somegirl

I'm relatively new to the frequent flier game, but I was hoping to get some advice. Over the next two years, I'm going to be flying 70k-100k miles per year for school (including 10-15 round trips between New York and London, a couple within Europe, and a couple from NYC to domestic US cities). I've never flown enough to make any tier of frequent flier, so I was hoping to get some advice on which one I should fly exclusively. Which airline has the best benefits for a someone like me who will most likely buy mainly discount economy tickets every time? Main choices are Virgin Atlantic, American, British, United. Any thoughts on complimentary upgrades / best company for mile redemptions? Also, I'm not opposed to signing up for credit cards for additional points. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

jmcintosh

Complimentary upgrades just won't happen ... Unless it is an op-up (operational upgrade). If price is your biggest issue, look at how you can get the best price and go with thy carrier. If ease of gaining status is your goal, fly Star carriers and collect to A3 and you'll be gold in 19,000 miles - then do a status challenge to Delta or AA and get gold there. If redemptions are most important, AA and United are probably best under the current rules. If you don't mind a layover in YYZ consider AC as a carrier an potentially even Aeroplan as you can get gold at 35k (assuming you buy a Flex fare or higher) ... AC has a decent overseas product and will often offer decent fares for American customers willing to connect.

Otherwise, if price is your driver, you may not get a lot of highly discounted fares that will count toward status on many of the carriers.

Just some thoughts.

Gamecock

AA Status challenge. For a fee and 10k EQPs you will have mid-tier status.

After flying 100k miles you will recieve 8 SWUs. This may change after the merger.

jaysona

Air Canada made changes in 2013, Star Alliance Gold now starts at 50K, 35K is Star Alliance Silver now.

Details: https://altitude.aircanada.com/status/overview

mattp1987

somegirl mentioned flying to domestic US cities and flying 70k-100k a year. Complimentary upgrades are certainly plausible on domestic routes as a DL PM (75k) or UA Premier Platinum (75k) or 1k (100k). AA Executive Platinums (100k) also get complimentary domestic upgrades, and AA Platinums (50k) get a certain number of 500 mile upgrades. Additionally, all the status levels I mentioned with the exception of AA Platinum grant some number of Systemwide Upgrades, although the requirements to use them vary between carriers. However, this is a way to fly in J while booking a Y ticket on a some of the TATL flights each year.

Aside from that, I agree with Gamecock that you should status challenge AA Platinum when your flying starts if you want immediate benefits. They (and US) don't require a current status to match/challenge.

nux

What is your primary purpose for elite status? To make the TATL journeys more comfortable? For award travel?

As said, free international upgrades from a discount economy ticket won't really happen.

Your main options TATL are: AA, BA, Delta, Virgin, United (think I've missed some..). The best status to have is with the airline/alliance you will fly most.

mia

These choices are not completely independent.

AA & BA are both OneWorld Alliance members, flights made on both carriers can be credited to one program.

Likewise DL & VS have a (new) partnership which allows cross-crediting flights to either program.

As others have mentioned, the upgrade process on transatlantic flights is very different from the process on domestic USA flights. No airline routinely upgrades discount fare economy class passengers on transatlantic flights just because space is available in another cabin. It is possible to redeem miles for transatlantic upgrades, but this typically requires purchase of a nearly-full priced fare -or- a "co-payment" which effectively raises the fare to the same level.

allenh91801

I'm partial to AA, however the "free" upgrades don't kick in until 100k BIS miles flown.

banderon

Not to mention them already having killed the soft landing...

somegirl

Thanks all for the advice!

TravelWithMiles

+1 for crediting 20K to A3 getting Aegean *Alliance Gold. Lounge access everywhere even on an economy ticket will make your travel life a lot more comfortable.

Long Zhiren

UA made changes too, to be more challenging of course.
For example, 25k PQM is not enough for Star Alliance Silver starting 1 January 2014. In the new rules, you'd also need to have spent at least $2500 PQD on tickets through UA's ticketing agency and have been on at least four paid segments on UA metal.
All other tiers have similar new requirements for status through 2015.
Upgrade fees, taxes, other fees may not count towards PQD.

The OP should get *G and UA-gold pretty easily with 5 round-trips to Europe for 2013, and UA-1k with 10 round-trips & $10000 PQD each year for 2014 & 2015. And we'd see the OP as a frequent guest in the *A internatinoal lounges starting in 2014.

I wish forking out $10000 in annual ticket purchases was that easy for me.

ChicagoDave

Both UA & DL have introduced a spending requirement for status. There are exceptions if you get their credit card, but it requires a lot of spending. On UA you can avoid the spending requirement by having a foreign address (i.e. UK).

I travel for fun on my own dime, and try to only purchase discount economy tickets. UA worked the best for me in the past due to the E+ seating and occasional domestic upgrades. Now that they introduced the new spending requirement starting next year, I won't qualify at the same level. I'm going to switch to AA, but still working out the timing. AA gives 500 mile e-certs for domestic upgrades which isn't as good as UA, and are rolling out the main cabin extra seating, but they have wifi on almost every domestic plane.

Also, with the AA status challenge, it's elite qualifying points, and they only give you 0.5 points for the lowest cost fares. See this thread for details:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...idated-24.html

syrahnose

[QUOTE=ChicagoDave;21183841]Both UA & DL have introduced a spending requirement for status. There are exceptions if you get their credit card, but it requires a lot of spending. On UA you can avoid the spending requirement by having a foreign address (i.e. UK).

where did you find this out? Can you supply reference please?

I was shocked that United had imposed the 10000 spend on top of 100k traveled for 1k status. I live in New Zealand, and have maintained 1k status over last few years. The $$$ spend is irritating because I can see falling a couple of hundred short and being screwed by United over this.

ChicagoDave

Not sure which part you are referring to, but here is some info:
http://www.mileageplusupdates.com

If you are curious about the foreign vs domestic part, see bullet #1:
1. The Premier qualifying dollar (PQD) requirement only applies to members whose primary MileagePlus account address is in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Those who use military or diplomatic addresses (APO, DPO or FPO) are exempt from the PQD requirement.