MilesBuzz! - I'm a Newbie with questions

Hello,
I recently started researching to find a frequent flier program and I'm amazed at how many choices there are - there are too many! Anyway, I will be flying from Burlington, VT to Honolulu 3 times this year. One of those times i will have 4 friends with me (who are not frequent flyers). I'm looking for a way that I can benefit from their flights. Also, my girlfriend and I will be going to Thailand in Feb. I'm looking to capitalize on a frequent flyer program as well as purchasing the tickets with a credit card that can accrue miles. My goal is to earn free ticket to Honolulu.

I have the following questions:
1. Is it possible to earn both credit card miles and a FF program miles?
2. Does anyone know of a FF program that will allow me to benefit from friends tickets if I purchase them? Is there a way to transfer their points to me?
3. Burlington Int'l Airport has Delta, Continental, United, Northwest, and US Airways. Any ideas on which has the best FF program?
4. Assuming that I purchase all of these tickets on a credit card that earns mileage (and I'm not a big spender otherwise) does anyone have an opinion on which creditcard would have the best payout mileage-wise?
5. Are "points" equivalent to miles?
6. If I buy cheap tickets do I still earn the same amount of miles? Maybe I have this wrong but I thought it is based on how far you go.

Thank you,

Hello,
I recently started researching to find a frequent flier program and I'm amazed at how many choices there are - there are too many! Anyway, I will be flying from Burlington, VT to Honolulu 3 times this year. One of those times i will have 4 friends with me (who are not frequent flyers). I'm looking for a way that I can benefit from their flights. Also, my girlfriend and I will be going to Thailand in Feb. I'm looking to capitalize on a frequent flyer program as well as purchasing the tickets with a credit card that can accrue miles. My goal is to earn free ticket to Honolulu.

I have the following questions:
1. Is it possible to earn both credit card miles and a FF program miles?
2. Does anyone know of a FF program that will allow me to benefit from friends tickets if I purchase them? Is there a way to transfer their points to me?
3. Burlington Int'l Airport has Delta, Continental, United, Northwest, and US Airways. Any ideas on which has the best FF program?
4. Assuming that I purchase all of these tickets on a credit card that earns mileage (and I'm not a big spender otherwise) does anyone have an opinion on which creditcard would have the best payout mileage-wise?
5. Are "points" equivalent to miles?
6. If I buy cheap tickets do I still earn the same amount of miles? Maybe I have this wrong but I thought it is based on how far you go.

Thank you,

Aloha from Lahaina, and welcome to FlyerTalk!

1. Most airline affiliated credit cards give double miles on tickets purchased from their affiliated airline with their credit card: 1 mile per dollar cost plus 1 bonus mile per dollar cost. That is in addition to frequent flyer miles earned by flying: calculated as air miles.

2. Only the person on the ticket may earn the associated flight miles; Hawaiian Airlines allows members to transfer their earned miles to any other member who also holds a Bank of America Hawaiian Miles Visa Card. Aloha Airlines lets members and immediate family share miles.

3. I vote for Continental. Look into Continental to Los Angeles, and Hawaiian from Los Angeles to Hawaii to take advantage of the miles sharing benefits as mentioned above. Otherwise, Continental will fly you from Newark to Honolulu non-stop.

4. I use the credit card associated with the airline I fly.

5. Points do not always equal miles on a 1 to 1 basis: different programs have different exchange ratios, dependant on a number of variables.

6. Most often, with some exceptions, but probably not on the routes you're talking about, no matter who you buy your tickets from or how much you pay, if you are enrolled in an airline's frequent flyer program, and your frequent flyer number is entered on you ticket/reservation prior to stepping on the airplane, you will get the miles credited to your account.

Have fun!

Welcome to FT! A few modifications/corrections to the above:

1. Not necessarily. This varies by credit card. Citibank AA cards, for example, do not. It's still possible to earn both: credit card miles for paying, flying miles for flying. It is not necessary for the same person to do both.

