Originally Posted by
Cavill
Thanks for the quick response!
Ideally, I was looking for a credit card and frequent flyer program combination. For example, the Delta Reserve gives 2x miles on delta purchases. If I understand it correctly, you get the miles for travel (roughly 5000) + 2 times the ticket price in miles (roughly 350x2 for the cheapest coach).
In terms of tickets, we will be buying on the cheaper end of the coach tickets (either deep discount or discount).
In terms of benefits, I think we're looking for either free flights (between LAX and NYC) or upgrades on paid tickets.
Originally Posted by
amolkold
Umm, I'm a DL elite who flies LAX-JFK often (not primarily), and upgrades are NON-EXISTANT for GMs (50K) and lower. If you're PM, you might get lucky. Even DMs (125K) sit in the back. I've missed upgrades during the most inconvenient days/times and by a lot. Also, Skypesos are USELESS.
I vote AA. Lots of good service on 767-200 wide bodies rather than 757s with DL and UA. Decent amount of service. Once you hit GLD (5 RTs), you'll be eligible to use upgrade stickers to get into J (saving your miles). I've seen empty seats in J on AA flights I tracked, and elite competition isn't as difficult as DL PLUS, AA's low tier elite status is still the most decent of the 4 legacies. AND, their miles are worth something. Partner this with 2 Citi cards and you'll be good to go.
Also, their award availability for LAX-JFK is amazing (in all 3 classes) so if these are personal trips and you're looking to defray costs with miles, that'll help a lot.
Welcome to FT! Given the priorities you're stating, Cavill, I second the AA recommendation. It offers the best opportunities for upgrades and redeeming miles for award flights. In my experience, much better than UA's deteriorating frequent flyer program or DL's already lousy one.
Plus, as someone else posted, if your credit rating is ok you and your fiance could each get an AA credit card with 50K miles for some level of initial spending. In fact, many folks get two such cards each, one Visa and one American Express. That's a total of 100K miles for each of you. Together with the miles you'd accumulate through your flying, that could be enough to fly you both overseas business class for your honeymoon.