You almost need to do a spreadsheet with all your projected flying in a typical calendar year and look at who you would fly and the miles and benefits you would bring in, as well as routings on your selected carrier and their partners, and where you could use systemwides and what the cost would be in those cases. I've pointed out in previous posts that some AA partners, if booked with their flight numbers, can accrue zero miles. With the changes to UA, I'm not sure what kind of miles you would get on their partners on economy fares with the miles based on spending. I know there's been discussion on the UA forum about being ticketed by UA versus being ticketed by the partner, but you really need someone that flies international with UA partners to spell out what kind of miles you would bring in on a partner (say a $1,000 ticket on ANA to Tokyo or a $1,200 ticket to Auckland). This all started on March 1 so there isn't a lot of discussion on it yet, but it most certainly would impact how many miles you bring in. I've seen one post stating partners miles are awarded based in distance, but don't know how many miles that would be now. If it's minimal, a JAL flight credited to AA at 50% miles might look better (and an AA codeshare would look even better with full AA miles). I just don't have the expertise on how UA is crediting partner flights, be they booked with UA or booked directly with the partner, to sort out what they accrue since the changes.

Here's the link to the AA partner page with accrual rates:
http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...lines/main.jsp

If someone can find a similar page for UA partners, maybe they can post it here, too.

Thanks!
 

Thanks for your replies Tom911 and Mwenenzi, super helpful. I hadn't realized you could use AA points to fly from LAX to SYD. Logging into my AA account it looks like you can get economy seats on both Qantas flying direct and Hawaiian airlines stopping over in HNL for 37.5k AA points, and for 62.5k AA points you can do the Hawaiin leg from HNL to SYD in business! It's a shame you can't get a business seat on Qantas direct using AA points, but good to know the other options are there. :)

I also didn't realize I could do an AA status challenge using my Qantas Gold status. So I could switch to AA for now then do the AA challenge when my Qantas Gold is close to running out in 18 months time, get a US credit card to earn AA points (I'll soon be able to do that) then use those AA points to fly business with Hawaiian most of LAX to SYD, gradually use up my Qantas points to either book business or upgrade my SYD to HK route and slum it in economy HK to LAX on Cathay.

This has been very helpful, thanks!!!

Just to clarify, anyone can do a paid AA challenge. You don't need status on another carrier to request one. There's a wiki about them here:
http://flyerguide.com/Challenge_(AA)
The only ones that can get them for free are 1K (100,000 mile) flyers from UA.

Also, you don't get a free stopover in Honolulu. You get a free connecting flight which can be within a few hours or even the morning after, depending when you land there. AA does not allow stopovers on award tickets. If you wanted to spend a few days in Honolulu, you would need to book one award ticket to get you there and a second to continue onto Australia.

Also, you're not limited to Sydney or Melbourne as you would be with UA. Those award tickets on Qantas can take you all the away across to Perth, or to any destination in Australia. Want to visit New Zealand? 10,000 miles for a one way coach ticket to get there from Australia.

We are now getting into the fine details between the AA ffp & the QF ffp

With AA awards you do not pay those high QF surcharges ^ . AA does apply surcharges to award flights on BA. :td:

Business & first class awards on QF do come up from time to time, but are snapped up quickly. Looking for BNE or MEL instead of SYD can give better results.

AA Plat (OW sapphire) status does not given lounge access for USA domestic flights. QF gold (OW sapphire) does give lounge access for USA domestic flights, even if crediting the flight to the AA ffp.

QF has soft landings Plat-->Gold-->Silver--> nothing. AA does not have soft landing. AA Plat (=QF gold) falls to nothing :(

I agree with tom911, a spreadsheet is best.

Adventurous travel-junky needs your advice
 

So far I use the common sense tricks such as open-jaw, tuesday flights, coupons, metasearch engines ITA/momondo to fly as cheap as possible. I wonder if a FFP is something that I should add to this mix :rolleyes:

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

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 miles, ˜20sectors

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
Reply: cheapest economy/specialdeal/supersaver

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I am a student and need to take the effectively cheapest, therefore many different airlines.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
Reply: transatlantic, Europe-Asia, intra-Europe, intra-Asia

6. What is your home airport?
Reply: FRA, SXF, KUL

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

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: I'll go with whatever is cheapest ;)

Thanks. Love. Craig.

Hi there,

I’m looking for feedback on my thoughts regarding FFP strategy.

Eighteen months ago I left home and traveled all over the place by car, bike, plane, foot and ski. I keep going because I grow and learn every day. Crushing limits, pushing myself, understanding others better. I love it.

I did all this on a shoestring. Sleeping not just in airports, but also train stations, between parked cars and once a cave. Hours over hours spent on ITA, manually w/ Excel altered thousands of Skyscanner URLs, obsessed over Ryanair Fare Finder and Norwegian “Where we fly”, taken busses, when the cheapest airfares was still over 50 Euro.

And don’t get me wrong I love most of it. The puzzling over air fares and itineraries, the feeling of ultimate freedom when a plane lifts off and you with it, the marvelling over how this thing can actually take off, randomly bumping into a high school friend 6000 km away from home.

