I’m curious what advice the community here would give to me on which FFP to credit all this stuff to. I’ve flown SkyTeam regularly over the years since I became a frequent flyer, but never enough to get status (I think I did 24 MQS on DL one year). Due to the big SkyTeam TATL sale a few months back, I find myself with a large number of trips booked on SkyTeam (mostly KL metal, but ticketed pretty evenly by KL and DL).
My base case is that I’ll do a DL status match challenge shortly before Trip 1, as Trips 1, 2, and all or at least the first half of 3 should be within the 3-month period. I know SkyPesos don’t have great value, but I’ve always felt it was generally best to get status with the airline(s) you actually fly with, and they’re usually the SkyTeam carrier I fly with most.
But that may well be a terrible answer, which is why I’ve come to this thread.
I’ve answered the questionnaire below and also laid out all the SkyTeam flights I have booked for the remainder of this year (plus a stub in early 2023 on the last trip).
Any insight is appreciated!
Questionnaire
1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
>>> Reply: Upgrades are useful if they can be confirmed in advance, ideally at time of booking. Not interested in upgrades at the gate – I don’t like flying in Y. Earning miles at a decent rate that can be redeemed on interesting carriers can be useful. Lounge access is nice, but usually included with the tickets I buy. Since there’s a good chance this status won’t be repeated because I won’t keep up this level of SkyTeam travel, maybe having useful redeemable miles would be a bigger priority than usual.
2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
>>> Reply: ~200K BIS
3. What fare class do you usually buy?
>>> Reply: Business, or “first” domestic in the US
4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Mostly choose my own flights, and most travel is personal these days
5. Which routes do you fly most often?
>>> Reply: Canada domestic, to/from US, to Europe a few times a year
6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: YYC (Calgary, Canada)
7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: Super Elite 1MM with AC (*G), Gold with WestJet, Silver with BA (although will lose that one in a few weeks)
8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: DL is probably my favourite airline, but is a practical choice for only a small portion of my flying. Of the airlines that are most convenient, AC would be the preference
SkyTeam trips booked in 2022
Trip 1 (ticketed by DL)
- YVR-CDG op by AF (DL codeshare), Z class
- CDG-AMS op by KL, J class
- AMS-YYC op by KL (DL codeshare) , Z class
Trip 2 (ticketed by KL)
- YYC-AMS op by KL, I class
- AMS-ARN op by KL, J class
- ARN-AMS op by KL, J class
- AMS-YYC op by KL, Z class
Trip 3 (ticketed by KL)
- YVR-YYC op by WS (KL codeshare), Z class
- YYC-AMS op by KL, Z class
- AMS-JNB op by KL, Z class
- CPT-AMS op by KL, Z class
- AMS-YVR op by KL, Z class
Trip 4 (ticketed by KL)
- YYC-YYZ op by AC (ignore, this will be credited to AC)
- YYZ-AMS op by KL, Z class
- AMS-YYC op by KL, Z class
Trip 5 (ticketed by DL)
- YYC-AMS op by KL (DL codeshare), Z class
- AMS-BCN op by KL (DL codeshare), Z class
- FCO-AMS op by KL (DL codeshare), Z class
- AMS-YYC op by KL (DL codeshare), Z class
Trip 6 (ticketed by DL)
- YYC-AMS op by KL (DL codeshare), Z class
- AMS-FLR op by KL (DL codeshare), Z class
- *** end of 2022
- BLQ-AMS op by KL (DL codeshare), Z class
- AMS-YYC op by KL (DL codeshare), Z class
Couple of other minor notes:
- For what it’s worth, I have a measly 2,500 MQMs that were rolled over from 2021, and a negligible amount of SkyMiles in my account
- I may have a few more small trips – Canada-US, or intra-Europe short hops – to book the rest of this year, but the above trips are probably the extent of the long-haul travel I would do with SkyTeam this year
- Please note my home airport of YYC – as a non-US resident, I don’t care at all about MQDs
- I’m also trying to figure out what to do with my wife. She will be with me on all of these except Trip 4. She has no MQMs at the moment, and maybe like 30K SkyMiles, so nothing significant