Originally Posted by
Xiongflyer
Hey guys, first post, thanks in advance!
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Number one priority is ease of upgrades/award bookings. I don't mind copays as long as it's significantly cheaper than normal business class fares. Status and lounge access are also a plus.
(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: Right at about 50,000 miles. (2-3 RT from East Asia-US, some inter-Asian flying, 1 RT elsewhere)
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Deep discount economy for regional travel, and cheapest available business class for long-haul
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Mix of Business and Pleasure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: ICN/TYO/PVG-LAX/ORD/JFK/WAS/MCO
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: SHA and PVG
(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: Currently SQ Silver (soft landing) and CZ silver
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: A little background: Because I pay my own way, I'm always on the hunt for the cheapest available business class that earns miles/is a decent program. When available, SQ is my favorite. The company's fares from TYO-LAX in J are excellent, but if I'm not flying to LA, it means I have to take two separate flights just to get from my origin to my final destination...and if I'm pressed for time, that's not an option. For some reason, with the exception of PR, PVG's business class fares to the US are substantially higher than other comparable east Asian cities (ICN/PEK/TYO/KIX/HKG); as a result, I frequently have to take a hop to Seoul or Tokyo in order to save a couple grand. I thought I had the whole thing figured out when CZ was offering 1700-2100 RT J fares from ICN to LAX all last year, but apparently, they've wised up (closer to 6000 USD now for a mediocre product..no thanks).
I'm flying SQ NRT-LAX next month, and will probably fly CX NRT-HKG-ORD/JFK-HKG-NRT this summer, and (again, probably) AA PEK-ORD-MCO in the fall (all business class). I currently don't have any oneworld frequent flyer program, but would love to know the best way to maximize my miles on those last two itineraries in order to work towards upgrades/business class awards in the future/which airlines have decent availability. If AA, I'll probably also get one of their credit cards for a further mileage bonus boost (because most of my expenses in China are cash, the credit card aspect isn't terribly lucrative for me).
As well, if there are any status tips for challenges, etc., I'd appreciate those, too (although much less important to me than being able to redeem miles for upgrades/awards).
Alternatively, I could fly all of those routes on *A (as well as MCO-PTY-GIG in D on Copa RT), and rack up a bunch of miles but a) that means flying United instead of Cathay on ULH and b) United's availability on China award flights seems non-existent. Am I looking at it wrong? Or does anyone know another *A carrier with good award availability at a reasonable number of miles?
Sorry for the probably excessive information, I really appreciate any help. Thanks!
I'd look closely at both AA's and CX's programs; each has its strengths and weaknesses. One caveat is that right now we don't know how AA's will change following the merger with US. However you might hustle to open a US Airways account and credit the upcoming SQ flights there; at some point in the next year (?) US Dividend Miles and AAdvantage will merge, so it's a way to grandfather some good miles to the AA program, if that's your choice.
Personally I'd probably go with AA for better earn/burn numbers than others'.
Not knowing how much lead time you have in long-distance travels, or how much flexibility you have on route and timing for specific trips, I wonder if you might benefit by looking at a couple of Oneworld RTW or Circle products. For example, a business class Circle Pacific ticket (22,000 flown miles) bought in HKG is US$5000 at present, $6100 for 26,000 miles. You need to use the North Pacific in one direction and the South Pacific in the other, i.e. Australia/NZ. For example,
HKG-PVG-ORD-LAX-SYD-HKG comes in just over 21,000 miles, or
HKG-SYD-JFK-MCO-ORD-LAX-NRT-PVG-HKG comes in under 26,000.
There are also RTW products that would require you to travel via Europe in one direction, but depending where you buy them the price can also get down to the US$5K range. The Oneworld Explorer has no mileage limit, but does limit the number of flights per continent touched - 6 in North America, 4 in all other continents. Still, that would get you a lot of miles on quality carriers, and would allow some intra-Asia travel as well. For example, at present a 3-continent Oneworld Explorer bought and started/finished in Japan is around US$6300 plus taxes and fees. Like the Circle tickets, it's good for a year, date changes are free, and itinerary changes just US$125. Carefully constructed, Oneworld Explorer tickets can offer a rich harvest in FF miles. (And the distances are not that hugely different, PVG-LAX-JFK is a couple hundred miles longer than JFK-HEL-PVG.)
Here's an imaginary 3-continent RTW that would earn you AA Platinum (Oneworld Sapphire) and bank around 60,000 spendable miles. Just for your consideration.
Oh, and welcome to FT!