I've lurked around on this site trying to wrap my brain around the world of FFPs, points, miles... but it's time to admit that I'm in over my head and get a little help, so this is my first post. I hope this shows up in the right place!! Apologies if I mistakenly answer someone else's post instead of posting my own

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
I’m really looking for the cheapest possible way to travel, usually book budget airlines and hope to earn free international long haul flights and/or flights in asia/australia,
any other perks of loyalty are nice, less waiting/more comfort, but don’t want to spend points on that…


2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
Currently, infrequent flyer - once per year, but going from Asia to USA every year the cost adds up, and I may need to begin traveling around Asia & Australia more frequently as well, so I thought this would be important to look into!


3. What fare class do you usually buy?
Economy, whatever is the cheapest thing I can get


4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I’m self-employed and have to raise my own funds for the non-profit work that I do, so I guess my travel falls into the work category although I'm the one booking and paying for it. Sometimes my travel dates are more flexible and sometimes I don't have much choice. But I can choose my own tickets, and I always choose the cheapest possible options… although I have to say, some very nice airlines (Etihad comes to mind as a favorite) offer very reasonable rates which I’ve enjoyed on my long-haul. (Once when I had no choice, a Korean Air flight was booked for me and I quite liked their airline as well.)

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
As stated before, Asia to USA (JFK or Dulles) once per year, but soon probably adding more inter-Asia and Australia trips, and possibly once in a while to Europe.

6. What is your home airport?
Whichever one is cheapest - sometimes that’s BKK Thailand, sometimes it’s SGN Vietnam, sometimes even Cambodia.

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
Before AA started just rewarding the big spenders rather than the budget distance travelers, I thought that would best suit me, so I have an American Airlines FFP with about 5,600 miles. My family has just started to pool their miles on Korean Air’s family plan as well but I’m not sure yet how many miles it is. I use agoda.com for booking hotels and that has kept my sad little collection of AA miles from expiring… they also have Korean Air and Etihad and other FFPs that I can add to my agoda account and choose where the points go. I think that (being an unaware newbie) I lost a lot of points initially due to expiry and flying segments with partners that I didn’t realize weren’t eligible, etc. I’ve been researching to try to get on top of this game, but my head is still spinning a little with the overwhelming amount of information and caveats and hidden rules. I haven't been impressed with AA's buggy award travel booking feature either; it hasn't seemed to come up with flights no matter what combination of dates/points/locations I put in. I've debated about dropping AA and going with Etihad for my long hauls but they're not in an alliance so I don't know how limiting that would be.. what about Turkish? And I'd also like to hear more about Air Asia's "Big" program and of what benefit that would really be if I frequently flew budget flights around Asia/Australia. Or any other important things I may be missing or overlooking
Oh and another note - I'm not a big spender either, and the larger expenses I can put on a credit card are usually just things like yearly health insurance, buying books or clothes online, cheaper hotels, meals when traveling. Does all of this totally disqualify me from the points/miles game..?

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Whichever one is cheapest and goes where I need to go, when I need to go.
I have flown mostly Etihad and Turkish Airlines (sometimes Asiana), but the only reason is because that's what happened to be affordable. I don't mind long or multiple layovers, no matter where they are, because I enjoy getting a glimpse new parts of the world anyway. I also see that Jetstar & Air Asia will be cheapest for some of the future travel I’ll be doing within Asia/Australia, so those'll soon be on the favorites list I'm sure.

Help me out, fellow flyers! And thanks in advance