DonnyL Welcome to FT

What airlines fly most to your destinations?
Does your employer have a corporate travel policy and/or preferred airlines-hotels? They may have corporate discounts.

I honestly don't know. The destinations can be literally anywhere in the Northeast region since I don't know what projects I'll get assigned to yet.

The company doesn't have any preferred airlines/hotels. We pay for it on our own card (lowest fare "preferred," but can justify otherwise) and reimburse it afterwards.

This is a tough one. There are 5 airlines with a lot of flights across Northeast everyday.

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

Upgrades, FFM awards, not sitting in an airport (long layovers or missed/delayed flights), Lounge access. In that order.

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

Last year I flew 50,000 MQMs, 83 segments, and spent $15,000 with Delta during a 9 month travel period. I think this is a pretty good snapshot as travel isn't very active during the 3 months this doesn't account for (season business).

3. What fare class do you usually buy?

We have to buy economy for work, but since plans change last minute, we don't usually book until 2 weeks before travel, jacking up the dollars spent.

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

I have full control over my airline of choice. I travel mainly for work with a couple trips from the Midwest to the southwest that I book on Southwest, not on Delta, due to family I'm traveling with, costs, direct flights with young children (sorry, we do our best to keep them quiet, we sit in the back of the plane. They are not allowed to kick your seat).

5. Which routes do you fly most often

Domestic. I fly from the Midwest to the East Coast and Midwest mainly. Occasionally some trips to Larger cities for conference that could be anywhere. I fly internationally for pleasure about once every 2 years (close to home then cross the pond on a rotating basis)

6. What is your home airport?

MSN is closest. MKE is drivable but it would have to be AMAZINGLY worth it (1.5 hour drive).

We have a Healthcare IT company in Madison that takes college kids and flys them all over the damn place. They don't care about prices (Your hospital, health insurance/Provider, and you pay for it) so it makes upgrades nearly impossible to get if you are flying out when anyone traveling for business would want to fly out. Oddly enough they have one week a year where no one is allowed to travel and it is bliss for the rest of us.

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

I have Gold status at Delta. Annoyed that the new EC seats are off limits until 3 days before hand. I would choose travel times and flights based on available EC seats and likeliness to receive an upgrade on connections. That is now a crap shoot.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

All I know is Delta. I hear awful things about United and going through ORD.

Thank you for reading this and potentially contributing some advice or resources. I have a raging case of ADD and pilfering through forums is one of the things I will spend 18 hours in a day doing or will be overwhelmed and can not even try.

I'll add this personal fluff as a reward for whoever might read it and help. I find this sort of thing interesting so you might as well...

I travel the country selling Premium Wisconsin Cheese. I get to meet with decision makers at food service distributors and chains and convince them that my cheese is the most fantastic thing in the world, which of course, I fully believe. I am a walking talking cliche. I even get those one ounce sticks of cheese (Sharp Cheddar, Colby Jack, etc.) and keep them in my lap top bag so that if I get stranded somewhere without food, I have a pack. I got the idea from an old co-worker who used to travel with SPAM singles in his carry-on. If there isn't a frying pan, I'm not eating SPAM.

Hi there

I am going travelling later on this year and I am wandering what will be the best ffp for me to use to maximise my ffp.

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: lounge access upgrades free flights

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

Reply: 25-50k

(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? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?

Reply: travel for pleasure. Flown most with virgin Atlantic and Emirates

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

Reply: my trip will include internal flights in oz then onto NZ, south pacific, south america, Asia

(6) What is your home airport?
Currently in Australia for 2 years so PER, originally from the UK where my airport is MAN which will be my main airport after the travelling

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?

Reply: no status. FFP are dotted around every where. Have about 5k with Qantas (just spent 18k on a flight) 15k with virgin 2k emirates, 2k ba executive club

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: no preference. Tend to fly with main flag carrier for that region

I hope this is enough information.. I look forward to hearing your help

I am moving to Canada with my fiance on a working visa and would like to find a way to make trips home either cheaper or rewarding (via points).

