Originally Posted by
kirikara
hi, i am not a newbie but feel like a newbie when it comes to united staralliance pg. i was a big aa fan and just got the aa exec card with the 100k offer. but it turns out more and more of the award flight available with aa are with ba on my route(ord-mrs/ord_cdg/ord-tln) which while it gives me the option to visit london, also means crazy high taxes and fees. madrid used to be an option but it looks like award on mad mrs are never available anymore.
now i have been out of the miles game for a coupe years but am starting to fly more. looks like whenever i want to buy flights the best option are with air france or luftahnsa or united. as far as schedules route and price. air france flies to tln which is super convenient for me.
i was going to get a united cc but realized their mileage program sucks. from what i understand pretty much the large majority of award are at the 130k level for economy, the cc bonus sucks and the spg transfer is terrible. any ideas on which prg to join instead that would be better?
i loved the 40k redemption with aa as well as the hawaii added one way that used to be possible forom europe.
i do fly to france about twice a year and fly domestically about 4/6 times a year.
cost of my flights to europe vary between 1100 to 1500$
Sorry for not realizing there was a specific thread.. here it goes, any help is appreciated. I will look into the 3 airlines mentionned at the top post:
(1) What is your home airport? ORD
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? cheapest possible, out of pocket as well domestic economy fares for business, usually 2 weeks ahead at the most.
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? internationally: 20K , domestically 6-10K
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? none currently, but have the citi AA exect giving me some EQM
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? good award redemption rates, good earning rates outside of flying (CC, bonus, dining, etc..), one way award, good routes to France, connection outside of LHR for awards (expensive!), cheap biz awards, upgrades, priority services, possibility to do stop over and tack on flight to hawaii from europe if is still possible...
(6) Which routes do you fly most often: ORD-MRS (through LHR or Francfort, munich), varied domestic routes otherwise (ORD/EWR/JFK/PHL/LAX/SFO/PDX)
(7) Preferred Airlines: cheapest fare/smallest connection/night flights: AA but if I could have the same with Air France or united, it will be these.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? pleasure and work.