***Moderator - please move this post to appropriate forum if required***

Hello FTers,

I was long time lurker here and an avid traveler. Most of my travels within US are work based and personal travel to outside US. Currently PM with Delta (Sky Team), Platinum with both Marriott and Starwood. Was 1K with United few years back but moved to Delta because of company policy.

I'll be moving to Hyderabad, India for good in early May this year. Confused on what India based airline program to enroll into. Most of my future travels would be to US on work couple of times a year, to Asia and within India on personal trips.

I do have my UA Mileage Plus account and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer account active with minimum miles in both.

Hyderabad is currently served by Silk Air (SQ subsidiary), British (OW), Ethihad, Saudi Airlines (recently Sky Team), Emirates, Qatar, Tiger Airways (Singapore based), Malaysian Airlines, Srilankan Airlines.

Except for Saudi airlines (with limited frequency), no other ST airline fly direct to Hyd; there used to be KLM prior to 2008. Also only Silk Air is SQ->*A airlines, there used to be LH prior to 2008.

I'm tired of flying ST connecting thru BOM/BLR/DEL. Considering the ease of flying international direct from Hyd, what would be the best choice for loyalty program?

I've a one way trip coming up in May from US (IAD) to Hyd.
Does UA or SQ match my status from Delta? Will that be challenge based? If so what could it be?

On a side note: I do have 225K skymiles on Delta and not sure of how to use them from India.

Provide your insights, inputs, thoughts on what program is suits best and why.

TIA,
Jag

One option is to stick with Indian airlines - both AI and 9W can probably take you everywhere you want to go domestically and many places internationally as well.

If you want to stick with one of the global alliances, Star Alliance has the best coverage of India out of the 3. To give you a better idea of which *A program is best for you, it would probably be helpful to know a bit more about how much you fly, what class of service, and what kind of routes.

From HYD, TG is often a good option internationally.

do you see yourself flying more domestic or international????

As Keyser said, it depends on whether you are going to be flying mainly domestically or internationally. For international travel, I recommend a OW program since HYD is serviced by BA, CX, MH and QR.

You forgot Cathay and Thai. Also, SriLankan no longer serves HYD.

Silk Air is not part of *A. Silk Air flights will not give you miles on non-SQ *A airlines. And often you will find that HYD-SIN flights on SilkAir will not even give you any miles on SQ.

You can use Delta miles for travel on Malaysia Airlines (even though they are in different alliances). Of course, you can also fly Saudia from HYD or KLM/AF from other cities in India.

IMHO, OW has almost as good coverage in general and much better coverage out of HYD.


This is true only if you are desperate to fly *A out of HYD.

Or you're flying on a budget. TG has been undercutting in HYD for as long as I remember, and it continues the practice even after they took the horrid A306s off the route.

OP said that some travel will be personal, so I'm guessing (s)he won't mind some savings as well?

To be honest, I have never seen a cheap fare on TG to/from HYD from/to anywhere in the US/EU. Guess it depends on where the OP wants to fly.

TG undercuts eastbound

There is no point in flying west (US/EU) via BKK.

LAX is sometimes cheaper too.

OP said that (s)he flies to Asia, which presumably is eastwards?

Sure, but the OP also said he would fly to the US a few times a year.
He will have to make his decision based on where he plans to fly more, what class, etc.

OP are you okay with YQ on Indian carriers? Also note that booking awards (AFAIK) is a laborious process involving emailing and scanning things. Not quite simple as going to ua.com or picking the phone and finishing everything in one shot.

not really....booking online with 9w & ai is pretty straightforward....just made an online redemption booking yesterday with 9w....no emailing or scanning involved....

+1

The process is as simple as UA or any other US carrier. If a seat is available for redemption, you can book / pay for it online.

Even partners?

now partner redemptions are an absolute pain in the a$$....it used to be fairly simple with jet....just fill in the online form & they get back to you with options within 3 days....now the online form doesn't work & they take atleast 3 weeks before they get back to you with probably the wrong information....

I vaguely remember you saying that one also has to fax in identification docs?

you have to send in a copy of your passport before they issue the ticket....