FlyerTalk Forums - Best FF program for US to India

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9W does charge YQ on partner redemptions depending on the operating carrier.

I'd recommend looking at TK - it is similar to OZ in ease of maintaining status, but I find the miles more valuable. Also, if you fly TK to India/FRA, your opup chances are much better as a TK*G.

Well since you most definitely need to supplement your mile earning with a credit card, it makes sense to stick to a US based carrier. As suggested above, UA is a good bet and *A has multiple redemption options to India now with the new SQ one-stop as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anish (Post 30211556)

Supplementing with a credit card doesn't require using a US-based carrier. For example, I redeem most of my points earned via Chase (Ultimate Rewards) through British Airways Avios, and most of my Citi (Thank You Points) through Turkish Airlines.

In fact, of all the options, I would recommend against US based carriers (apart from AS) because the shift to revenue-based earning has destroyed the value proposition of FFPs for people funding their own travel as OP highlighted upthread.

There is no airport called India, and which Indian airport you will be flying to makes a difference. For example, if going to CCU, three excellent AA partners (CX, QR, EY) fly there with one stop from the OP's US gateways of ORD and JFK. However, using *A miles requires two or more stops and significantly longer total trip times, unless you really want to fly AI. (Admittedly the trip to CCU on AI via DEL is the fastest of all, so the pain is over quickly.)

On the other hand, if flying only to BOM/DEL, one is spoiled for choice.
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Quote:

Originally Posted by PVDtoDEL (Post 30210593)

I'd recommend looking at TK - it is similar to OZ in ease of maintaining status, but I find the miles more valuable. Also, if you fly TK to India/FRA, your opup chances are much better as a TK*G.

TK looks interesting. There have some cheap tickets it seems and I can fly with them to India vs OZ. Is there any issues with flying through Turkey recently? If I get *G via another airlines FF program I assume I will be less likely to get opup? Why do you find the miles more valuable?

In terms of international flights true. In terms of domestic there seems to be a lot of competition/overcapacity at the moment so I am not worried about getting a domestic ticket for a good deal at least at the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeeBuyFly (Post 30214124)

Keep in mind domestic baggage allowances are 15kg so it's not very convenient to book domestic travel on a different ticket.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aranjit (Post 30220287)

I used to use the OZ program, as I was interested in the lifetime *G, but I switched because I found OZ miles are very hard to use. The award chart is generally more expensive, and OZ is very restrictive about who you can issue award tickets for (only certain family members, after submitting documentation and similar). TK's redemption process is much less bureaucratic than OZ (although it is still much less streamlined than, say, UA).

The other big advantage of TK comes once you reach the Elite plus level, where you get 2x upgrade vouchers a year (worth at least $1k or so in my book). There have been some excellent business class fares US-India recently (in the $2k range) - if you're willing to spend the extra money for a few more expensive roundtrips to qualify for Elite Plus, the requalification requirement should be possible to hit on your "normal" travel pattern (2x economy tix to India, 1x to Europe).