alex7c

(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: Award tickets, Free 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: 25000-50000. long hauls so only a handful of flights
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Usually the cheapest, occasionally business
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes. Mostly for pleasure.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Transpacific (NRT, KIX, PVG, TPE).
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: SEA.
(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.
(8) Preferred Airlines
NH, CX, SQ. But it's not a strong preference.


I'm start wondering if I should aim for OZ lifetime status so I don't need 50k miles every year.

associate

There's a very good chance I'll be moving from DC to Kansas City at the beginning of next year for work and I'm hoping for some advice on whether to try to keep my DL Platinum status or do a challenge on US/AA/U. (I have 45K MQM currently, so looking at doing a mileage run to BKK or something like that to keep status). Next year, I'll be doing a lot of travel (monthly?) from MCI-DCA (no direct Skyteam routings) as well as MCI to other US domestic and possibly some Europe. I also have 2015 travel to DPS thanks to the recent flight deal, and some more ecertificates to spend on DL by March.

Much thanks!

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
from most to least important: access to shorter check-in and security lines, help navigating all the last minute stuff that can go wrong (i.e. good dedicated support line), upgrades on travel, good award redemption, extra baggage allowance, lounge access

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
This year: 30K miles in 24 segments (plus 15K bonus MQM through Amex)
Next year: expect to fly more for work and still some for pleasure

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Always economy. Usually the cheapest available Skyteam partner. I take advantage of flight deals when they are available and fit my schedule, but also sometimes buy last minute fares that are not discounted economy.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I can choose airlines but it has to be economy. I used to travel more for work and expect to do more travel for work next year. I also travel internationally and domestic for pleasure every chance I get, for weddings, with friends, because of flight deals and/or because a particular destination has been on my list.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
US domestic, a little Europe and other exotic travel for leisure

(6) What is your home airport?
Currently DCA. From beginning of next year, MCI.

(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 Platinum

(8) Preferred Airlines
Delta

mortaltype

Long-time lurker, first time poster.

I'm an international student from the US studying in the UK for the next few years while I finish my degree. Completed previous years of study in the UK and Europe while with United's Mileage Plus programme. I used to be able to get a free flight every so often out of United, flying 2 times RT or so a year, but with the changes I have no clue what to do. I tend to book student tickets if they're cheaper, and am thinking I might have to give up on the occasional free flight idea at this rate.

Questions
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?
Reply:free flights, low-ish entry cost =30,000 miles for flights

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?

Reply: <25000 economy, usually UK to FL, (LHR/BHX/MAN->TPA)

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Reply: cheapest, economy, student tickets if cheapest

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Visiting home primarily, occasionally for research and must have economy then

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Transatlantic, United/Lufthansa

(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: Happy to fly out of LHR (or any London), MAN, or BHX to TPA

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Reply: No UA status anymore and only about 1,160 miles left with them (blew remaining saved miles on a weird but almost free TPA->YYZ->FRA->BHX over a year ago)

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: Sort of thinking about AA/BA or Virgin. United annoys me, and I tend to hunt for Lufthansa operated when possible with them, but at this point I'm happy to jump ship, I've had enough.* Realistically willing to go with whichever programme gets me the best deals/ the occasional free flight.


Any advice that people could provide would be really appreciated, looking to fly to TPA soon.

*I think 'enough' it was sometime around Dec 2012 when I had two drunk men start verbally abusing me on a redeye followed by flight attendants offering to move my seat rather than intervene.

travelturtle

Dear Friends

I'm currently on a trip around the world, bought a oneworld RTW global explorer ticket (16 flights, unlimited miles flying). I did now flight 1 and 2, and would like to know, for which FF program i should subscribe. I know that I only get very limited miles. But it would be very nice to have lounge access asap and/or just earn some miles to book some other smaller domestic flights while beeing on the trip.

Here are the flights:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zpnzmjrf21...hts.xlsx?dl=0T

Thank you so much for your help.
Cheers

(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: Lounge access and use miles to book new flights

(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: normally, approx 25 flights, 20000 miles (more or less), mostly cheap city trips and 3 bigger holiday trips, intercontinental

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: cheapest, eco

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: pleasure (maybe after 1 year also for work again)

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Europa / Intercontinental

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

(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: unfortunately not.

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: n/a

Mwenenzi

Many to most ffp's do not allow you to claim miles for flights prior to joining. US Dividend miles does (or did). See post 1. Join US dividend miles to get the miles from the flights already taken

AA is a good as any ffp as has low redemption cost and low fees, unless on BA award.
US ffp will merged into the AA ffp in next few months. The rules may changes at the merger

Lounge access only comes with status. With your LONE* economy flights you will not get status, unless you get status from a US or AA status challenge

You could join AA and do a challenge, but have not checked how many of you flights would comply.
See post 1 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html

TheSinister

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply:
Complimentary upgrades hands down. I could care less (although nice) about priority check in, boarding etc. It's all about comfort on the plane.

(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 fly 3 times a year long haul to Asia. Total miles will roughly be 60000-65000. This is without doing any MR.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:
Lowest possible. I am willing to pay more for seats that earn 100% eqm towards status.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:
I have been mostly flying UA, sometimes CP in economy. I travel for work and leisure.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply:
International, long haul to Asia.

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply:
YYZ. I can drive to BUF, DTT. I am willing to go as far as EWR and JFK.

(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 have no status from any airline.

