Note that AA partners AS and B6 both fly LAX-EWR, and B6 also flies LAX-JFK. Status on AA would provide benefits on both of those carriers.

By public transportation (rail) from Manhattan, EWR and JFK are equally convenient. And on weekends, there's more frequent service between Penn Station and the Jamaica AirTrain terminal than there is between Penn Station and the EWR AirTrain terminal. Also, depending on where in Manhattan one is, there's the option of taking the subway to the Jamaica (or Howard Beach) AirTrain terminal.

This is true, but status always confers the most benefits with the airline that you earn it with. I'm not familiar with the terms of the AA-B6 alliance, but my impression of the AA-AS relationship was that the status benefits were merely what you got from oneworld ruby/sapphire/emerald.

AAdvantage elite benefits on AS here:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...a-airlines.jsp

AAdvantage elite benefits on B6 here:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...es/jetblue.jsp

Because of a job I will be starting soon, I will be flying a-lot. Sometimes 3 times a day. This will include short and long-haul flights in Asia, Americas, Europe and the Middle east, rare visits to Africa. I've not flown more than 20 times in my life and I thought I'd ask for advice so thank you for taking the time to read this.


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.
>>> Reply: No matter the program I will end up at the highest tier so difficulty to reach the highest tier isn't a concern. It'd be fair to just compare highest reward tiers.

In general the most important things for me will be comfort in airports and flight e.g. extra legroom, upgrades, lounge access, priority bag collection and security

Benefits that decrease my expenditures while abroad will be immensely useful for helping with my savings. (I'm a contractor so free food and drinks will be useful as I cant expense them to a company, the only thing that gets payed for is hotel and travel).

I also really put value in earning miles and membership benefits that extend beyond my job. (British Airways EC gives me the ability to get lifetime gold membership and Alaska's mileage plan has a higher rate of earning miles) I may not have this job in two years time so if I can get more out of it I will.

Partnerships with hotels will also help as I need to sign up to many hotel loyalty programs too.

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.
>>> Reply: ~200 flights yearly

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

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: No choice, ability to upgrade on own dime. Travel is for work.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: Europe 50% of the time rest of the world the rest.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: Based in Europe, Not a specific country

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: No, I've not flown for years.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: no preference

P.S. Any extra tips or tricks for someone just getting into becoming a frequent flyer would be much appreciated!

It occurs to me that given the wide-ranging areas you will be traveling to/through, coupled with the fact that you cannot choose your airline for each trip, you could end up flying a bunch of different airlines in different alliances (oneworld, Star Alliance, SkyTeam) -- or in no alliance at all. So you should probably pick one program from each alliance, so that you can credit the miles you earn from most flights. Note that some alliance members also have non-alliance partners.

If you want lounge access when flying domestically within North America, you will probably need to have status in a non-North-American FFP: For example, AA's AAdvantage Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum levels are both oneworld Emerald, but neither gets you lounge access when flying domestically in the U.S. By contrast, BA Silver and Iberia Plus Oro (both oneworld Sapphire) do give you lounge access when flying domestically in the U.S.
Beyond that, you should probably give some thought to your desired redemptions (routes, class of service), as different FFPs can charge vastly different amounts of miles (and cash) for the exact same redemption.

Hi,

I’m a 19 year old international student moving to London this month. It seems like I’ll be flying regularly and a FFP seems to be the best way to save some money. I’ll be flying home to my parents who live in Abu Dhabi. I will also be flying to COK to visit extended family once a year and the occasional visit to the Schengen Area. I did do some research on my own and I felt that none of the FFP programs fit me well. I’m aware of Etihad’s and Emirates’ FFP programs but they seem a bit limiting compared to the main ones. So I’m curious on everybody’s thoughts here.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
>>> Reply: I’ll be flying long solo flights so upgrades I guess? I’m not sure tbh

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
>>> Reply: 10 - 20,000 miles and like 3-5 flights.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
>>> Reply: Economy.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: I can choose and pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
>>> Reply: Europe-Asia. I'll mostly be flying to LHR - AUH/DXB - COK. And as I said maybe the occasional flight to the Schengen Area.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: LHR, or any London airport to be frank.

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: No status in any FFP yet. I have already booked my first DXB-LHR flight on British Airways, if that’s helpful info.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: I don’t like super budget airlines, but other than that I’m mostly fine. Also it is the stupidest thing, but I can’t transit in some countries because apparently Indians need an airport transit visa. In the EU, I will need a visa for Germany, France and the CzechRep, so that leaves out Lufthansa, Air France, and other airlines that use these places as a hub.