2. Not that it will do you much good, but British Airways also has a family mileage-pooling option.

5. The term "point" does not have a standard meaning. Some people use it informally to mean miles. Some programs, especially hotel programs, call their credits points instead of miles, since most hotels don't move around much; the value of a hotel point can vary widely by any measure. Some airlines, such as AA, use both: miles to earn rewards and/or elite status, points as one of two other ways to earn status. You have to use the term in the context of a specific program for it to have meaning.

6. Some deep-discount tickets do not earn miles. This is usually true of consolidator tickets and those purchased from "opaque" sites such as PriceLine. (Reports of people earning miles/points on those tickets/hotel stays generally reflects an error on the airline's/hotel's part.) It may also be true of an airline's lowest fare class(es). The following verbiage, from Air New Zealand, is representative:

Airpoints members cannot earn Airpoints Dollars in conjunction with Domestic, Tasman and Pacific Island Smart Saver fares booked in L, G, S, K & P booking classes, Airpoints™ reward classes (X,I), travel industry (incl. duty travel) classes (N,R) and any fares booked in A class. Members of airline partner frequent flyer programmes are unable to earn points/miles in conjunction with fares booked in any of the classes noted above, regardless of route. Airpoints companion tickets are unable to be purchased in conjunction with fares booked in any of the classes noted above.Airline partners, which are an important part of any personal mileage-earning program, may be even more restrictive than an airline is with its own program. (In the above quote, note that flights in some regions booked in the listed fare classes would earn Air New Zealand miles, but not partner miles.) Specifics vary from airline to airline. You have to check the ones you're interested in. The difference between a mileage-earning fare and one that doesn't can be quite small, fully justifying paying the difference, but you have to be aware of the issue and check each time.

Welcome to FT!
5. Are "points" equivalent to miles?
You also should be aware that some credit cards (such as Capital One and others) offer you "points" for purchases made with their credit card, and you can earn a free ticket "on any airline" when you have "25000 points". (That just happens to be the same amount - if you're lucky - that the major airlines require for a free ticket.) But there is a BIG difference - actually 3!

1) Those "points" can only be used with that program! Also, there is a $ limit when that program buys you a "free" ticket - maybe $350-$400! So if they can buy a ticket from BTV-DCA for $325, they will buy it for you. However, if the $325 tickets are sold out but there is a $500 seat available, they will say that "no seats are available" (because it costs more than their ticket limit price)!

2) You can not transfer these "points" to another airline build up your account with them. (You can not take 10000 to transfer to CO, 3000 to transfer to UA, etc...) These "points" do not have any value outside of this program.

3) You will never get a First Class ticket using these "points"! Try to find a First Class ticket from BTV to SAN for under $350! If you can they may offer to buy it for you. (But I doubt it!)

Followup to the_traveler's comments above:

Tickets provided by the 'CC travel agency' MAY (or may not) qualify as miles earning for either status or spending ~ lots of variables which you'll read about elsewhere in these threads.

:-: One should ALWAYS seek to have their airline FF numbers imprinted on such reservations/tickets prior to steping aboard the a/c: 'sometimes' even non-qualifying tickets will somehow be credited for BIS milage.
And, after you've achieved status, you'll have a shot at upgrades ...

CC tickets aren't the ideal, but they do have their place in the food chain.

/.

3)Yes, Check out Citi Premier Pass cards

If you have an CO airlines Master Card and purchase your friends tickets on your card you will get double reward points for those tickets. Just make sure your friends pay you back. I, for example, help my friends out by buying their air travel (and planning their vacations).They get 5% off their total costs since I use my CO Master Card to pay for their tickets which gives me (them)5% off when I use the CO master card on Continental.com. I get whatever their tickets cost times two- back in reward miles (Continental gives 5% off total ticket price plus two times the cost in one pass rewards for tickets purchased on CO.com using their master card). These reward miles are not to be confused with EQM which can only be earned flying, at least on CO.