lost in all the details
 

Questions

i've never been a regular traveler, maybe one long haul trip per year, but i've just gotten a new job that requires a bit of travel. lucky me. i get to keep my points, but must look for good prices in airfare, and fly economy. i'm quite new to this whole points/miles thing. i've never been able to accrue much. i have a small handful of miles with southwest and air new zealand, but nothing worth holding me to these airlines.

i'd like to maximize the benefit from these work trips to use for pleasure travel next year. i'm lost in all of the details and options here.

i know it takes a bit of time to read and respond, but i'd be eternally grateful for anyone who can point me in the right direction.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
good award redemption rates

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
i plan to do 5 long haul trips this year:
christchurch to port of spain (new zealand to trinidad)
port of spain to iceland (reykjavik)
port of spain to amsterdam
port of spain to ulaanbatar
port of spain to shanghi

plus a handful of short trips from port of spain to the states/mexico/south america.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
economy

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

yes, i can choose any airline, but must fly economy and choose competitive pricing. most of the travel is for work, but i want to accrue points for personal travel.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
see question 1

(6) What is your home airport?
typically christchurch or fort myers (or often sarasota or tampa), but this year will be port of spain

Reply:
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
i have a few airpoints with air new zealand and southwest... but essentially, no.

Reply:
(8) Preferred Airlines
best bang for the buck really, no allegiance to any airlines

jelypo Welcome to FY (from a former CHC resident)
Port of Spain would seem to better place to spend a winter, than Christchurch :cool:

What airlines are you likely to use to Port of Spain from NZ and then the trips From Port of Spain? Air Port link here
You need to do some research on the airlines that fly to your destinations, at a fare that complies with your work travel policy.
AA and other Oneworld airlines may get you to most places.

Air NZ is a very poor ffp. FFP’s from USA based airlines are more generous that most others.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
upgrades, priority access/service
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Hard to say. Economy only, Last year had about 40 flights over domestic US, with exceptions being two trips to mexico and one to canada.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Premium economy, Economy, cheapest
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I can choose my airline, but class of service has to be within economy.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
US Domestic
(6) What is your home airport?
NYC area, but prefer LGA.
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
United Silver but only through having Platinum at Marriott, so not "real" Silver. Currently have gold with AA and am one flight away from completing a platinum challenge. I'm wondering if I should have stuck with United though, since I can build status by spending, as that doesn't help with AA at all. Purely looking for the fastest way to get up to EXP or equivalent.
(8) Preferred Airlines
AA, unless United or Delta make more sense for me

AA and UA at the top tier (100K) are very different. At AA, you get 8 systemwides good on any fare, subject to inventory. At UA, with 6 systemwides, you'd have to buy up to a "W" fare or higher on international and this could be hundreds of dollars, depending where you're going. If you don't clear the upgrade at UA, you don't get any of that additional fare back.

My sense the last few months is that UA flyers are not doing as well as AA flyers on domestic upgrades, and that may be due to the very visible UGS tier that is above 1K at UA (a high-revenue tier) that would clear upgrades first. I've seen some UA flyers at SFO reporting 20-30% domestic upgrade rates while I sit at 91% at AA.

Also, does UA have much of an operation at LGA? Are you prepared to get over to Newark which offers a lot more options, or would you prefer AA at JFK for more flight options?

Another consideration is that partner awards on UA, particularly in business and first class on international routes, cost more than flights on UA metal. At AA partners have no special pricing so you could fly AA or Cathay to Hong Kong in first class for the same amount of miles.

At UA you will earn 11 miles for each dollar spent. Plot out your planned 100,000 miles and see what you earn there, and then plot it out at AA where you will earn 100% flight miles plus 100% bonus miles. A trip from SFO to Europe typically brings in 24-25,000 miles depending on routing. For an $800 ticket on UA, after you take the taxes away, you'll bring in about 7,700 miles, so there is a big difference in miles earned. You'd need to buy the $2,200 ticket at UA to bring in the same miles AA would give you at the 100K level.

Change that to a $300 transcon and AA brings in 10,000 miles for you, while, at UA, after taxes are removed, you would bring in around 3,000. You'd need to spend around $900 before taxes to bring in 10,000 miles at UA.

Not sure what you mean about getting status with a credit card. Do you mean some credit towards the 100,000 miles?

USAir Silver Based in Tampa, FL, looking for new program - Delta or United?
 

Hi all:

I've been a loyal USAir customer for the past several years and getting in even at the Silver level was awesome for flying out of TPA. I'd pretty consistently get upgraded, and if first class wasn't available, I could pretty much always book myself into an exit row anyhow - I'm on the tallish side of things, so I'm all about the extra leg room.

With the American merger though, I think I need to find a new airline. The AAdvantage program with regards to upgrades doesn't seem as agreeable to me, what with needing to use vouchers on flights over 500 miles and all.

So I'm considering using the status match programs offered by either Delta or United to get into one of those programs, but I'm having trouble deciding which one would be a better choice. Hoping someone has some insight. Answers to the standard questions below, as well as some other thoughts/concerns.

