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Best FF program for US to India
I will be mainly traveling from either ORD or JFK/EWR to India. I was looking at doing some personal trips to FRA. I expect to fly to India 2x a year in Y and was looking at what the best airline frequent flyer was. I will mainly be flying Y. What would get low fuel surcharges for award flights to FRA or India? thanks |
are you a member of any airline frequent flyer program????
what other travel are you expecting besides the trips to fra & india???? |
2 trips to India in a year in Y will take you around 2+ years to score a oneway US/India ticket unless you’re buying very expensive Y tickets. FRA oneway will probably be possible in ~1.5 years. So you should look at a credit card strategy to supplement your miles. ORD/EWR are UA hubs and FRA is LHs hub. So it probably makes a little more sense to stick to *A and credit your miles to UA’s MP. All the major US carriers have 0 YQ on their own and most of their partner flights (BA miles tickets on AA are a noteable exception). They only have a $5-6 security fee. |
I have BA with 10k points left. I also have Jet with 14k miles. There is an old Air India account that i am trying to revive. I just signed up with Asiana because they give 2 years to get *A gold status so I was thinking that might be worthwhile. Mainly that is the travel I am expecting. I may end up taking a few trips in the US but it won’t be regular.
Originally Posted by Keyser
(Post 30205739)
are you a member of any airline frequent flyer program????
what other travel are you expecting besides the trips to fra & india???? |
Originally Posted by aranjit
(Post 30206520)
I have BA with 10k points left. I also have Jet with 14k miles. There is an old Air India account that i am trying to revive. I just signed up with Asiana because they give 2 years to get *A gold status so I was thinking that might be worthwhile. Mainly that is the travel I am expecting. I may end up taking a few trips in the US but it won’t be regular. |
Yes I was thinking to get a credit card to earn more/most of my miles. I didn’t realize UA had 0 YQ on LH. Thanks for mentioning that. I was thinking to credit to Asiana as they allow 2 years to get *A gold status and maybe get some free upgrades/lounge access. Then If I get *A gold I can credit to United until I have to requalify for Asiana. From what I can see Asiana doesn’t have fuel surcharge for United. So maybe I can just use Asiana and book a United award ticket to FRA? Awardhacker lists Ewr to Del as 85k round trip in Y. I assume you mean J is one way?
Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
(Post 30205930)
2 trips to India in a year in Y will take you around 2+ years to score a oneway US/India ticket unless you’re buying very expensive Y tickets. FRA oneway will probably be possible in ~1.5 years. So you should look at a credit card strategy to supplement your miles. ORD/EWR are UA hubs and FRA is LHs hub. So it probably makes a little more sense to stick to *A and credit your miles to UA’s MP. All the major US carriers have 0 YQ on their own and most of their partner flights (BA miles tickets on AA are a noteable exception). They only have a $5-6 security fee. |
You also have to see earning rates not just burning rates. Given your travel frequency you’re not going to be earning too many miles. Check OZ & UA’s earning and burning charts for UA/LH/AI/SQ - the potential flights you can take between USA-FRA and USA-IND. Also BA & 9W have the worst YQs. And 9W and AI have the worst redemption miles requirements. So go with UA unless you find OZ’s earning charts to be better. |
Originally Posted by aranjit
(Post 30206705)
Awardhacker lists Ewr to Del as 85k round trip in Y. I assume you mean J is one way?
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Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
(Post 30207149)
Also BA & 9W have the worst YQs.
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Originally Posted by Keyser
(Post 30207223)
9w has very little yq....
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Wow on looking at UA earning rates if you book directly with them you will earn at 5x the ticket price. A $1k ticket would only get 5k miles! Also looking at the number of economy tiers it looks pretty sad for LH on UA. Full Fare Economy Y, B 150% Economy M, H, U 100% Discount Economy Q, V, W 75% Deep Discount Economy S, T, L 50% Deepest Discount Economy K 25% No Mileage Credit I, O, R, X 0%
Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
(Post 30207149)
You also have to see earning rates not just burning rates. Given your travel frequency you’re not going to be earning too many miles. Check OZ & UA’s earning and burning charts for UA/LH/AI/SQ - the potential flights you can take between USA-FRA and USA-IND. Also BA & 9W have the worst YQs. And 9W and AI have the worst redemption miles requirements. So go with UA unless you find OZ’s earning charts to be better. |
Originally Posted by aranjit
(Post 30208393)
Wow on looking at UA earning rates if you book directly with them you will earn at 5x the ticket price. A $1k ticket would only get 5k miles! Also looking at the number of economy tiers it looks pretty sad for LH on UA.
It will be less 5k because the $1k ticket will include fees and taxes on which you don't earn miles. LH has a horrible program don't bother with them.
Originally Posted by aranjit
(Post 30208393)
UA earns 100% on OZ so I guess OZ seems reasonable to credit miles to.
1. Earn and burn rates and redemption availability is important 2. Make sure that wherever you're crediting you will be able to credit reward points too, or have a card that can outright buy tickets on the card's RP |
Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
(Post 30207298)
How much is YQ on a US-IND trip? |
Another FTer had posted recently they were charged 140ish miles + around 35k INR for a one-way J flight to Cancun. I think the flight EU-NA leg was on KLM or AF. Wouldn’t other destinations in NA have similar YQ? |
Originally Posted by PiperAtGatesofDawn
(Post 30208692)
Another FTer had posted recently they were charged 140ish miles + around 35k INR for a one-way J flight to Cancun. I think the flight EU-NA leg was on KLM or AF. Wouldn’t other destinations in NA have similar YQ? |
9W does charge YQ on partner redemptions depending on the operating carrier.
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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.
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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.
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Originally Posted by Anish
(Post 30211556)
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.
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. . |
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.
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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.
Originally Posted by SeeBuyFly
(Post 30214124)
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. . |
Keep in mind domestic baggage allowances are 15kg so it's not very convenient to book domestic travel on a different ticket.
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Originally Posted by aranjit
(Post 30220287)
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? 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). |
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