in a secondary city that always require connection flights to a hub city, just to name one aspect (and not a trivia one by the way.)

This is a hard question. I've been a big US air guy b/c I fly out of DCA and have enjoyed LH F redemptions but after flying CX F on four different legs in the last year on AA miles and realizing EY F is now within reach Im leaning towards AA. The key though is to have options between alliances. Having UA and AA miles with one way capabilities is a wonderful thing.

This is a hard question. I've been a big US air guy b/c I fly out of DCA and have enjoyed LH F redemptions but after flying CX F on four different legs in the last year on AA miles and realizing EY F is now within reach Im leaning towards AA. The key though is to have options between alliances. Having UA and AA miles with one way capabilities is a wonderful thing.

Are you saying CX F is better than LH, the hard product and the soft product both? I have flown a few CX F but never on LH F yet. I find the setting of a bed next to a seat on LH F is kind of strange, and a big waste of space.

I hear you about the EY F - I have set my mind on it now, just dont know when / if, we would go to Middle East (even just as a transit). ;)

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I'm fairly new to this game of getting miles/points and just wanted to know where to put my focus and which mileage credit card I should be using. Thanks :D
Well, then you asked the wrong question. The quesiton you should have asked is: Should I put my focus all on one airline, with regards to mileage credit cards, and I'd say the answer is no.

There are places only one of the three major alliances fly (or at least that you can actually get awards), and if you want to use your miles to go various places, eventually you will want miles in another alliance.

You want to collect "too many" miles, therefore, if possible, but concentrated in a few airlines (perhaps one airline per alliance).

Yes, you may want to start with one airline, so that you have something usable there, but you probably in the long run don't want to limit yourself to one airline.

You don't even need to collect credit card miles from the airline you fly the most. I do the exact opposite: I earn so many miles on AA from flying, that I mostly collect UA from partner activity. That way I have UA miles to redeem (when I'm going someplace either AA and its partners don't go or are too stingy with rewards), even though I rarely if ever fly UA paid.

Keep in mind that the number of miles you get from signup offers dwarfs the number of miles you get from actually using a credit card long-term for most people. That's why so many of us focus on applying for cards, and less so on using them. (It's mostly just the people who can put big business expenses on their card that can rack up huge miles just using a particular card for all their purchases. The average person -- who can't put their mortgage/rent, car payments, insurance, etc, cost-effectively on a credit card -- has to go years making regular purchases on one creidt card before they have enough miles for a international redemption. But doing just a few credit card applications a year, picking only ones with great bonuses, can get you enough miles to fly one maybe even two or more international trips a year.)

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I'm fairly new to this game of getting miles/points and just wanted to know where to put my focus and which mileage credit card I should be using. Thanks :D

I like United MileagePlus, because I can transfer UltimateRewards points to them, they have low surcharges to Europe, decent availability, I live in one of their hub cities, and I can fly Lufthansa & Swiss F with using them.

For you though, it depends. Where do you live?

And what are your travel preferences (favorite destinations, value premium cabin or maximizing number of trips)?

If you asked me the same question just a week ago, I would've certainly choosen AA. Not because they are so much better than others, but because I love flying to Latin America, and their partnership with LAN helps me get there in style. However, now that their partnership with LAN might end, I will probably have to start "shopping" for another true love:). Good thing I have diversified and never sworn allegiance to one particular loyalty program.

Are you saying CX F is better than LH, the hard product and the soft product both? I have flown a few CX F but never on LH F yet. I find the setting of a bed next to a seat on LH F is kind of strange, and a big waste of space.

I hear you about the EY F - I have set my mind on it now, just dont know when / if, we would go to Middle East (even just as a transit). ;)

I've only done the old LH F. The hard product was okay (CX F is much better). I really enjoyed the soft product on LH but it wasn't in the same league as the CX F soft product. I liked the food on LH F but again, the food on CX F was better both in options and quality. Both have Johnnie Walker Blue which is a nice treat.

By way of an excuse for EY F, the Maldives are on my list. AUH is a good connecting point for India and Sri Lanka. We're taking TK J to visit my brother-in-law in Beirut, a city he raves about. The next time we go we'll try EY.

If you asked me the same question just a week ago, I would've certainly choosen AA. Not because they are so much better than others, but because I love flying to Latin America, and their partnership with LAN helps me get there in style. However, now that their partnership with LAN might end, I will probably have to start "shopping" for another true love:). Good thing I have diversified and never sworn allegiance to one particular loyalty program.

I think the odds of LA staying with 1W and taking JJ in as well are very high as AV and TA will be joining Star soon.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I'm fairly new to this game of getting miles/points and just wanted to know where to put my focus and which mileage credit card I should be using. Thanks :D

If that's the case, then why not just ask the question based on what you want to know? Why ask it in a totally different context that has little value even to you and gets everyone off on a different direction and does not provide the information you really want?

I think the odds of LA staying with 1W and taking JJ in as well are very high as AV and TA will be joining Star soon.

True, this is why I said "might".:cool:

PHL is a US Air hub; thus far I've been putting my miles on United, but I'm finding most flights I end up taking are US Air, especially to SFO which I'll be doing moderately often.