Looking at avios/BA or one world to then get credit card sign up bonus's (I have a good credit rating and several cc's already) prior to taking a number of flights in 2016 when I'm living in Canada.
Thanks in advance
Mike


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 (I want to collect points over the next 12 months prior to moving to Vancouver from the UK for 1yr)

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: Currently just european short-haul but looking to get points through bonus's for flights between UK-Canada

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: Plesure

5. Which routes do you fly most often
(e.g., U.S. domestic, transatlantic, intra-Asia)
Reply: Transatlantic but will take North american flights as a tourist

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

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: 1k avios points

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

Lounge access comes with high status or class of travel (bus - first):- you are unlikely to get status with your flights
Upgrades, with ff miles, on non USA based airlines are not common. On non USA based airlines expect to fly in the cabin you pay for. QF upgrades, from eligible fares, are a lottery. (Tatts lotto has better odds)
Awards are not free. All have taxes QF, BA and others have high $$$$ cash co pay for most flights.

You have too many ffp's with low balances. Will be hard and a long time to get enough miles to useful in each
Which Virgin ffp? (There are 2 or 3)
BA & QF are OneWorld partners, so you have the ff miles you earn go to only one of these.
EK is a partner of QF.
EK, QF & BA are partners of AS. http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...ePlan-partners

If PER is only for a short time before returning to UK I would concentrate with BA

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, priority services, baggage allowance, lounge access

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:>50000 miles & >50 flights

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

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

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

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

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: not applicable.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: AI, EMIRATES, INDIGO.

Hi Flyertalk. I'm keen to hear from any experts which FF program is best for me, thanks in advance for your help.

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 to business class on long haul flights is my number 1 goal, the others are important but that's number 1.

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: approx. 100,000 miles, 30 flights.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
(e.g., first, business, premium economy, economy)
Reply: economy, generally the cheapest but some flexibility.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: most of my travel is work. If the price between two airlines is close I can choose the one that I have status with.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
(e.g., U.S. domestic, transatlantic, intra-Asia)
Reply: 3-4 times per year I fly LA to SYD to HK to LA. I also do quite a few domestic US flights.

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

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: Until recently I've been living in Sydney and I'm Gold with Qantas. I've got 450,000 points banked with Qantas - mostly from some fairly high credit card spend.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: I do like Qantas but I'm flexible here.

From my quick research the airlines that fly direct on the following routes are:
LA to SYD - Qantas or United
SYD to HK - Qantas or Cathay
HK to LA - Cathay

Given that's the case I'm probably best sticking with Qantas then flying AA domestic in the US. The only downside I see to this is under the Qantas FF program I have to use points to get upgrades, and I haven't had a lot of luck getting those so far. I understand the US airlines like United have much better upgrade programs - you get these without needing to spend points, however given the international flights I do United probably isn't a good choice.

Any further thoughts are most welcome, thanks in advance!

Even if you just used UA SYD-LAX, to upgrade with systemwides you need a mid-range W fare, which is not going to be the cheapest economy fare you would typically fly on. Looking a month out, a W ticket costs $474 more than the cheapest available fare, and if you don't clear the upgrade list you don't get that extra fare back, so there are some risks even if you did move to UA. There's always a chance you could clear at booking, and if you have some flexibility with dates you might be able to purchase the higher priced ticket and make it work.

Another thing that works against you with UA is that they award miles based on fare paid when it's UA metal. A $1,200 LAX-SYD ticket, when you take out the taxes, would bring in just over 12,000 miles at the 100K level. I haven't been able to sort out what kind of miles you get on partners. What are you getting on Qantas for that route?

The problem with moving to AA is that some cheap partner fares don't accrue any miles. You can work around this in some instances with an AA codeshare, but those typically cost more. A Cathay flight to Hong Kong with the Cathay flight number, in deep discount economy, brings in zero AA miles. A Qantas flight in discounted economy, credited to AA, would bring in 50% miles unless it was an AA codeshare.

One thing that might tilt towards AA is redemption levels. Another thing is that all AA flights bring in 100% miles and 100% bonus miles for those that fly at least 50K a year. Those might not help you much, in terms of accruing miles, if you're flying on partners under their flight numbers.

AA does offer a variety of upgrades on AA metal, including 8 systemwide upgrades at the 100K level, but they'll be of no value to/from Australia or between Asia/Australia.

I think you need to plot out what kind of miles you'd accrue with membership in any of the programs you mentioned and the routes you'd typically fly. You may end up concluding that it's best to just stay put.

Michael Fox Welcome to FT
More to Tom911's good reply, how long will you be living in USA?
Go with AA. Do the plat challenge. QF flights are eligible. CX flights are not eligible.

