Originally Posted by
exobyte
My home is in Seattle, so at this point I've stuck w/ Alaska, but I'm wondering if I'm missing a better option. Especially w/ potentially impending increase in business travel. Here's the standard questions:
Questions
For members asking for information, to help people to assist you, can you please provide:
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Upgrades and redemption are probably my biggest. I currently earn a lot of mile on the credit card, and would love to be using that more effectively.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Generally in the 20-25k range (although this may be increasing quite a bit in the next few years for business).
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
I often fly Business/First domestic, and Econplus/Business on long haul when it makes sense.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I can roughly pick that. Currently i mostly fly for personal, but will likely be increasing my work travel soon (4ish international flights, 4ish domestic)
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Usually Alaska domestic, American often is my backup. Usually British in EU/UK, and of course JAL for Japan. I'm usually in Vegas once or twice a year, Japan every other year (but may be increasing to 1-2 a year) and Europe once a year (again, may be increasing)
(6) What is your home airport?
SEA
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Alaska MVP. 300k Alaska miles, 50k British Avios
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
I tend to like the ones i mentioned i fly, and have often felt like it's just harder on Delta/United. Most common: alaska, american, british, JAL
I know I'm not a huge whale, but i do tend to put 75-100k/yr through my alaska card, and am a little curious if there's a better option that can point that at direct status. Thanks for any advice!
If you switch your spending to a qualifying Barclays or Citi AA card, you would easily get oneworld Sapphire status through AA from your credit-card spend alone. Add in your flights, and achieving oneworld Emerald should be no problem.
But there are other credit cards which can be more lucrative than the Barclays/Citi AA cards. But those cards won't help you achieve status with AA.
And if you usually fly Business/First domestically, getting status -- with either AA or AS -- won't do much for you. Mid-level or higher status with BA would get you lounge access when flying domestically. But for a lot of U.S.-based travelers, BA Avios are less valuable than AA or AS miles.