I probably have gotten 50k miles this year on UA Mileage Plus and am about to fly Air Canada to Vancouver (times 5), another ~25k. I'll likely be going to Atlanta later this year (5 family members again). Also, should my wife and I put all our miles on one or split? We usually travel together with the kids on business; once in a while I may fly alone; my wife may very rarely travel alone. (We work for the same company. )

we're also thinking of signing up for US Air's or UA's credit cards both for miles and for perks.

Advice?

Just wondering now after reading this....what would be the best airline program for me living in Los Angeles. My main one is United Mileage right now. Should I choose another mileage plan program to add miles?

Don't have a specific one to recommend, but I would suggest excluding Delta from consideration for the following reasons:
1. Unlike AA, UA, and WN, they do not offer half-priced one-way awards.
2. Rumors of DL switching to a revenue-based instead of mileage-based program.
3. Award availability at low redemption levels is generally thought to be worse than other US based programs.
4. Significantly stricter restrictions on last minute award changes / refunds compared to other US based programs.
5. Past practice of implementing significant and unfavorable changes to the program with little notice.
6. Unlike other US based programs, fuel surcharges apply to many Delta awards for travel originating outside the US.

http://customersupport.spirit.com/entries/21368493-how-do-i-join-the-free-spirit-frequent-flier-program

It has to be US Air since my home airport is CLT which is a hub and I love the cheap business class point awards to europe in the winter, and direct flights from Charlotte to most of the destinations I wanna visit in the Caribean etc

Just wondering now after reading this....what would be the best airline program for me living in Los Angeles. My main one is United Mileage right now. Should I choose another mileage plan program to add miles?

AA, for the reasons I list in post #14 of this thread and for many more, including that LAX is an AA hub.

AA, for the reasons I list in post #14 of this thread and for many more, including that LAX is an AA hub.

Thanks very much. I have most points in United but will start earning more AA miles.

PHL is a US Air hub; thus far I've been putting my miles on United, but I'm finding most flights I end up taking are US Air, especially to SFO which I'll be doing moderately often.

I probably have gotten 50k miles this year on UA Mileage Plus and am about to fly Air Canada to Vancouver (times 5), another ~25k. I'll likely be going to Atlanta later this year (5 family members again). Also, should my wife and I put all our miles on one or split? We usually travel together with the kids on business; once in a while I may fly alone; my wife may very rarely travel alone. (We work for the same company. )

we're also thinking of signing up for US Air's or UA's credit cards both for miles and for perks.

Advice?

If you're in PHL, you should stick with US Air. If you repeat your 2012 travel in 2013, you'll be a US Air plat which gives you a good chance to get upgrades depending on the route. I'd get the US Air 40-60K offer in the credit card thread. That way you'll get an extra 10K elite qualifying miles if you spend $25K in a year.

You and your wife should each get a UA and US card (total of 4) for the signup bonuses and companion certificates on US.

if I had to choose one mileage program for life, whatever it would be, I would ask to die the next day.

So much changes that whatever you choose that may be good right now can stink tomorrow, and VS. So there is no answer. I mean for me right now DL is great for the international travel we do with awards. AA is good for Hawaii and islands and UA for ski trips to Colorado or something. And yet, one of em could buy out the other and BOOM, the whole game changes.

So I dunno.

Don't have a specific one to recommend, but I would suggest excluding Delta from consideration for the following reasons:
1. Unlike AA, UA, and WN, they do not offer half-priced one-way awards.
2. Rumors of DL switching to a revenue-based instead of mileage-based program.
3. Award availability at low redemption levels is generally thought to be worse than other US based programs.
4. Significantly stricter restrictions on last minute award changes / refunds compared to other US based programs.
5. Past practice of implementing significant and unfavorable changes to the program with little notice.
6. Unlike other US based programs, fuel surcharges apply to many Delta awards for travel originating outside the US.

Well said ^^^

Ok so help me out here: you just sign up for the credit card offers that give you bonus miles when signing up, cancel the card after receiving the miles, and keep doing that every 18 months or so? Doesn't that hurt your credit score?

Ok so help me out here: you just sign up for the credit card offers that give you bonus miles when signing up, cancel the card after receiving the miles, and keep doing that every 18 months or so? Doesn't that hurt your credit score?

depends on how and when and why you did the cancel/churning.

sometimes yes sometimes now but generally it doesnt really do too much to your score.

What it can do, however, is place a ton of hits on your report, and while these may not hurt your score (ie, lower it too much or by many points over all) it can make creditors less likely to advance too you. Their reason may actually be: Denied because of too many recent (and they mean 1-2 years sometimes when they say that) inquiries on your report" So they want you to wait longer before applying.

I have this with Citi. In their case, they are concerned with how many hits or inquiries I have had with THEM, whereas other banks may see my citi hits and not care about those. Citi wont give me anything because I had once churned a gazillion cards (and made LTG on AA because of it) and now I am stuck with the one CC I have for now. I figured out that most hits happen to drop off by next Feb so then I might try for one more card.

Chase, on the other hand, recently approved me for what would be my 5th card in as many months (yup it can de done) but this time they asked if THEY could close 3 cards I do not need. I picked ones I already got the bonuses on like my Southwest card and the AARP and let THEM close them out. This way it didnt look like I was churning... they asked for it.

And my score went up.

generally a new card or a hit only affects you a few points either way, or so I have found.

Flyertalk has an entire forum devoted to discussion of Credit Card Programs. Rather than reinvent the churn in this thread, I suggest you research the topic here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs-599/