Originally Posted by
Nogbad
Thanks for this thread - I've had a flick through and have got some idea, but I'd be grateful if anyone had some specific advice for my situation
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1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.) Tokyo (NRT/HND)
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.) Mostly
cheap economy, planning on occasional C in future
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k) 25-30k
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4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Premier, M&M Senator etc) Nope
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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.) good award redemption rates, though lounge access when on Y would be nice
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc) LHR /US main cities
(7) Preferred Airline ANA
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?)Both, can choose airlines, work is restricted to Y for the moment, next "pleasure" flight will probably be C
I fly home to UK 1-2 times per year and to US for meetings 1-2 times per year. Plus some domestic Japan flights. Recently, all my flights have been on ANA - although their Y service has been getting worse, but still prefer the quietness of cabins on Japanese carriers. I've been crediting miles to ANA (AMC), in the last few years, I've been just shy of 30k points, so have never had status (I didn't think the bronze lvl looked worth doing a short MR for).
I also have a ANA credit card, which gives small amounts of extra miles and earning bonus on ANA. I like the ANA flight award ticket rates (I think the long-haul C is rather bargainacious), but cheap economy does only earn 70% miles. I having been thinking about crediting miles to OZ, as I would likely get status there and miles have longer expiry, although award tickets are more expensive. And I think my next flight will be on OZ anyway as their C fares are reasonable. Also considered BMI diamond club, as ANA Y earns 100% and their miles + cash co-pay awards seem good value (esp. when you consider ANA's high fee/surcharges on award tickets).
Sorry for the long waffle. So my basic question is am I right to continuing crediting miles to ANA, and if I switch to another scheme, would it also make sense to switch with whom I fly? All thoughts welcome - thanks!
Actually, really cheap Eco tickets do only earn 50% on ANA (T, L, K)
I would have thought you meant those when you said Cheap Eco, but apparently you'll be flying those giving 70% B, M, U, H, Q, V, W, S
Now, my suggestion would be to keep flying ANA as you prefer them, but putting the miles into A3 (Aegean). Their redemption isn't too bad, and while they no longer give 100% on L and K (same as with ANA, 50% for T, L, K) they give 100% on all other Eco fares (Y, E, B, M, U, H, Q, V, W, S)
20k (more exactly 1k is free, then 3k for *S, then 16k for *G within 1 year each) will give you more or less unlimited *G as long as you keep crediting a flight to them a year (other sources say only 1 flight before the card is running out, which would be even less) on A3 will thus bring you *G, lounge access. If you can make more miles by crediting onto ANA, I would keep crediting to ANA once you've made *G there.
If you would get to fly C or even F on ANA, it would be not very smart donating into their own program as it's pretty s*it. 125% on C is very low. Donating to A3 would net you 200%. (One R/T over the Pacific should thus net you *G)