QF is a very poor freq flyer program, especially if not living in Australia. But I note you are a frequent spender. Can you get a USA credit card? This can be hard for non USA citizens/residents. 2 QF points = 1 AA mile to me.

Upgrades are usually only available with ffp miles on that airline flights. Cross airline upgrade are uncommon and require expensive flights if available
An full award with AA miles can cost less than a QF upgrade

You can book a QF flight, credit the miles to AA and request an upgrade with QF points in QF upgrade lottery. Chose "brother" where it asks for the family relationship.

You can use your QF points on domestic AA awards without surcharges IIRC. These can be good value at times.
Be careful about QF points expiry

Hi guys. I'm torn here - AA or UA? Was Plat on AA a few years ago, then stopped traveling as much. Changing jobs and moving to Denver - I'll be flying a lot and am struggling to weigh the convenience of flying from a hub (direct flights) against canceled flights, "worse" ffp perks, etc., I've heard United has. I would really appreciate any and all advice here.

Here are my responses to the requested info:

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
#1 is easy: the airline must have easy access to ANC. Also want international routes for vacations. (That bumps SW out of the running. Otherwise I'd fly them 100%!)

#2 is upgrades, particularly for international travel. I'm a bit of a princess in that way, but at least I admit it!

I can work through just about anything else.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Work will be 50% travel, so guessing 26 weeks a year, segments vary depending on airline since I'll be in a hub...

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Domestic will be economy, ANC and international will be anything but economy.

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

Can pick airline, most of the time. Flying mostly for work.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
Domestic, including ANC.

(6) What is your home airport?
Denver

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Not currently.

(8) Preferred Airlines
Have had good experiences on AA previously, and not as great on UA, but I'm totally open.

Again, thanks in advance for advice!

I'd toss out Alaska as a third option here, particularly with travel to Alaska, as you can credit both AA and Delta flights to Alaska, though with DL and Alaska competing now at Seattle that relationship might be a little iffy in the long term. Their top tier is 90K when attained with joint Alaska/partner flights compared to 100K at AA and UA. Alaska and AA do offer some reciprocal elite benefits (things like checked bags). I don't know if Delta offers something similar.

If you're looking for international upgrades, and you do expect to fly 100K a year, having primary elite status on Alaska is not going to help for Asia, Europe or South America, so that takes you to UA and AA.

UA offers 6 systemwide upgrades at 100K, but if you're going to use them on international you need to buy the "W" fare which is frequently not the cheapest fare in the market. You'd need to look at routes you expect to fly to see what the additional fare would be and if you would be willing to pay it (and eat the extra fare if you don't clear).

At AA, you'd get 8 systemwides at 100K and they're good on the lowest economy fares.

Neither UA or AA guarantee you will clear at booking. If you have some flexibility with travel dates you might be able to make either program work for you. Keep in mind UA does have a $12,500 spending floor for 1K (100,000 mile flyer) while AA does not have that.

Also, if you intend to use miles for flights or upgrades, UA now awards miles based on your ticket price, less the taxes. At the 1K level you would get 11 miles per dollar spent. At AA, 100% flight miles plus 100% bonus miles at the EXP (100K) level. BIG difference here depending on the types of fares you buy.

Hope this gives you some areas to think about.

Hi LinzerBinzer

tom911 has made some very good points. I think the best airline to serve will depend largely on exactly what cities you will be traveling to and from. If you are DEN based, then United will by far have more non-stops to the most places, since DEN is a hub, and that means fewer connections.

American gets reasonably high marks for on-time performance, domestic upgrades and staff friendliness, definitely better than UA. But if you are flying internationally, which airline to choose depends on the cities you are going to, and what aircraft is used: UA flies 100% lie-flat beds in business, AA is superior only if you happen to get a flight on on of their new 77W conversions. (I was on one of their older 777s recently, definitely inferior to UA in both Business and First)

If you travel internationally, you also might consider which airline has the best partners. If, like me, you can't afford business in most cases, but can spend the extra $400-$500 for Premium Economy (wider seats with more legroom) then some of the international partners might come into play (BA for AA), (VS for DL) for TATL etc

Good luck!

Thanks, Tom! I'll also be frequently flying places Alaska doesn't - should have mentioned that - but I think you and Sting are right. Maybe my answer lies in who plays well together, both domestically and internationally.

Appreciate the quick advice! ^