I definitely recommend LATAM. Not only does LAN has good connections all throughout South America, but AA/BA/IB is awesome for going to Europe/North America.

Does your friend have a choice of airlines for the 5 week on and off?
What airline & class of travel on the 5 week FIFO ?
You can fly 1 airline but collect miles in another

Airline FFP will depend on objectives
Have a look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...post-here.html

I'm heading to SSA tomorrow for my 18th trip in two years (from ORD). TAM would be your best bet, but be aware most international flights go through GRU or GIG. AA flies directly to SSA from the US, no other US domestic does.

Hi all, and thanks for the help in advance. I'm on DL SkyMiles right now, but wondering if I should change.

For members asking for information, to help people to assist you, can you please provide:
(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:
Getting to award travel for the family is most important. The odd upgrade every once in a while is nice, but just gravy.

(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:
I'm 1-2x a month, definitely a sector flyer. My destinations seem to alternate between SLC and SDF. At 1 trip a month, I'm at 48 segments/year.


(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:
Economy - cheapest available when I'm informed I need to be somewhere. However, sometimes I only get about a week of notice that I need to be somewhere.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:
Travelling mainly for work. Work strongly prefers Delta and UA.

(5) Which routes do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply:
Mainly US domestic. Destinations are SDF and SLC.


(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: RIC


(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:
No status anywhere, a small number of miles I'm willing to walk away from on SkyMiles and AAdvantage (or redeem on a small item in the various shopping portals). I do have a Delta Gold SkyMiles American Express, that I don't use for anything (Hyatt Gold Passport card works better for me).

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply:
Delta appears to have the best schedule out of RIC to anywhere.

48 segments is a reasonable number of flights. AS could be used to collect ff miles from DL & AA flights. No idea if 48 segments would get you AS status. AS have a good range of partner airlines. But as with any FFP this can change.
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...ePlan-partners
Do you have a UA freq flyer account for your UA flights?

Lot of answers and information posted INLINE in BLUE.

- Usually Economy/ Coach - Not sure which Fare Class it is. But can check and get back.
- "You can fly 1 airline but collect miles in another" - Is this a question or answer? That is the objective.. to deposit the miles to right FFP's from all connected/ alliance flights.

Yes. :) AA has a flight from MIA to SSA.

That is probably unrealistic if travelling on cheapest economy tickets on a range of airlines, especially if flying a non USA based airline.

From post 2A statement. A surprising number of people are not aware of earning/burning on FFP partner airlines.

Best if you get more details of the airlines flown and existing FFP's.
If upgrades are an objective put miles to the FFP where an upgrade is a possibility (flights marketed & operated by the airline).
Reward cost (miles) & reward co-pay fees vary between FFP's even in the same alliance

Ok. Will attempt to pull a bunch more of the flight demographics and repost the above.

OK I assume this is the same person in another of your threads http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...me-issues.html

This would have been useful information if it was included in your first post (post 15 above)

Yes. But, I was afraid if I combine the issues then it would confuse people more. So, this would be useful for this THREAD on choosing an FFP or the AA miles related thread?

Hi all,

I'm a SF-based flyer and I've kept DL after moving here (I now know SLC well :)). As a low-cost economy flyer, the combination of MQD + new earning model has made me reconsider.

Right now I'm debating status matching over to Alaska MVP Gold so that I can fly the cheapest of DL+AA+AS and bank miles to one place, plus get basic services on all three (including my #1, extra leg room). I also think I could maintain Virgin America Silver status which would give me direct flights to all my major routes except MSP (where family lives). What do you think?

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP? (In descending order of priority)
#1 Being able to secure extra legroom for my companion and me (6'5" and 6'2") for free
#2 Good award redemption rates and the ability to either 1) transfer from other programs to stock up (e.g., MR/UR) or 2) get a good CC bonus on categories. Would like to be able to redeem for long haul international flights.
#3 Occasional complimentary upgrades (I'm about 75% on DL, but I often fly JFK-SFO which no longer upgrades anyway)
#4 Priority services are nice, though given that credit cards give early boarding, I have precheck, and rarely check a bag, not a huge deal

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
- I tend to fly 50k-75k (I was DL Platinum last year, DL Gold this year). These are usually long flights. I'm in SF and often fly to the East Coast (e.g., NYC, WAS) or to the midwest (e.g., MSP, ORD), with a couple international flights per year.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
- Usually cheapest economy, though occasionally premium economy on int'l tickets, especially if I get a mileage bonus.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
- Travel 75% for pleasure, 25% for work and can choose any airline/class within reason.

(5) Which routes do you fly most often
- US Domestic. Usually SFO-JFK, SFO-IAD/DCA, SFO-MSP

(6) What is your home airport?
SFO/OAK (occasionally SJC), based on timing and price

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
- Delta Gold (~400K miles)
- Just matched AA Platinum to try it out for the year (~50k miles)
- US Airways no status (~50k miles)
- BA no status (~100k miles from CC)
- Virgin America - may match status to try for the year (no miles)
- United no status (1,000 or so miles left)

(8) Preferred Airlines
- Delta, Alaska, Virgin America. Even though I'm based in SF, I really can't stand United.

Best FFP for home base of LAX?
 

My home airport is LAX, and I can foresee future flights to:

Highly likely:
Vancouver
San Francisco

Maybe:
NYC or some other East Coast city (1-2x per year)
Hong Kong (tops 1x per year)
Germany (tops 1x per year)


Fly mostly for personal travel. I don't care about upgrading to business class or status, just looking for free reward flights.

Based on some research I've been doing, it seems like perhaps Alaskan or American would be better.. Any suggestions greatly appreciated! Thanks

Welcome to FT.

I agree with your assessment, and think that Alaska and American's mileage plan would be best. Given your travel patterns and preferences I would recommend Alaska. Right now their FFP seems the best bet.

I'd say Alaska Airlines is your best option, but also look into AA and UA... easiest to get and maintain status and you'll be a bigger fish in a smaller pond

welcome to ft

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Note that AA's program permits a free stopover at the North American "gateway" on international awards, so one could fly LAX-JFK/MIA (stopover) - DUS/TXL for as little as 20K AA miles one-way during the off-peak season. In addition, AA's partner Air Berlin offers seasonal nonstop service between LAX and Germany.

However, for free award flights in Economy between LAX and SFO (on AA) or YVR (on AS), British Airways Avios provide the best value.