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: Upgrades, able to book exit rows at booking - i'm all about maximizing my legroom on any given flight. Don't care so much about award redemption or any of the other stuff.

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: 25k-50k, 25-50 flights

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: work. some ability to choose airlines, but have to fly economy per work policy.

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

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

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: US Silver past 4 years, something like 50k miles floating around

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: Delta, United


I'm in tech consulting, so I often have several devices with me, and often times a little juice would be helpful. If either airline had a clear advantage in offering in seat power throughout the economy class, that might be enough to incline me to go that direction. In flight internet is also a big draw for me.

My travel is primarily up and down the east coast, although on occasion I do need to get to San Francisco or Las Vegas.

With US Air I usually wound up routed through Charlotte. It's not bad as far as airports go... But on more than one occasion I've been stranded there and/or found myself hauling it from a D gate to somewhere in B. So I guess I should give some thought to where I'd commonly be passing through, and I think the unfortunate answer is that either choice (ATL or Chicago, I'm assuming) doesn' offer the best amenities as far as hanging out and waiting for my connecting flight - I'm talking power outlets, for the most part, but ease of getting around the airport and making a connecting flight probably factors in. I'd assume that given most of my travel is east coast, Delta might make more sense with less out of the way stuff over to Chicago or whatever, but maybe that's an incorrect assumption on my part.

Delta always makes me a little nervous in that I don't think the SkyTeam program is anywhere near as valuable as the Star Alliance... but that may not be true anymore. Doesn't seem like in the states the Star Alliance really provides too much flexibility anymore, so maybe that's not a huge consideration.

I'm also a little concerned about the sizes of the United and Delta programs. I'm getting the feeling that USAir wasn't a very large program, and that's why I end up getting upgraded so often with relatively low status. I feel like the upgrade lists for United and Delta are like 40 people deep every time I'm near one of their gates. Is it even possible that I'd ever see an upgrade at the entry level of their program? I'm assuming that once the USAir stuff rolls in it'll be the same situation with AAdvantage folks - there's just going to be so many more people in the program I'll no longer see upgrades as often as I currently do.

I'm not likely to ever do much more than 50k miles or 50 flights in a given year, so it seems unlikely I'll ever hit the second tier of status. So maybe there's the possibility that sticking with AA is the best path forward, but I just don't know. And then there's always the possibility that I'm overlooking something, so I turn to you seasoned road warriors for some advice.

Anybody have any suggestions based on the above? Thanks!

Rookie in search of help
 

Hello everyone!

I don't know much but I'm really excited to learn and begin my FFP life. I would appreciate some guidance to start on the right foot.

Here is some background information about me that I think will be useful in helping me choose an alliance:

I am a single 26 year old male from Chicago that just started a new job in Rome, where I will be located working for 6 months out of the year. I will be making transatlantic flights 4-6 times a year. Work-related we fly a lot within Europe, and occasionally other projects in different parts of the world (Istanabul, Dubai, Nigeria, and South Africa).


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: Upgrades but I don't have enough experience to know what is most important to me in a FFP.

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: Conservative guess is 45,000 miles and 40 flights

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: The majority of the time I fly for work and I am able to choose most of my airlines and class of service. I also fly for pleasure/vacation but only 4-8 of my flights per year.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
(e.g., U.S. domestic, transatlantic, intra-Asia)
Reply: I will be flying transatlantic 4-6 times per year. When I am working in Rome I fly a lot within Europe.

6. What is your home airport?
(e.g., SFO, LHR, HKG)
Reply: Chicago ORD and Rome FCO

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 I do not have any status anywhere, I signed up to become an United Mileage Plus member but I have not used it yet.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: I don't have a preferred airlines because I do not have enough experience flying on the different variety of companies. I know a couple of my seniors are part of SkyTeam but Oneworld and Star Alliance intrigue me more because of their members.

I was thinking of signing a company of each alliance (United, American, Delta) and choosing which one I prefer the most.

Please let me know what you think and if there is any other information I can provide, I would to get some assistance and where to start and what to do!

Thanks!

I'm new to the airline status game and could use some help. My current home airport is HNL, but for the next few years I will be living in NYC. I will be flying NYC-HNL at least 3 times per year and will make one or two transcontinental trips per year as well. I will fly NYC-TYO once every two years. I have no loyalty to any of the three NYC airports. For NYC-HNL, nonstop is ideal, but I'm open to stops if there are benefits in regards to status. Thank you for your help!

Questions

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?

Upgrades, priority services

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

<25 segments, 25000-50000

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?

Economy, cheapest, economy plus

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

Mainly economy. Any airline. Pleasure.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often

NYC-HNL
NYC-West Coast
NYC-TYO
United, Hawaiian, American

(6) What is your home airport?

NYC (any) for next 5+ years. HNL normally.

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?

