Hi everyone,

Let me start by saying I started traveling for work last February and started particular reward programs based solely off of the advice of coworkers rather than researching myself. Now, I am a little more experienced, in a little different of a position at work, and travel A LOT more (almost every week). I need some advice.

Important info
I live in Boston.
My clients pay for my flights and, to be honest, I really don't care too much about the pricing of the flights/hotels.
For work, I travel all over the US. I never travel internationally, but I could be in CA one week, and the middle of nowhere in Virginia the next.
For leisure, I travel to major cities for sports tournaments. Also, my boyfriend works for PUMA and is in Germany or CA pretty often. I would like the ability to use points to travel overseas with him.

My current programs
US Airways - 125,292 miles - a few more segments away from Platinum.
Hilton - 305,702 Points - Diamond - I use these points for vacations.
National - Executive - I push all those points to US Airways.

I used to fly JetBlue as I had only one client and they were in DC, but then I got a couple of clients in Santa Fe, NM and had to make a judgment on another airline. Now, I've accumulated so many US Airways points and such a high status, that I am afraid to move to another airline.

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

My advice (not an expert) would be treat your miles like money.

A financial planner will tell you to diversify. If you fly so damn much, why not just hit your desired status level at US, then build up a smaller status elsewhere. Everyone has been discussing devaluations, which are bound to happen, what you don't want is to get stuck with 1,000,000 miles at United and have them only be worth 600,000 after a change in the program or whatever.

That said, you also don't wanna spread yourself so thin that it's not worth it.

So, I'd say pick 2 programs you feel comfortable sticking with and then roll on. I can't tell you which ones to pick, it's up to you to see what's got the biggest upside.

Yes two programmes and different alliances. Oneworld is great for US short hauls.

Hi AWalker - welcome to FT.

It seems like your primary goals are as follows, in this order:

1) use your miles to travel to Germany and California with your boyfriend
2) enjoy a comfortable hotel program when you do travel
3) transition away from US Airways into a superior airline option

That's all pretty attainable. I fly out of Boston and I've found that Delta and SPG work best for me given my needs, but I don't think that makes sense for you.

With regards to your airline of choice, I think your best bet is probably AA. They have a meaningful presence in Boston to each of their hubs, but infrequent enough direct flights that you'll get four segments each RT. If you fly enough for their Executive Platinum status, you'll get upgraded domestically frequently enough and get meaningful upgrades to use on transatlantic flights.

AA also works well because, in the case that the AA-US merger goes through, your US miles would become more valuable AA miles. If it doesn't, then you have valuable miles in US to go with whatever you earn in AA. AA also periodically has lucrative status matches/challenges (most recently a couple of months ago). They have a paid status challenge for a fee for their Platinum status - more details at http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel...match/2499795/.

AA miles are probably the best way to get to Europe, especially considering the recent devaluations at UA. Availability is good and you can use BA to get there, too (although there are fees for their flights through LHR, which are all their flights). The cheapest transatlantic crossing uses BA Avios on Aer Lingus to fly BOS-DUB for 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy, so you might alternately consider flying AA and crediting your flights to BA.

Hotel-wise, you're probably best off sticking with Hilton, given their huge footprint in the states and Europe. Hilton has a comfortable number of hotels in Germany and California alike, and HH Diamond should treat you well on your own travel across the States. Unfortunately, Hilton points are among the least valuable currencies after their recent devaluation. I'd consider making a switch to SPG if you have a bunch of unbooked travel coming up -- they have a Status Challenge that grants you their top-level Platinum status if you stay 18 nights over a three-month stretch. SPG points are far more valuable and, honestly, not a ton harder to earn. Until then, you're fine sticking with Hilton.

Best of luck!

The best advice I can give is to invest some time in these forums and read the blogs. Almost anything you could want to know is in here. You should consider bumping this thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/new-e...o-out-bos.html
I bet a lot of people will share their knowledge and opinions with you.

To your situation, I would stick with USAir, as you already have status. Consider buying up to chairman's preferred (or platinum if money is tight). It should be less than 1000$. With status secure, you could try out AA, Delta or UA since they all offer the international coverage that you want. I am not sure Jet Blue would meet your needs, although the new "mint" suites transcons is a plus.

No one can tell you which of these programs would be best for you (or least bad) since they all have issues right now. For example, AA treats its elite well but may merge with US with big unkowns, Delta has a notoriously bad frequent flyer program but good service and UA (my program) has been dramatically devaluing its elite status, service and award program (flying them seems like Hell's Kitchen right now) but could be on top in a few years.

I think I would try AA if I were in your position. It would be good to feel out their program in case the merger goes through. The one world alliance can get you to Europe to visit BF. You can rack up 100K Avios with British Airways pretty quickly with credit cards right now, which can be useful for short haul awards on AA.

good luck!

Please note that you would need at least 4 paid flights on BA to qualify for any status in the BA programme. The BA programme is relatively easy to gain status on in the USA if you fly in premium cabins, not so easy in economy.

There are quite a few topics on the BA section of flyertalk from USA members, check them out for ideas.

I would disagree about AA being better than US. US hasn't devalued their awards yet, and while they're still part of *A, this is the best way to get to and around Europe. Granted, their awards are somewhat more restrictive (i.e. no one way awards). Oneworld is relatively weaker as far as networks go. Adding AA or BA as a secondary choice is one thing, as diversification is never bad, but I wouldn't rush to eliminate US.

First, once you reach Platinum should strongly consider buying up to Chairman's Preferred. It will be less than $1,000. You'll get Europe upgrade certificates now, plus another set on March 1. Two sets of upgrades to Germany is well worth the cost.

For 2014, my answer depends on how many miles you expect to fly.

If you foresee 100,000-125,000 miles, enough for high tier on United, American, or Delta, then I would switch. Your program of choice should depend on where you expect to fly. If you're going up and down the east coast, American doesn't look so great, as a lot of their routes seem to connect in Chicago. Convenience, not price, matters for business.

If you foresee less than 100,000 miles, I'd stay with US Airways. Because it has fewer elites, upgrade rates are better at lower tiers. The award chart is competitive. At Gold or higher, there's no phone booking fee for awards, removing one of the disadvantages.

As far as your using solely Hilton. I would diversify my hotel use. In my opinion it takes alot of spending and stays to get free nights at Hilton. SPG is a great program with a great cc. Also Club Carlson/ Raddison. Not as many hotels, but the ability to earn free nights faster.

You didn't ask for this, but you should get a USAir credit card from Barclays, an easy way to get 35K miles to add to yous stash for that trip to Germany.

Both SPG and Hyatt are strong hotel loyalty programs that you should consider.

I like to use my miles for flights from WAS or BOS to Germany, and have found UA best for this purpose. As far as BOS is concerned, UA miles can be used on non-stop flights to FRA and MUC (on LH) and to ZRH on Swiss. AA and its partners do not have non-stop flights from BOS to Germany, and its main partner, BA, has prohibitive surcharges on award travel. Though UA and US are currently in the same alliance, UA offers OW award travel at half-price in miles, while US does not.

I would rank AA second, at least for my purposes. I am flying to Germany on AB (to MUC, from DRS) with AA miles next summer, but have found it difficult to book award travel from JFK to WAS for the final segment of my return flight.

With the recent UA MileagePlus devaluation, using miles from BOS to FRA and MUC on LH or to ZRH on LX will be extremely expensive and almost cost prohibitive.
On the other hand, it seems likely the merger between US and AA will come to fruit so you might as well keep earning status with US. Also, flying up-and-down the East Coast works very well with US and thus with the new AAdbaUS entity.

Great advices, thanks