tourismspecialist

Dear FTers,

I'm in the midst of a move, and wanted to take advantage of your experience and advice. I'm posting here in the Continental forum as it has been my "home" for the past several years, but I suppose I could have just as well posted elsewhere. I also have skimmed other forums to try and get clarity on my question.

I'm shifting my base from Quito to Washington DC. I've been very happy with using CO and Copa over the years for travel principally in Latin America, they have treated me extremely well. But now I'm moving, and will also be focused on travel primarily in Asia (4-5 x year Beijing, perhaps 3-4 x year to Singapore, Manila, Phnom Pehn, etc). I'd love to get your insight and advice on the ideal frequent flier program for me. My priority is to get upgrades, I'm not as concerned about direct flights, bonuses, overall quality of Business Class, frequencies. I have to book cheapest available economy.

With my limited knowledge, my thinking so far is:
- Continue with Continental (not so appealing since probably will lose out on EQMs often, as have to book through an agent, and since getting upgraded is not only pricey $$, but also w/ miles. Also, not so good for Manila, Singapore, etc).
- Northwest (seems to have some of the better connections of interest, but I'm not aware of their upgrade policies, nor the implications of the merge w/ Delta)
- United (has direct IAD-PEK, I've heard upgrade policy can be pretty generous, also has some service to other areas of interest).

I assume I'll be able to get a match for my OnePass Platinum status, and will easily maintain.

I would welcome your valuable suggestions.

J.Edward

If you want international upgrades, UA is the way to go IMHO.

When I match to UA about 2 years ago I got 1P (mid tier) but made it up to 1k.

TechBoy

I agree. UA has nonstops to NRT and PEK and easy connections to almost everywhere else. A couple of notes about upgrades -- mileage upgrades require fairly high fare classes YBMH which you will not likely be purchasing. SWU upgrades are more generous, but do exclude the lowest fare classes, S and T. Most of the time, the lowest fares on these routes tend to be W or V, but during fare sale times, the lowest fares will be S or T.

If you really must buy the absolute lowest fares, you might consider AA. They give out 8 VIPs (vs. 6 SWU on UA) which can be used on almost any fare. Their Asian network is very limited and will require connecting in ORD and beyond NRT on JL.