moving_man

Hi,

I fly about 500,000 miles per year and I am currently PlatinumElite with AAdvantage. Appreciated if someone could advise if it would be smarter for me to change to a different program as I actually never fly AA.

I fly mostly with CX in Asia, or with BA between HK and London. All in Business Class. About 500,000 miles and about 50 sectors per year. I am based in Hong Kong, so HKG is my home airport, but I may move to LHR in time.

I never fly to the USA and I never use AA.

I use my points exclusively for free flights for myself and the family. Mostly in Asia with CX. Some in business and others in economy.

Your guidance is much appreciated.

Paul

Mwenenzi

moving_man Welcome to FT

AA miles are very good for awards:- good earn to burn. How did you get /maintain AA status if you do not fly AA? From a credit card? With no status you will miss the bonus miles from status

You could split ffp earning to between CX & AA. Get status with CX, which would not be hard for you based on many business flights. CX treats its top status passengers very well from reports here on FT

Tesna

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?

Primarily decent earn/burn ratio and gaining status.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?

Currently approximately 30k. By mid 2015 rolling 12 month average will be around 65k.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?

Discount Y

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?

Currently travel primarily for pleasure but will soon be 50:50 with work. I control the purchase either way, but I am cheap.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?

At least once a year I fly MEL-HKG-PEK and will make one personal trip to either North America or Europe. When travelling overseas I typically fly CX or QR.

Starting mid 2015 I will have to travel to Albury (ABX) every fortnight for work. For this I plan on flying MEL-SYD-ABX on QF.

(6) What is your home airport?

MEL

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?

No status.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?

When travelling internationally I fly CX or QR. I only fly QF domestically.

Thanks for any advice!

dspaniard

Hi Guys and Gal,

This is my first post on this forumn and before loading you all with questions I thought best to say, Hi!

I am a british expat who now lives in Moscow. I started there this september and am now trying to figure out what the best way for me to aquire points and loyalty status.

I hope to learn and advise throught this site as I spend far too much time on planes and in hotels. Unfortunately im currently a newbee to most of this so as standard, the first post is more questions than answers...

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
ReplyIn order of pref) Lounge access, baggage allowance, redemtion schemes, benefits across all FFP, miles aquisition

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply:>40000 miles, 25-50 flights

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Economy (Seldom PE)

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Mostly work, some pleasure. I can choose the arilines and routes

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Mostly S7, British Airways, other one world - European, Central Asia, Asia. Mostly international, Domestic Russia, 1 transatlantic return per year

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: Domodedovo, Vrukovo, Sheremetovo (Moscow Airports)

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: Silver Cathay, Gold Star Alliance + many gold/platinum hotel cards

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: One world partners

I hope to redeme the points for international flights to Asia (Thailand, HKK, SGP, etc). If possible the status aquired should also allow for benefits when flying with Cathay Pacific (lounge, business check in, etc). The points can be aquired through any one world alliance member although most flights will be taken with S7 or BA.

If there is anyting else I can add to make it easyer to work out please let me know. I am also very open to learning how you work all this out so any hints or tips would be read and studied!

Thank you all in advance!!

Dave

creampuff

Thanks for that detailed post. (For the benefit of other readers, I've deleted out most of the quote to save screen real-estate). I've had a look at AA redemption requirements which look a lot better than QF, so AA might be the right program. I've posted on the AA forum to ask about it.

moving_man

Very much appreciate the feedback. I retain AA PlatExec status by using their card on BA and CX flights. I have considered getting another CX card and dividing the points between CX and AA. Just a bit more of a hassle spending my points, but a good suggestion.

HasteFlier

Thank you very much ! i'll look between BA and AB then

lcpteck

I thought you need at least 4 sectors on AA Metal in order to qualify for Elite status.

Mwenenzi

I left out "not" in my reply. Have now edited my post 782
Some thing does not make sense.

lcpteck

Yeah let's wait for moving_man to reply.

creampuff

500,000 miles a year is 84 trips between Hong Kong and London and almost 1000 hours (or half of a full time job) flying a year at average passenger jet speeds. Counting time getting to and from the airport and within the airport, it is more than half of a full time job.

Are you sure you fly that much?

Mwenenzi

I suspect its 500,000 frequent flyer miles and not 500,000 butt in seat miles. May even include miles from credit cards

JSlo

UA refugee here...looking to move to OneWorld, either with QR or AA...Here is the survey form. Any help at all is appreciated!


(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply In order of pref: Upgrades, priority services, award redemption/earning, Lounge access,

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply:>110k, >50 flights

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Premium Economy

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Mostly work, some pleasure. I can choose the arilines and routes.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Mostly UA- multiple global trips to Asia, Europe, and Middle East. A bunch of US domestic as well. Really all over.

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: DEN

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: UA 1K, bottom tier of other US legacies...SPG Platinum

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: Depends on what I choose! For my flying loyalty.

Mwenenzi

Upgrades? Have you looked at QR forum? QR upgrades?? Must be the day for upgrades Post in Star which ffp?
Generally you only get upgrades, by freq flyer instrument(SWU) or miles, on the airline you fly. Not partner airlines

As resident of USA hard to go past AA. BA is good for short haul awards
UA is still a reasonable ffp compared to others in Star or even OW

Vulcan

My nehew called me after taking a new job requiring him to be on the road internationally 1 week a month. To him, FF programs are 'so confusing'.
So he asked me to help him pick a primary airline to credit 'miles' to.

He will be travelling to SIN, PEK, SHA - EZE, RIO,SCL - IST, FCO, VCE. So these look to me to point to OW. (He is concerened about UA going to a revenue basis, but I suspect AA will get there in a year or 2 also).

Now the details:
His company buys him 'cheap, bulk, coach tickets'. They use CX a lot because they "give his company very good deals". AS is important to him as he and his gf have relatives in Alaska.

So, to me AA or CX would be a good fit. He is far from a veteran traveller and I perceive that a major goal should be to get to Saphire status as quickly as possible for lounge access. Of course collecting miles for him and his gf to travel is very important.
Any suggestions, along with the reasoning behind them would be appreciated. I know a lot about Star Alliance and Sky Team, but zero about OW.
Edited to add: Home airport is LAX