rbAA

I'm not switching from OW (EXP on AA,) but for *A I'm choosing OZ for the same reason-lounge access. 40k in 24 months for *A Gold and easy to maintain with 40k in a 24 month requalification period. Though, being outside the US, you might try UA's program, since you don't have to do the PQD requirement. Just dislike UA and am trying to not give them any business of any nature.

malmostoso

Using UA's FFP brings direct revenue to them, as other airlines pay cold hard cash to buy MP miles. Just saying.

malmostoso

I think you should look at SK. Backtracking from DUB to central Europe to go TATL sounds insane to me (also in view of preclearing immigration in DUB), but when you fly to the continent SK will give you something even for the cheapest economy fares on LH and LX.

Look at your travel patterns and see what you can get.

ozymandias24

(1) What is your home airport? (TNR - yes, Antananarivo, Madagascar!) My nearest hub that I spend a lot of time in is JNB - Joburg, South Africa)

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy? Always Y!

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? About 50,000 miles

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Nothing, although I have hundreds of thousands of Avios, mainly from credit card churn and my Amex Platinum!

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Award redemption rates followed by upgrades (especially on SAA). I already get lounge access through my Amex Platinum.

(6) Which routes do you fly most often LHR-JNB and TNR-JNB

(7) Preferred Airlines Don't really mind, although prefer SAA to British Airways on LHR to South Africa routes.

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Both. I am always allowed to choose my routes and make my own flight bookings on work flights.

travel_mav

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.)
LGA/JFK (and EWR if needed)

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.)
Mainly Y fares (or Y+ for international, perhaps discounted J)

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
<25K/year but considering status runs

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Premier, M&M Senator etc)
CX MPC Silver (OW Ruby), might have AA PLT (OW Sapphire) coming soon depending on the outcome of a status challenge


(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.)
Earn/burn usability, possible int'l upgrades and lounge access

(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
Several domestic flights, one or two international annually (all in Y/Y+ depending on price)

(7) Preferred Airlines
*A: UA, LH, SQ

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?)
Almost exclusively pleasure

Intrigued by *A Gold status, especially the ones with a 24 mo qualification period. Doing more flying as of late on United for domestic travel due to visiting family in DEN (so Delta/United direct flights from LGA). Previously an AA PLT but did not fly them enough to re-qualify since I was redeeming miles for international premium cabin flights.

Right now I'm considering SQ, OZ, UA and TK for crediting flights to (open to MS airline due to family tier point pooling). I know we're near the end of the calendar year, but looking to credit some upcoming flights and wouldn't mind some status runs to help bring me closer to where I need to be (such as SQ JFK-FRA in J for ~$2K)
LGA-DEN (UA T/V)
JFK-MUC (LH N/K *the latter may become N fare if cash upgrade to prem. econ opens up)

Any thoughts or advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

CosmicGirl

(1) What is your home airport? - AMS/BRU/DUS
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?- Y
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? - 25-50k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present?- FB Silver/Skyteam Elite, but I'm looking to do a status challenge on *A due to much better fares. I'm torn between UA and AC.
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? - Mostly baggage allowance and extra leg room, low fees on redemption second priority.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? - Transatlantic US & Canada
(7) Preferred Airlines - To fly UA and LH, but for the status challenge I'm torn between UA and AC because I have 22k miles on Aeroplan from when I was living in Canada. Do I start from scratch on UA with more award availability and an easier challenge, or do I build on the 22k I have with AC?
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? - Mostly pleasure in Y, in which case I can choose. I have one trip on AC coming up, but will choose UA over AC if given the option in the future.

checkerboard

I normally fly OneWorld, where I hold highest Elite status (Emerald).

Will soon begin a new work project that calls for six round-trips between Brazil and Madagascar, all in J. Three in late 2017, three in early 2018. Most direct routing is with SAA, but I know nothing of their new Revenue-based program..

To which FF program (*A or other) would it be wisest to credit these trips? I could status-match if that would help. Would like to maximize value...and if possible, collect a useful Elite status outside OneWorld, with as much validity as possible.

To help the forum help me, herewith the answers to questions requested in the Sticky:

================================================== =======
(1) What is your home airport?

SJP, RAO are closest, though for best fares, I often book out of GRU or GIG


(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.)

Because I'd often been able to use AA upgrade certificates (SWUs), I would often fly in J after purchasing deep-discount Y returns between Europe and Brazil; from Europe, I'd take advantage of discount-J tickets to Africa and Asia.


(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)

Normally more than 100,000 (until AA's new EQD requirement, I've re-qualified as EXP each year for the past decade. This year, will be OK on miles, but as the start of a vicious circle, I'll most certainly miss the spending threshold, which means no more upgrade certificates, which means no reason to fly AA between Europe and South America, which means fewer flown miles, which means I'm looking for a new program.


(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?

OneWorld Emerald / AA Executive Platinum (Good through January 2018), after which I'll drop to lifetime AA Platinum.


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

Easy upgrades to business on Y fares are what kept me with AA for so long - would be nice if the new program offered something similar. Decent earn/burn relationship is also important. Lounge access on Y fares is nice; but flying in J is better


(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)

Brazil <-> Southern Africa (twice annually)
Brazil <-> Madagascar (new - monthly commute)
Brazil <-> Europe (3-6 times a year, with opportunistic stops in NY, Miami, California, or Chicago)
Side trips from Europe to Asia (HKG, BKK, CGK) when projects take me there.


