lighting

Hi All,

When living in London for 12 years, BA / Avios and the BA Amex (241) all made sense, now I moved back up north to Yorkshire, it doesn't make any sense at all. I don't want to have to connect in London for every flight.

So Manchester is going to be become my long haul home and as I'm not very good at this sort of thing, I wondered if anyone could suggest a loyalty programme / credit card that would benefit me more?

My business flights are Taiwan and Hong Kong in Asia and most of the major cities in the US and I'm hopeful my US travel will increase with more varied destinations.

I'd say 1-2 Asia flights per year and 3-4 US !

Choice is probably the below;

Virgin
American Airways
Delta
Cathay

If you had to pick one loyalty programme with a credit card to collect, which one would you choose?

Thanks

Chris

nei1c

Are you not best just to stick with the BA loyalty program but use the direct flights from Manchester? Cathay when heading East and American when heading West.

Dave Noble

I would also consider QR and EY since they both operate out of MAN

I would start by working out which airlines best meet your travel needs before working on which FF scheme to use

If doing business class , for the eastbound travel then I would look to see whether WY fits your schedules - been using it recently and found it a great airline - with WY, your choice of FF scheme would pretty much be WY's

golfmad

And don't forget QR MAN-DOH and onwards to Asia.

golfmad

Oman Air for the uninitiated.

Mwenenzi

What are your objectives from a ffp?
What class do you travel?
The airline you fly and the airline ffp you credit flights to does not need to be the same.

Virgin is not a member of the 3 major alliances, and has limited partners.
Where to Credit | Where to Credit Virgin Atlantic Flights

American Airways and Cathay are Onworld partners of BA

Delta is part of Skyteam. Delta ff miles are often referred to as "sky pesos"

stuart_f

If this isn't an urgent decision you might also want to hang fire until Virgin Money launch the new Virgin Atlantic credit card after MBNA withdrew the old White/Black cards. So far nobody knows what perks or earning rate it might come with.

DYKWIA

Maybe also consider SQ. East via Singapore or west via Houston.

PJSMITH0

I also live in Manchester and I have no problem sticking with BA. Now CE operates within the UK it’s an added bonus for TPS when connecting through LHR. I suppose it all comes down to whether you like one one world or not and how many life time TPS you have before you switch to another alliance.

dougzz

With regard to the credit card part of this I think you have limited options. Virgin did have cards issued by MNBA, that was pulled for new customers a few months back. I understand they'll be a new Virgin Atlantic card issued by Virgin Money, but what it'll offer is not yet published. I don't think AA, Delta or Cathay have their own UK cards. So for them it would be either an Amex rewards card, or perhaps the Amex SPG one, whichever allows transfers to your preferred program at the best rate. Amex rewards transfer to either Delta or Virgin at 1 to 1, although I think there is a minimum amount that can be transferred. With BA SPG points transfer at 1 to 1, but 20K get a 5K bonus, so packages of 20K SPG points convert to 25K Avios, maybe Delta and Virgin do the same, perhaps worth checking.

marshy11

I live in deepest Cornwall and BA makes absolute sense for me. Yes it means we have to drive 5+hours (on a good day) to Gatwick or slightly less for Heathrow, but we add it to the break by booking an hotel the evening before our flight. I would love to live near an airport, even Newquay is a good hour away.

GlasgowBlue

My base airport is GLA and occaisionally EDI and I can make BA Amex and BA EC work just fine. Even then both these are at least a 2 hour drive away. I can appreciate transferring for every trip can be a pain but one of my guilty pleasures in life is a leisurely 2-3 (or sometimes 4!) hours in a quiet corner in Galleries Club South at LHR or on the mezzanine level at LGW. May sound odd to some of the more seasoned travellers but for an infrequent (2-3 trips per year) traveller like myself it’s an enjoyable part of a holiday.

IMO RFS in CE are great value as are UuA, especially for CW to F, and as others have said, you do have some direct options from MAN as well.

rgalbr10

+1 for SQ. Availability from Manchester for redemption flights is usually pretty good.

lighting

I could do that, but then the 241 voucher I receive yearly always go through London and I'm pretty sick and tired of that.

Maybe I'm still best keeping it over other loyalty programmes and using one world, but I don't know which is why I am asking the pro's

lighting

I run my own business and am therefore very careful with expenditure, especially when it comes to premium flying.

When I'm on a tight schedule and have an important meeting, I travel business class (probably one a year paid and a 241 with avoid per year), mostly

I usually travel premium economy as I see it as being the best value on the plane

I occasionally travel economy !

I want a loyalty programme and credit card to accumulate air miles / vouchers for upgrades and flights in premium cabins - I'm not too bothered about anything else. I can put most of my companies expenses through on my card so gather a good amount go airmails per year !