I was leafing through the Jet FF brochure on a domestic India flight and while I would not qualify for any status as I don't fly much on 9W, I am tempted to use it as the FF for all airlines that I fly once in a while but not regularly to qualify for any status.

Now that CO is in Star Alliance, my KL/AF flights (mostly in C) need a new home as I don't have a SkyTeam FF. EK, EY and MH are the carriers I fly once in a while as they have good F/J fares. It seems that 9W is a partner to all these airlines.

The decision will of course boil down to if I can redeem miles easily on 9W metal in C or F. Redemption levels seem to be decent and I should have 80-100 K spillover miles a year in my 9W account from the flights which have nowhere to go. However, it is unlikely I will have any Tier Miles or Points to go beyond Silver.

Any suggestions are welcome.

I think Jet's burning rate for J/F class is too high( 2x miles required for J and 3X miles required for F class). You can not earn status mile so you can not have many bonus miles as well.

I personally am quite satisfied with redemption availability. In the last 12 months I have redeemed LHR-DEL-LHR once in F and once in J, DEL-HKG-DEL in J, BRU-YYZ-BRU in J. The dates have also been either exactly what I wanted or within +/-2 days.

Some here think 9W redemption rates are a tad high, but IMHO they are quite comparable to BAEC and LH M&M, my two other main programs. I also get a better F&J product on 9W for similar burn rates. Earn rates however are indeed somewhat lower on 9W (for eg. 225% for a Plat in 9W F, as opposed to 325% for a SEN in LH F or 250% for a BA Gold in BA F.)

They only allocate 2 seats per flight in Biz and 1 seat in F on their Long Hauls. I have yet to see them releasing more availability even if the flight is empty. (has anyone managed to get that 2nd F seat?)

To be honest with you I feel the miles + the vouchers that you earn kind of make up for the high redemption rates.

Over all it's not a bad program if you can book in advance. Or else they do let you stand by which most programs don't.

I looked at the redemption rates and they are not much worse than M/M. Anyway JP is mainly for my "stray" miles which can not go to my regular programs, so tier benefits are not that material (my main motivation is to pool all these miles into one program with no status but at least some miles rather than have several programs where I have no status and few miles).
I am bailing out of CO because I already have two *A programs and can't see any sense in having a third one as well now they have left SkyTeam- which means my EK flights have no FFP (which would have earned only 150% in F with CO).

I haven't seen two F award seats on any of the Europe-India flights. Could this be because 9W's award inventory management may not be all that dynamic?

Finally just got enough miles in the 9W account to process dummy bookings to see availibility. Seen plenty of 1 seat in F but never 2. If you want 2 seats, J usually is available........but 9W J is (my opinion) awful if travelling as a couple.

i have managed 2 seats in f on the del-lon route....booking the first one was easy but the second one took some doing....it took about a week but finally the good people at the jp desk gave in & gave me the second seat....

I guess being a JP Plat did the trick?

probably....there seems to be a HUGE difference in the way they treat their plats....

+1. I have really felt valued as a Plat. And thus it is a status I shall ensure I do my best to renew.

why would you say that????

Actually, I find them to treat everyone as best as they can...and they usually succeed! ^

Jet is probably doing what SQ does - opens up 1 award seat, then the other, and after that it might only waitlist...

Possibly due to the dividers between the seats in the herringbone config.

One can always sit opposite each other, but some may not like that...

i see what you mean....however, i have never found that to be a problem....to each his own i guess....