(7) Preferred Airlines

Until now, it's been all OneWorld. But AA's EQD requirements are pushing me to explore other options. Since my new job will have me flying a fair bit of SAA J-class, I'm keen to see what *A can offer. Who knows - maybe SAA's program is perfect for me...


(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?

It's a mix... though for the new job, all flights are arranged on my behalf, so I'll have to take what I'm given. For personal flights, however, I can pick my own poison.

================================================== =======
Lastly: For what it's worth - I'm eligible for US-issued credit cards...

Thanks in advance for whatever suggestions you can make.

bigenna

(1) What is your home airport? YVR
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Economy/Lowest
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? Variable, mostly within North America, occasionally to Europe, upcoming flight YVR-BKK, SIN-YVR on Air China business class paid for with our own $'s
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? We have a few miles in Alaska Airlines mileage plan
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Flight rewards, flight upgrades
(6) Which routes do you fly most often North American Domestic, Every couple of years YVR to Europe
(7) Preferred Airlines No preference yet
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? For pleasure

Since this upcoming Air China trip to Asia and back is our first business class flight and we paid for it ourselves we would hope that it can net us some future benefits. We just got approved for a credit card that awarded us with 20,000 bonus points which can be used on "any airline, any time". (BMO World Elite MasterCard).
Since CA is in Star Alliance and we fly from Canada would it be best to attach this to Aeroplan as Air Canada flight rewards would be useful.
My head is swimming trying to read all the information here so any help is appreciated. Oh, btw, on my CA ticket it says "R" class.

Mwenenzi

Aeroplan is not owned by Air Canada. Air Canada has announced they will be instituting their own program circa 2020. It is not clear if Aeroplan miles not used by then will continue to be usable for Air Canada flights much after that.
Refer to this thread in the AC forum http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...am-2020-a.html

Earnings here http://www.wheretocredit.com/air-china/r (A guide, so check the ffp web sites)

bigenna

I was aware of the Air Canada/Aeroplan upcoming changes but since I can't figure out how or what ffp I could attach that would be of use to me I guess I was hoping I could get some type of flight or reward before 2020. If you or anyone else have any other ideas please I would be appreciative. This whole thing is boggling my mind.
Also I have checked the "wheretocredit" site and don't understand what it says. "RDM.? Tier 1, Tier 2", etc.
If I sound like I have no clue that is definitely the case, and that is why I am hoping you will share your knowledge with me.

malmostoso

RDM is the "base rate" of earning in a program. Tier 1, 2, etc is the "enhanced" rate that you have when you have status in a certain program. In your case, since you're starting from scratch, just look at the RDM column.

Since all programs credit at 125%, and since it seems that the easiest way for you to use miles is AC, just credit to Aeroplan and spend the miles as quickly as you can.

bigenna

Thanks, that is what I was thinking too.

zeer0

The wheretocredit tier charts aren't always correct. I would check on the actual airline's websites for that

miklcct

(1) What is your home airport? HKG
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Cheapest cabin
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (< 10 k, most probably about 2 to 5 k, on all alliances combined)
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? None
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? long soft (at least 3 years) expiry date, easy to redeem short haul economy flights
(6) Which routes do you fly most often short haul from Hong Kong
(7) Preferred Airlines any non-Hong Kong based airlines
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? For joining foreign international sports completion

I have about 1.2k miles in my Aeroplan now, should I continue to use it? Or let them expire in 2020 and use another program instead? When choosing flights my only concerns are time (non-stop flights are preferred) and price (always cheapest cabin unless higher cabin available in less than 10% premium)

1337wafflez

(1) What is your home airport?

YYZ/YTZ.


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

Y/B/M

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?

About 35-50K+ if I exclusively buy Y or B fares. Although I'm willing to do some mileage runs to get *A Gold if needs be.

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?

Altitude 25K in Aeroplan/AC.

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

Lounge Access/Priority Check-in and baggage handling/Redemption/Upgrades in that order

(6) Which routes do you fly most often

Transpacific (Mostly YYZ-TPE-MNL or BKK)

(7) Preferred Airlines

Eva Air/Asiana/Singapore Airlines/Air Canada

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?

Pleasure mostly. I prefer airlines that allow me to go to SEA for cheap. Cause from there I can fly with either Thai Airways or low-cost carriers. I do like AC but the problem is the only time I won't be making status is this year and the fact I could have gotten *A gold last year was also a problem cause of their AQD. I would fly 15K miles RT and get no AQD cause it's not under AC but still under *A. for 50K I need to spend 6k.

Flights that I do a year if it's any relevance (once in Asia though, I tend to fly Air Asia but willing to fly *A if the cost is worth it) :

BOLDED are flights I take for sure yearly.
Italicized are optional or I take with low-cost carriers.

YYZ-TPE [sometimes 2x/year]
TPE-BKK
TPE-SIN
TPE-MNL
MNL-KUL

YYZ-LAS/LAX [I do this maybe 2-3 weekends/year]
YYZ-JFK