Originally Posted by
Taiwaned
I am / always will be primarily a Star Alliance member.
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Having the mileage points NOT expire with minimal effort. (For example, Air Canada requires activity in their account at least once a year)
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I want to join OW mileage program that allows me to maintain the points relatively easily. Points that DO NOT EXPIRE in a year....
I probably will never be an ONE WORLD guy because of my homes located in Canada and Japan. AC / ANA is just too convenient to be locked into JAL program. However, while located in Japan, the need to use JAL / One World comes up every once in a while. Don't want those points to go to waste.
I am not aware of any OW ffp that has ff miles/points that never expire
Several have ff miles/points that will not expire if you have eligible activity in X months. X = 18 months for AA and 36 months for BA.
The definition of
eligible activity varies between ffp's.
The ability to earn ff miles/points from non flying activities varies (hotel, rental cars, shopping, other etc). Is quite easy with AA. AA forum has a dedicated thread on this topic.
BA allows family pooling (House hold account)
Some low cost fares/buckets earn nil/little to any ffp, including to CX AsiaMiles
Expiry thread (does not have all ffp's)
Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki. Many ffp's have a
hard expiry