1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
I'm new to travel hacking and I want to fly my family of four to Europe in summer 2016 in business-class for free (using miles/points).

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
<25,000 miles

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
Economy

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Travel for pleasure. Alaska and Delta are key players in Seattle (but I dislike Delta for all the recent FF program changes). But I'm open to any carrier.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
US Domestic

6. What is your home airport?
SEA (Seattle)

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?
None

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
I'd rather fly a non-US carrier for the trip to Europe in 2016 because the non US carriers do 1st class so much better (I used to travel full-time for work - over 10 years ago now - so know the differences :-) )

Other information: I've already started hacking points by opening a Chase Sapphire card, as soon as we get close to the spend requirement to get the sign-up bonus we'll be on to next card(s) for additional bonuses.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on the best program for us! I'm also interested in total out of pocked - for example I've read that British Airways has pretty big surcharges for an award ticket to Europe.

Hi,guys I'm new here and would like advice on choosing FFP on the Skyteam,sky allience and one world.Thanks!(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:Redemption for tickets,want the FFP expiry date as long as possible as(it would be better if theres no expiry date!),secondly a good redemption rate for roundtrip economy 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:<25000
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:cheapest mostly and economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:I travel airlines with the cheapest fares,but sometimes the cheapest airlines are those with FFP points and I want to store those points.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply:Mostly low cost airlines but sometimes long distances with CX
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply:Hong Kong airport,can go to Shenzhen airport though :)
(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:none
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply:Any

So I am trying to figure out which FFP should I be a part of now.

I used to live in the Chicago area so I was on United Mileage Plus (Currently at 23,500ish miles), since it is their hub.

I travel maybe 2-3 times a year and when I do travel I do earn additional miles with hotel and car rentals. Other times, I do take advantage of the the earn miles via dining a lot and I think other FFP has it.

So I have relocated to Boston. I take personal/professional trips within the US and Canada... and business trips to France (my company is based in France). I am currently booking a flight from Boston to Philly on US Airways (now on Oneworld and not Star Alliance), which makes me reconsider my regular FFP. And given Flyertalk voted AA to be the best FFP at the moment.. I am wondering should I switch and figure someone here can provide me with more guidance.

And also, since United is based rewards on airfare now... and I typically go with the cheapest option.. so unsure if rewards via miles (like on AA) would be better.

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: Since I don't constantly earn miles, I am hoping something that I can keep active so my miles do not expire. I am mostly looking for 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?)
Reply: <25000/yr. 2-3 flights a year.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
(e.g., 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: For personal flights, I typically go with the cheapest. If there is a small difference between flights, I would grab the fly with the one I am partnered with.
For work travel: Always economy flights, I can choose airlines flights as long as the price is comparable to a reasonable price.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
(e.g., U.S. domestic, transatlantic, intra-Asia)
Reply: North America mostly, with 1 transatlantic flight once a year.

6. What is your home airport?
(e.g., SFO, LHR, HKG)
Reply: BOS, PVD, BDL

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: No status, But UA MilagePlus currently at 23,500 miles. Debating on cashing that in for a fit bit (well Garmin's ver of it).

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: No preferred airlines.

Hey everyone! Im based in EZE and will soon make a big Star Alliance trip. I was wondering where you'd recommend me to put the miles in? I'd want the best FF program for award availability and price. Any recommendations?
Thanks!

UA or AA?
 

I will be making a few trips to Asia throughout this year and will probably earn enough miles to be on the lowest tier on either UA (silver) or AA (gold). Question is I don't know which is better.

On UA, most of the miles I will fly is with partner airlines. I mostly book UA for flights from LAX to my Asian base and then book other Star Alliance flights for within Asia since many of those are harder to find on UA's website. I already have the Explorer card so it seems that many of the Silver tier's benefits are already mixed in with the card.

On the other hand, almost all my Asian flights can be done on CX. I'm considering AA because I am based in LAX and it's easier to get to the lowest tier compared to Marco Polo (seems AA benefits are better as well?). I'm ok with booking the higher priced fares on Cathay in order to get the AA credit. But not sure if AA status is honored when I fly CX.

What your experiences with either of these programs? And what do you think is my best option?

Off the top of my head - and speaking as a former UA loyalist who's switched to AA - I'd think AA would be better because its overall a better-run airline, its frequent flyer program is better (at least right now, though I suspect it will remain superior to UA's if both deteriorate in coming years), LAX is an AA hub (in case you're doing domestic travel) and CX is a great airline (including for redeeming AA miles). But my experience is as an AA top tier (Executive Platinum) who has lots of AA miles to redeem for CX first class travel, so my orientation might be different from yours.

A few matters you might want to clarify and consider to get the best advice:

1. What do you mean by your AA status being "honored"? If what you means is that you'll accumulate miles, you're probably on firmer ground with AA. I'm pretty sure that if you fly CX and other AA partners in discount economy you get one AA mile redeemable mile for each mile flown, whereas on UA partners you might get less than this. But you should look into this to confirm.
2. What are you interested in doing with your status and miles? Accumulate miles for free international trips (and to what part of the world)? Domestic trips? And if so, in what class of service...economy/business/first? Or are you more interested in seeking domestic upgrades? Or other purposes?
3. What is your usual destination in Asia? And do you fly enough domestically in the USA so that it is a factor in AA versus UA?
4. What class of service will you be flying in your paid trips to Asia? Economy/premium economy/business/first?