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply:
I prefer AA because of their complimentary seat upgrades (based on availability). The other airline I could possibly go with is AC but their elite status perks are very confusing and seems to be poor compared to AA. Because seat upgrades are my main objective, I chose AA.

any advice would be grateful. Air canada would be the obvious choice since I can fly both AC and UA to get elite on AC but their seat upgrade procedures are very confusing to understand, and it looks like I have to pay around $700 per segment to upgrade long haul?

Mwenenzi

Complimentary upgrades are a feature of USA based airline ffp. Includes SWU, etc given as a benefit of status in the term "complimentary". Very rare with non USA based airline to gave free upgrades. For other airlines in the rest of world airlines you generally pay with cash or miles.

Are you aware of how many USA based airlines have been, are or will be bankrupt? Giving away seats that smarter airlines sell for real cash is one of the reasons.

TheSinister

No I was not aware of any us Airlines going bankrupt anytime in the imminent future. Regardless if they are, I would definitely want to capitalize on their fyf programs while they last. Without complimentary seat uogrades, I would not be doing any MR.

Dieuwer

Have a look at Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. It is a pretty good award program.

twbb

Hello:

I live in Canada and what I'm looking for is some advice on the best card/program for me to use given that I just want to fly to Europe in business class once or twice a year. On average I put around $250k a year on my credit card.

Many thanks in advance!

Questionnaire

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
(e.g., upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access)

Reply: upgrading to business class with points or the ability to book business class flights with points

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
(e.g., <25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles and <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)

Reply: My wife and I usually fly once or twice a year to Europe from Vancouver, BC, Canada.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
(e.g., first, business, premium economy, economy)

Reply: Premium economy or business

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

Reply: I travel only for pleasure so yes I can choose the airline and class of service.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
(e.g., U.S. domestic, transatlantic, intra-Asia)

Reply: Vancouver, BC, Canada to Europe

6. What is your home airport?
(e.g., SFO, LHR, HKG)

Reply: YVR (Vancouver)

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?
(e.g., AA Executive Platinum, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro)

Reply: I have 350k RBC points which can convert to 525k BA Avios points.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

Reply: Lufthansa, BA, Cathay, KLM...

thenewwin

Hi all,

I been reading the threads for hours at a time for the last week or so, until the headaches kicked in. There is so much information. I have a lot of useful information but I haven't found the exact answer i'm looking for. I stumbled on this thread today and decided to put up a post (hope its the right place.) I'm looking for an airline and/or FFP to stick too. I just got married, my wife who is Chinese, would like to visit her parents in Beijing, China once or twice a year. We are trying to figure out the most financially responsible way.

Thanks for everyone who has shared their experience and knowledge on this great forum. Thanks in advance whoever can help us.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?

Good award redemption rates. ^

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
(e.g., <25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles and <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)

Online calculator shows LAX to PEK is 6,244 miles (approximately 1,200 miles roundtrip). So should be 1,200 to 2,400 miles per year for my wife. And 1,200 miles for myself when I join her once a Year.


3. What fare class do you usually buy?

Economy. We wouldn't mind paying a couple hundred more for business but not double the price.

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

Yes. This will be for pleasure so we can pick the airlines. I do have a Chase ink, Chase Saphire, and AMEX Gold cards if that makes a difference.

5. Which routes do you fly most often

LAX to PEK

6. What is your home airport?

LAX (Los Angeles)

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?

We do not have status with any of the airlines.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

No preference. Based on my reading it seems like OZ (Asiana), KE (Korean Air), and SQ (Singapore) are better than CA (Air China).

Thanks again!

punkyQB

[posting in a different thread, since my question really isn't about which ffp to join]

synette

Hello, I rarely travel at the moment, but I'd like to start one day so this is mostly for the future. I currently have an RBC Platinum Avion card that I've held on to for a few years because the 25000 welcome points were enticing (however, due to some unfortunate circumstance, I converted them to AA and haven't used them).

(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.)
Good award redemption rates or anything that can grant me a flight to Asia (mainly Japan) every one or two years.

(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?)
According to AA, 50000 miles for economy to Asia and <25 flights

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Economy, cheapest.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Pleasure.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
None at the moment.

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

(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)
25000 in AA
9000+ in RBC Avion that I could convert to BA or AA

(8) Preferred Airlines
None.

Thank you.

Mwenenzi

synette Welcome to the forum
With 25,000 AA miles, may as well stay with AA. AA have good redemption rates and low co-pay fees, unless an AA award on BA aircraft (which will not apply USA-Asia). Be careful with the AA miles expiry rules. You need some activity every 18 months to stop from AA miles expiring

BA have high fuel surcharges on many awards, but are good for short haul awards

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

Domflight

Hello everyone!

I am new at the forum and would like to have some suggestions about a good frequent flyer card/program, possibly as soon as possible, because I am going to buy a flight to South America and want to take advantage so I can start to earn my first points straight away! Thank you very much!


1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?

good award redemption rates, being able to earn points paying pretty much everything (even when I pay my rent, if that's possible?)

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?


No idea. I live in London but I am italian, so I would say at list 3/4 flights to Italy + others 2/3 flights (for example now I am planning to go to South America, so I am not travelling only around EU)


3. What fare class do you usually buy?

Economy (anyway the cheapest)

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

It happen to travel for work, but it's rare, I mainly travel for holiday.

5. Which routes do you fly most often

EU and America/South America


6. What is your home airport?

Any airport in London


7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?

I just joined (today) the "executive club" of the british airways (which use avios points)

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

No preferred airlines



Besides, I was reading about the "British Airways Visa Signature card", how is it? is that worth it?
It would be very good if I could earn points for anything, like, as I said, paying rents or standing orders (I don't have a car, so I don't care about "fuel points" or stuff like that).
Looking forward to your precious suggestions! thank you very much!