No status. ~35,000 each in AA, UA, DL

(8) Preferred Airlines

United, Hawaiian

With UA now revenue-based, and you purchasing the cheapest economy tickets possible, you really need to reconsider that relationship. On a typical $800 NYC-HNL fare, flying at the 50K level, UA will give you 6,400 miles (probably a little less as the tax portion won't accumulate miles). You're not going to be booking a lot of award travel when you're bringing in 6,400 miles per round trip ticket.

At AA, at the 50K level and a connection at DFW, you'll earn 100% flight miles plus 100% bonus miles, so a LGA-DFW-HNL would bring in over 20,000 miles round trip, over triple what UA would provide.

UA does provide complimentary domestic upgrades at all levels, but you would have UGS, 1K and Platinum flyers ahead of you and might not stand much of a chance. AA provides 2,000 miles worth of domestic upgrades for every 10,000 miles flown ny non-EXP elites and only provides complimentary upgrades at the EXP (100K) level. Neither carrier offers free international upgrades (you'd be looking a miles and cash).

I'm not up on Hawaiian's program. Don't know anyone that credits to it.

Hello! I am going to Europe in September for a wedding and that has me thinking that it's time to get myself set up with a FFP. Since I'll be spending a good chunk of change on this airfare, it would be nice to have that purchase go towards accruing points for a future trip. At some point in the next year or two, I would like to travel to Asia to visit Taiwan, Hong Kong, and / or Japan.


1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
Upgrades and good award redemption rates.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
1 or 2 flights a year. Could be cross-country (from LA to NY) or out of the country on a vacation. Less than 25000. If I have more points than I'll fly more.

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?
I am able to choose the airlines and class of service. I travel for pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
U.S.

6. What is your home airport?
LAX and BUR

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

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
United but I'm open to try other airlines.

If you're going to fly less than 25,000 miles, UA will give you 5 miles per dollar spent. AA will give you actual flight miles which would be about 5,000 miles RT for a U.S. transcon. With UA you'd need to buy a $1,000 ticket for the same amount of miles. If upgrades are important to you and you're not going to fly enough for elite status, the miles you accrue will be needed (along with cash co-pays) and it's going to take a long time to build them up unless you supplement them with credit card spend on the appropriate airline's credit card.

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and I'm kind of new to FFP strategies. I travel ard 4-6 times a year and ard 1-2 long hauls per year. Usually fly budget airline on short hauls. I'm looking for the best FFP to use. Correct me if I'm wrong, I should have 3 main FFP accounts, 1 for skyteam, 1 for oneword, 1 for star alliance right? If so, I'm looking for the best in each alliance for me.

Below is my answers to the questionaire:

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
good award redemption rates, better award access
I don't need upgrade or lounge access. Most if not all of the time I m looking for booking award tickets.


(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000miles - <25 flights?)


(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(cheapest ever, often budget airline)


(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I'll choose the cheapest. But hey since miles sometimes worth a lot, I'll see. Now I learn about fare class. Travel for pleasure, no special airline flown.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
varies widely, usually from Asia to rest of the world, or inter Asia.

(6) What is your home airport?
HKG


(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
minimal. 1000 in Miles & More, 1000 in Lifemiles, 4200 in Skymiles, and approx 20000 miles worth of points in 2 different credit cards (Citi, DBS - but can only transfer to Asia Miles / KrisFlyer / Skymiles)

(8) Preferred Airlines
No special.


Thanks!!!

Having a ffp with each of the 3 alliances is what many do (including myself)
But Alaska is a good catchall due its many partners. http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...-overview.aspx

However, with low balances the miles will almost never be able to used and you have the real risk of miles expiry. Except for DL whose miles do not expire.

The ffp of your home country or the airline you fly most works for some.
USA based airlines tend to have a better earn/burn
But everyone is different.

Do not get into the trap of ignoring a better flight price, just for a few ff miles with another airline ffp, that you may never use. With few flights what you spend is more important, than a possible award (not probable award)

AA and UA have ways to work around that without actually flying, such as donations to one of their charities or a purchase from their shopping mall. I had a friend whose 200,000 United miles were due to expire end of March and she was able to extend them 18 months in this manner.

USA based ffp's tend to better for this. And have other non flying ways of earning miles.

But some ffp's have a hard expiry: use them or loose them. Like with EK the miles expire 3 years after earning.

new graduate looking for advice
 

Hello everyone. I will be starting my job as a management consultant this September. I will be traveling mon-thur. I will be based in NYC and will fly out of JFK and LGA. I will most likely be traveling in the NorthEast, maybe occasionally to Chicago/Dallas/Charlotte

Advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Also would love hear about hotel reward programs (Marriott vs SPG) preferences from frequent travelers.

Questions

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?

Reply: redemption of miles for personal flights, upgrades

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

Reply: 2 flights a week, assuming I'll be on mostly non-local project, so >50 flights most likely

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?

Reply:Economy

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown?

Reply: both work and pleasure, economy

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often

Reply: No preference at the moment, flexibility to fly anywhere in the US is most important

(6) What is your home airport?

Reply: JFK, LGA

(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: None

(8) Preferred Airlines

Reply:None