Mwenenzi

How long will you be in UK for? A few years or for ever?
Stay with AAdvantage? Will earn based on distance, unless flying AA (to USA?)
Do you have any AA ff miles banked?
The EU trips will be likely be short, so will not earn much to any ffp. EU is small.
With a few EU economy flights and 2~4 UK-USA flights will be tough to earn status.

guv1976

With 24-36 intra-European roundtrips per year (2-3 per month) and two trans-Atllantic Business Class roundtrips per year, BA Silver (oneworld Sapphire) should be easily attainable. And if travelling from LON to the Western U.S. in Business, BA Gold (oneworld Emerald) might even be possible, if one were to fly LON to the Eastern U.S., and then connect to AA for the East Coast-West Coast segment.

The number of BA Tier Points (used to determine BAEC status) earned on short-haul Economy Class flights will vary, depending on whether fully-flexible fares or cheaper, more restrictive, fares are utilized.

Mwenenzi

OK. I overlooked the "per month". BA/IB may not fly to all of Kernowmaid destinations. Or be not competitive with pricing. Routes will be important (from any London airport)

Neglectedpeach

Hello all,

So I am new here and I am posting to ask which frequent flyer/rewards/membership program is best for me because I just got a new job and I'll be flying EVERY WEEK from Florida to Georgia and back. Any help is appreciated.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> I suppose points that can be used to pay for future flights. Saving the most money possible is most important.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> ~17,000 miles per year

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> economy

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> I am able to choose any airline I want although I typically go with Frontier or Spirit as these are cheaper.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Domestic USA. Tampa, Florida to Atlanta Georgia

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Tampa International Airport

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> No status currently

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> I have no preference.

Thanks again for your help.

guv1976

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Which airlines serve the destinations to which you would like to redeem your accrued miles?

It looks like four airlines offer TPA-ATL nonstops: Delta, Frontier, Southwest, and Spirit. Both Frontier and JetBlue have expressed interest in buying Spirit; if JetBlue succeeds and takes over the TPA-ATL route, you could credit those flights to either JetBlue or American.

NeedMoreCowbell

Hi, still new here. I've been a Legacy Priceline Visa user for years, and have always used it for decent discounts generally on hotels but lately my points have been getting wiped out quickly due to increased leisure airfare & hotels. Historically, I'll generate about 1500 to 2k points per year, allowing me to 'erase' $2,500 - $3,350 worth of "travel-related expenses" annually. Wondering if there's a better way to leverage my relatively high spending ($6k - $8k/mo).

Here's a quick rundown of how my Legacy PL Visa works:

2 points/dollar on everything (current PL card earns points 1:1)
5 points/dollar on PL bookings

Points redemption: 1:1 on any regular purchase (I never use this)
Any travel redemption: ~2:3.3
ie, a $400 hotel charge is wiped out via 239 points

Post-Pand, with 3 little ones that are really into Universal, we expect additional travel from home (Buffalo) BUF to Florida (generally MCO or TPA). Also looking at an occasional trip to LAX to visit family, and 1 big trip planned to Hawaii in '23.

Would love some input from the pros. Do I continue with the legacy PL card? Should I switch to something more advantageous?

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
For BUF->MCO/TPA since it's a short flight, looking for best value per dollar spent.
For BUF->LAX or BUF->Hawaii, looking for good value on the way TO destination, and am motivated to get lie-down seats on the way back, via upgrade to or straight purchasing of 1st class tickets.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply: <20k miles, maybe 3 or 4 round trip flights for our family of 5 per year.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:
Florida flights: Economy or Premium Economy
LAX & Hawaii, return leg looking for First
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:
Can choose. Staying clear of ultra-discount airlines as we need baggage (3 daughters). Only fly for pleasure.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply:
We typically fly AA, JetBlue, SW.
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: BUF
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: Nothing significant. Have about 50k SW miles and a handful of other programs
(8) Preferred Airlines
I have two friends that work for SW and AA and have gotten little perks/help here and there when flying those lines but otherwise no real preference.

Thanks for any input!!

guv1976

A few thoughts:

It sounds like you get good value for your charges on the Priceline Visa card. The way to leverage your spending would be to apply for new cards with generous sign-up bonuses (either miles, or points that could be used to defray the cost of cash tickets). Some airline credit cards also have a free-checked-bag benefit for travel on that airline.

BUF now has a participating Priority Pass lounge, and some high-end cards offer PP lounge access. But whether visiting a lounge makes sense with three little ones in tow is a separate question.

