FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Which Frequent Flyer Program to Join? Help Is Here!
Old Apr 25, 2024 | 11:09 am
  #1838  
s3m
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Join Date: Apr 2024
Posts: 233
I am finding it hard to earn status with any specific program because my travel is not focused on one geographical area: I live in hotels and travel between countries.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Most value from my points, spend points instead of cash
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
About once a month, about 25k miles per year, always business, always one way
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Business but due to my flexibility I typically buy low cost last minute business tickets rather than pay full price. I'll know roughly when I want to fly (e.g: early May) and I'll look for the lowest cost ticket (with a good seat), averaging $2500 USD for a long haul ticket
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Flexible, no constraints, all out of pocket personal expenditure
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
No regular routes or airlines
(6) What is your home airport?
No home airport
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
No meaningful status. I earn around 100k avios per year from my credit card spend, I have 100k avios in my British Airways account, and earn around 1 million Marriott points per year (which can be converted to most airline programs at a 3:1 ratio (so if I spot a great deal with a specific program I can convert the points as I need them))
(8) Preferred Airlines
I like Qatar for flying between Europe and Asia which I do a couple of times a year. If I could get status that made it more cost effective / easier to use avios to pay for those flights, that would be valuable, as sometimes it seems the cost is reasonable (e.g: 70k) and other times the only option is to pay part avios part cash which has a very low redemption rate (I'm assuming/hoping status would make it easier to reliably get the 35k/leg tickets but maybe it's not relevant). If I can fly business from Manila to Frankfurt for 100k avios (or equivalent) and then business from London to Japan for 100k avios (or equivalent) I'd be very happy.

My current thinking is that oneworld is the right program for me because it has members globally, but I am not sure if it's possible to earn status given the geographical distribution of my flights. I've tried to focus on oneworld by booking partner flights through British Airways to earn oneworld status, but partner flights don't seem to be available much, so I end up going with the partner carriers directly and I'm now half way to entry level status with a few different oneworld members.

Thank you.
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