Originally Posted by
cbrmanf4
Trying to help my mom with the miles & points game. She normally flies to Hong Kong once every other year on Cathay Pacific (the only FF account she has thus far) but she's flying to Europe in a couple days on Air France (V fare), and a domestic Delta basic economy (E fare) flight. I was going to create and bank these miles to AS, but I read that they're ending their partnership with AF on Apr 30, 2018 so my mom won't be able to get miles credited on her return flight (in May).
1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> Reply: Good award rates, miles that don't expire or have easy policies to extend expiration
2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: < 25,000 miles, 1 international roundtrip, 1-2 domestic roundtrip flights
3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: economy
4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Yes, but she usually travels with friends on tour packages and they tend to choose the cheapest revenue ticket
5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: transpacific
6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: LAX
7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: Cathay Pacific (I think around 40k miles)
8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: Cathay Pacific
I'm admittedly not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the points/miles game but I thought I'd chime in bc I was in the exact same boat last year trying to help out my grandparents. You mom likely doesn't fly (or spend) enough to earn status on any of the major US carriers including Alaska. If she does have 40,000 Asia Miles racked up, I'd focusing on finding ways to continue to increase that balance to be used towards future redemptions to HK.
When booking travel in the future, try focusing more on finding CX partners that she can credit her future flights to. A helpful link can be found here:
https://www.asiamiles.com/en/earn-miles/airlines.html
As you can see, the list is quite extensive and regardless of where she is traveling, she can likely find flexible partner carries that fly that route. For example, when traveling within the US she should try and fly AA or AS and reference her Asia Miles number to fully consolidate her rewards earning.
Unfortunately you are correct regarding her upcoming travel with AF and Delta. Neither are Cathay Partners and the AF partnership with AS is ending while the Delta Partnership expired last year. At this point, you might want to create a FlyingBlue (Air France) account for her and credit both the Air France and Delta Flights to this account. I only recommend AirFrance FFP over Delta's because FlyingBlue is partners with various credit card issuers so the miles she earn can be consolidated with Credit Card Transfers from AMEX, Chase, City or SPG if she holds any of those.