I see that B6 (JetBlue) offers nonstop service from BUF to both LAX and MCO. Thanks to AA's new partnership with B6, if you were able to attain elite status in the AAdvantage program, you would get free checked bags on B6, as well as free Even More Space seats on B6. And it is now possible to attain status in the AAdvantage program without flying, thanks to AA's new "Loyalty Points" scheme.

Good luck!

NeedMoreCowbell

This is exactly the kind of insight I was hoping to get - thank you! I certainly wouldn't mind a Priority Pass membership but looking through available cards the annual fee is too steep for something we'd likely use fairly infrequently; plus my kiddos are still more than happy exploring airports. Will do some diving into the AA loyalty points game and see what can make sense.

guv1976

I would take a look at the relatively new Capital One Venture X card, which includes Priority Pass lounge access. If you can make use of the card's annual $300 travel credit (requires booking via the Capital One travel portal), the card essentially pays for itself.

cinny

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: upgrades, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply: Perhaps 10+ round trips each year plus a few others (25-50 flights?), half domestic (US), half international; each round trip on average can be 2,000 - 6,000 miles. The problem is that it's highly unpredictable.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Economy (in order to be reimbursed), I'm not actually sure if Premium economy counts or not

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Can choose airlines, but to be reimbursed would have to be economy class; Mostly for work

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Highly unpredictable and varies from year to year; half US domestic, many US-Europe, some/few US-Asia, possible others

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: for the next year it'll be EWR (and LGA and JFK); other years BOS

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: I doubt it; so far I have spread out my miles and do not keep track, but I want to change that now

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: Flexible

Thanks in advance for your help.

guv1976

cinny, because of the font/color you have chosen for your post, it is almost impossible to read -- at least for me on my mobile device.

Can you edit your post to make it more legible? Thanks.

Mwenenzi

Quoted & removed very faint text color. As above could not read (on a laptop)

What you want comes/can come with high level status. 10 round trips in economy very unlikely to earn mid-top status.

Getting upgrades on international flights is a long way from certain. And generally only on the airline of your ffp. Star Alliance and some airlines have cross airline schemes, but requires a very high priced base economy fare:--useless for many people. Depending on the airlines some economy fares are not upgradeable. So do not expect upgrades. International PE is a separate class of travel.

Listing what ffp's you are a member of now and balances would help.

cinny

Thanks and I'm sorry for the color. I used Dark Mode and didn't realize that the color was faint.

It's possible that I have 25-40 flights including non-round-trips, but it's highly variable. I can buy upgrades with my own money, so it doesn't have to strictly be economy all the time.

Post-pandemic traveling for work just started again for me, so not much going on. But here are some current numbers:
- AA: 39,427 award miles (only 171 loyalty points) (from credit card bonuses a long time ago)
- Korean Air SKYPASS: 8,731 miles
- United: 7,852 miles
- JetBlue TrueBlue: 1,178 points
- Delta: 9,545 miles
- Flying Blue: 7,500 miles until 09/2023 (I didn't realize these would expire... I transferred them from AMEX but didn't end up needing them yet)
- Avios: 14,297 (also from AMEX and not ended up using much of it)
- Miles & More: 500 M (and have some credit that I need to use with Lufthansa)
- Swiss Air: Status miles 7,118; Award miles 4,212

I also don't mind using credit cards to help. Had Chase Sapphire a long time ago and haven't resurrected it (still parking a lot of points in a Freedom card). Also have AMEX Gold. I'm ready to add more cards and was thinking of the Venture X.

Mwenenzi

Ughh. Looks like you join the ffp of every airline you fly.
Small ff balances in ffp's have low-nil value as you never get enough to be of use.
FF miles can expire.--->Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire
.

• AA & Jetblue are now ff partners (out of alliance)
• AA & avios (BA or ?) are ff partners in Oneworld alliance
• Miles & More is ffp of LH, Swiss International Airline and some other airlines Wikipedia Miles & More And ff partners in Star alliance
• Delta & AF/KLM Flyingblue & Korean Air are ff partners in Skyteam

You can fly an airline and generally credit to that airlines ffp or a partner airline ffp, subject to t&c's. At times a low cost fare will earn nil in a partner ffp,
Even a low % earning something to a ffp that you can use is better than a bigger % to another ffp, that will never use.
A guide to earnings, but check the ffp web site-->https://www.wheretocredit.com/

cinny

I realize that and am trying to rectify that going forward. Which ffp should I stay loyal to given my flying patterns (variable, a mix of US domestic and abroad) and home base (NJ/New York and Boston)? Upgrades are probably most important given that I mostly travel for work and can get reimbursed on economy