Thanks for reading.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Realistically, I think that the best use of any miles you can accrue would be for short-haul flights out of LON, using BA Avios for Reward Flight Saver redemptions. BA Avios can be transferred to both QR and IB, if and when necessary.

Thank you for the welcome and quick response! Yeah that makes sense to me.

Seems like you're the only person active and providing great advice in this thread. Thanks for all your help and keep up the great work helping new people like me!

New joiner here. I'm flying from Seattle to Thailand next year and wonder if I should join a miles program or apply for a new credit card (e.g., Alaska Airlines) to:
1. get better benefits for mileage covered than I'd get for buying expensive int'l airline tickets via my Chase Sapphire Reserve CC
2. get long run rewards for domestic travel that are better than Chase Sapphire Reserve.

I mostly fly from Seattle to Philadelphia or NYC 3x/year. I've had a Chase Sapphire Reserve card since 2016. I use points earned from qualified purchases to bring down domestic flight costs. If I use points to cover entire flights, I'll run out pretty quickly—which Chase is dying for me to do. I get great corporate discounts on car rentals, and ok corporate discounts on hotels. my partner has the Alaska Airlines CC to get us the companion fare. I have excellent credit so getting an Amex Platinum or Gold card isn't out of reach.

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.
>>> Reply: Good award redemption rates if that means credit leading to free flights or lower net fares. Upgrades would be amazing as well, especially seat and free wi-fi or in-flight food/bev. I'd love earn 1–2 free domestic flights annually. The dream would be to earn enough to get one free international trip every year or two.

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.
>>> Reply: Less than 25,000 mi, 3–4 US coast to coast flights

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: Economy. Occasionally I'll pay extra for more comfort or to be closer to the front of the plane.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Yes. I travel mainly for pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: SEA to PHL or NYC about 3 to 4 times a year.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: SEA

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: I only have Chase Sapphire Reserve. I have an AA account, but no mileage. I also don't like AA.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: Delta, Alaska, JetBlue, BA, Cathay, JAL

Are you familiar with the various airline transfer partners that the various big credit card rewards programs have? The CSR earns 3x on airfare which is pretty good. However, the main benefit to earning with Chase (or Amex or Cap One) is that there is flexibility in where you can transfer the points. In contrast, an Alaska Airlines credit card earns Alaska Airline miles and they can't be transferred to other programs that Alaska may not have access to award seats for.
Are you using the pay yourself back feature?
This does not sound like enough to earn status anywhere. Do be aware that US airlines are generally moving towards elite status as a function of money spent. How much money do you put on your credit cards annually?

Be aware that Delta has notoriously bad award flight pricing. Would it be correct to say that you prefer BA, Cathay, and JAL because of familiarity due to oneworld reasons?

As above you do not fly enough to get status or a a reasonable balance of ff miles from flying.
Selecting flights based on schedule & price may the way to go (~any airline)

Be careful about ff mile expiry-->Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire

Edit
Unsure how familiar you are with the global alliances, but AA, Alaska, BA, Cathay, JAL and some others are part of Oneworld. So ff partners.
https://www.oneworld.com/

I know of CSR's but at a superficial level. I'll give it a closer look.

I've used that feature to partially pay for things, mainly flights.

Between CSR and another CC I spend about $55K. I've spent significantly less on CSR this year because of more relevant cash back categories on the other card. From all your replies, I get the sense I should stick with CSR and open an Alaska Airlines CC for my regular trips between Seattle and the east coast.

Thanks for the Delta warning. They had new seat cushions in a plane I caught in August, I'm still smitten about it. Re: BA, Cathay, JAL, I prefer them because of good experiences I had with them over the few others I've taken internationally. I'll go with them if fare and total travel time are equal between them and other airlines. But I have no real allegiance beyond that.

Thanks for the heads up about FF mile expiration. I'm not super familiar with the alliances, so thanks for that. May make some sense to start an account to capture all the miles I'll accrue going from Seattle to Thailand. But in the end it sounds like you and Angetenar recommend I stick with CSR? Lastly�stupid question coming�are there no credit cards that would reward me for the miles I'm about to accrue vs the money I'll spend on tickets + hotel?

A credit card does not replace a ffp: you can/should have both. But you will not get many ff miles/benefits from a ffp in the short - medium term for flights paid with the credit card.
A guide to ff earning, but check the t&c's. -->https://www.wheretocredit.com/

I�ll note that s lot of Delta�s reputation for bad award pricing is because their transatlantic Delta One pricing really is pretty horrible. However you can often get pretty good value on domestic and transatlantic economy routes and then upgrade to C+/Premium Select with cash from there if you want.