I am very new to all of this and am working my way through the stickies. But I thought before I go too deep I should get feedback as to what is reasonable for me to delve into and what isn't. Details below but my main concern is that I fly internationally a couple times a year to the Philippines, but that's it. Expensive but not frequent.
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: I think upgrades to make the long flights more comfortable would be first priority. Lounge would be nice for long layovers.
(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: <25000 miles (If I calculated right, 14k), 2 round trips
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:Up until yesterday, the cheapest economy I could find. The tickets I bought yesterday, I bought a higher level economy that earned 80% of the miles.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I don't travel for work. I'm traveling for personal reasons so I can pick any airline. Most frequent has been EVA air due to best price / low fly time ratio. I liked ANA better but have only found tickets I could afford once. Korean air was a bit nicer than EVA but I'm not happy with the long layover on the return trip.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: International to Asia.
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: Seattle (SEA)
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: I opened FFP recently with EVA, ANA and KA. EVA has 8k earned and I just bought new tickets but those miles are not earned yet.
I also have the Alaska Miles Plan CC with 80k earned (never actually used any points from this card).
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: I would prefer to fly on ANA but so far due to circumstances EVA has been used most frequently. Just to be clear EVA has been very nice. I just found ANA to be even slightly better.
Extra Question:
I was considering getting a new credit card to help with earning miles since I am not that frequent of a flyer. I only have the Alaska CC wish I don't think is useful for international airlines. The Chase Sapphire ($95) seems to get the most positive words online but doesn't seem to transfer to EVA. Citi Bank ($95) seems to be better for EVA transferring points but doesn't get the praise that Chase does. Thoughts.
Thank you. I realize that since I am not flying constantly some options may not be attainable. I'm just trying to learn what is reasonable to work towards and what is beyond my current level of flying.