AA is better, but look rapt departure and arrival times, also look at award charts.

AA, may not be the best deal

Many times I use UA outbound only to return on AA.

Times change, AA is also using some crazy routing, taking advantage of Dallas Hub. ORD/PEK a little hard to score, with points.

LAX you might be fine.

Look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html
Several UA vs AA vs DL vs AS threads

Thanks for the suggestions.

What I wanted to know is if I will have the same chance getting upgraded flying CX on AA gold compare with UA silver on UA/SA flights, ditto other benefits.

Most of my flights are for work and i alway book flex fares. So always 100% redeemable.

I fly economy, so hoping the status might up my chance of getting preferred seating and the extra mileage bonus.

In the past I was based in Asia and used UA all the way. Most of my awards have been used on trips to Asian islands, but recently starting to use it for the EU as well.

I work with many CE manufacturers, so the usual trip include TPE, HKG, ICN, and mainland China cities. That's why CX is very convenient since I can do the entire trip with just CX and KA. Generally there are 3 or 4 annual Asia trips; only 1 or 2 trips domestically.

Unusual situation and a bunch of questions
 

Hi all,

Great site, incredibly useful. I'm in a bit of an unusual situation work-wise, and just want to confirm that the following makes sense in terms of major alliance accounts.

Situation: I work as an independent consultant, usually for government-related entities in the Middle East or Far East. As such, I sometimes have control over which airlines I'm booked on, but frequently I am stuck with whatever carrier is affiliated with the country in question. As such, and given how frequently I fly, I am unlikely to hit status numbers on any one carrier that are actually useful. But over a year or two, if I'm careful, I should be able to save up for a free international flight or two, or several domestic flights, on at least two of the three major alliances.

Home airports: Milwaukee, New York City, Cairo

Questions:
- Given EgyptAir (Star Alliance) is the main nonstop carrier from Egypt to New York City (the route I'm most likely to want for free) does it make sense to keep as much as possible in United? That's been my strategy so far.

- What should my OneWorld affiliation be? My inclination is BA/Avios so I can use the points for cheap domestic flights in the US, as I doubt I'll wrack points up quickly enough to use these for anything else. My usual OneWorld carrier is Qatar.

- I rarely fly SkyTeam, but what affiliation makes sense for me there given the above?

- I frequently get stuck on Emirates flights east from the ME. What should I be doing with these points, since there's no alliance and I'm unlikely to want to travel to reasonably-priced Emirates awards destinations?

- Domestically (usually MKE <--> NYC), should I try to channel miles into United / SA, to BA / Oneworld, or should I fly Southwest (most direct flights from MKE --> LGA, + free bags are great since I often have onwards internationally from NYC)?

Thanks!

ibnkhaldun Welcome to FT

For FT your travel profile is not unusal. Its very common.

Delta & EK are partners of AS. As is AA/US and other airlines. AS is a good ffp for many.
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...-overview.aspx

AA has a good earn/burn. Good for long haul awards No sucharge on awards unless on a BA flight.
BA is good for short haul awards and US domestic
Earnings from QR flights are low to many ffp's. Just a fact of life!

But there is no simple answer as to what is the best for you.

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

If I understand your question correctly re CX or SA (Singapore Air?), you won't get complementary upgrades on either airline.

I believe that if your status is high enough you can get exit rows on partner airlines of AA and UA. But I don't believe your status will be high enough on UA or AA for this. You could ask them, though.

Generally, CX treats high level AA members better than SQ treats UA ones, but I'm afraid that consideration might be irrelevant for the status level you'll attain, except perhaps for mileage accrual.

Hi all,
I recently started flying around Europe in my job, but not that often. Maybe 20-25 segments a year, mostly short flights with one or two transatlantic flights to US for training. I would like to know if that's worth it to try earning miles, to get a free flight every now and then? I will be very disloyal, probably need one FFP for each alliance, so it has to be non-expiring (if you have some account activity). Just let me get this straight - Alitalia is currently non-expiring, whereas Czech Airlines miles expire, right?

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: 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?)
Reply: <25000, <25

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
(e.g., 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: I am not, I travel for work

5. Which routes do you fly most often
(e.g., U.S. domestic, transatlantic, intra-Asia)
Reply: intra-European, +one or two transatlantic

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

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: nothing basically, about 3k in MilleMiglia

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

Best airline for Bangkok flights???
 

Hi everybody. My city recently lost United Express so I will now have to fly from SFO. What airline do you think would be best for 5 flights cattle class to Bangkok a year? I have been on most of the Asian carriers so have an idea on quality. I’m more interested in best loyalty programs for cheap fares? Thanks

Seeing as you want Bangkok, I'd bet on Thai Airways flights. But you're going to have to do some research as to which airlines typically offer the lowest fare to BKK with the number of connections you'd be comfortable with. I'm only really familiar with OneWorld and I know there you could do Cathay SFO-HKG and then HKG-BKK.

From what I've heard, the Asian carrier's loyalty programs are not as generous as US Carriers (and even those are de-valuing). What are you looking for in a loyalty program?