However there are other parts I wouldn’t mind eliminating. The lay overs, the rush when you pass the gate with 20+ kg of hand luggage, the constant feeling of being broke.

So I am here to step up my game. I am more then fine to accept inconveniences, but I want less of them or at least get some perks out of them. I know how to find the cheapest regular faires out there (eg TATL for 285 Euro), but I wouldn’t mind to dump the YQ in future and take an extra connection to optimize my milage.

I also want to travel faster. Go more places in less time. I used to spend weeks to months in one place as airfares, the way I used to book them, where the limiting factor. However I’d rather work a few weeks and then take a very cool trip with less inconveniences in the future.

For all of this I want to set up a broad and midterm FFP strategy. I see myself travel quite a bit over the next one to two years (on the move maybe two thirds of the days sounds about right). The idea of doing MRs excites me - I love everything about flying, can fall asleep anywhere, can go on little sleep, am content with a sandwich and 1,5l of water.

Enough of the talking, I will go ahead and answer the questions.


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 redemption / award access. I have never travelled anything other then coach. I’d love to take a first class flight to PEK or SCL on miles one day. After that probably: Upgrades, Baggage Allowance, Lounge Access, Priority Services.


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: In the past usually 10 to 12 Segments intra-Europe and one or two TATL RT. However I want that to change. Ideally, if financially feasible, I’d like to go to YYZ and PHX once or twice a year, 10 City Trips (OSL, HAM, BCN, LON, AMS, BES, BEG, LPA 2x, ???) intra-Europe and on top of that start exploring Asia and South America and potentially Africa possiby in combination with MRs.


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


4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Travel for pleasure, full control, high flexibility with travel dates, destinations and departure airports.

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

6. What is your home airport?
(e.g., SFO, LHR, HKG)
Reply: VIE & MUC. Have flown out of BTS, BUD, WAW, SZG


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, signed up for LH M&M a year ago and have 1388 Status Miles.


8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: I don’t care as long as it gets my there. However I do have an emotional connection to our national Carrier OS as well as LH.

Other factors:

- Credit Card Signup Bonuses in Europe are low, so strategy must heavily rely on BIS & MRs.
- My monthly spending is low as well.
- About 2000 *A Miles to assign to a FF account (EWR-OSL (LH), OSL-VIE (OS), VIE-OSL (OS), PHX-YYZ (AC Rouge))

My thoughts:

I’d focus on *A and go for A3 Gold status. 12k for Silver another 24k for Gold seems quite possible and by far the easiest *G. Keeping A3 Gold after that only takes 4 flights and 12k Miles and that also seems quite doable.

What do you guys think? Totally appreciate all feedback.
Let the flying begin ;-)

Feedback on switching...or not
 

At a place where I'm deciding whether to continue to spread around my travel or focus attention into loyalty of one program. What would you do?

Currently UA/*A Silver, DL/ST Gold, AA/OW Platinum, flying about 100-125K/year. Don't currently use credit cards for airline benefits...credit issue.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
Priority Access through security, bag allowance

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
>50K on at least 1 airline, total flown yearly approx 100-125K
Predominantly miles over segments for me.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
Disc Economy/Economy, occasional last min A/F

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Primarily work. I can choose any airline within reason price-wise compared to another.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
75% US Domestic, then 10% Canada, 10% Caribbean, 3% Mexico, 2% other international
No regular routes. It can be anything. I primarily fly on a Tue/Wed and can be mostly flexible with time, days.

6. What is your home airport?
SAN

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?
AA Platinum, UA Silver, DL Gold
I used to fly UA for years as a 1K (90s) and currently have 700K towards million miler.
Mainly flown Delta here in San Diego primarily because it's often least expensive and most convenient so far.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
None currently. I've enjoyed service, upgrade availability, etc.. best on Delta and least on UA, however I'm loyal to the airline that delivers the best value given my answers above. I care more about elite status benefits than RDM (I think that means redeemable miles if I'm learning the shorthand.

Thanks so much. Thomas

Should I switch from UA
 

I've been UA Silver for a few years now. The continued devaluation of the program makes me wonder if I should switch. I also dislike the fact that I more or less have to fly United exclusively now to get enough qualifying dollars. Currently looking at AA or Alaska but also open to other suggestions.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP? (in the order of importance)
priority services
free upgrades to premium economy
extra baggage
discounted or free access to lounge

(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?)
25-50k

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

(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 any airlines, both for pleasure and for work.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
US Domestic and at least one annual trip to Asia
Usually one other continent every year as well.

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

(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)
UA Silver, 130K miles

(8) Preferred Airlines
I like Eva but not particularly attached to it

cooldc314 Welcome to FT

There are several recently UA vs xx threads in the post 3 links. AA is the preferred choice for most. AS has many partners including AA & DL
Living is the USA a USA based airline ffp would be a better choice for most rather than an Asian based ffp.

USA based airlines ffp's tend to far more generous (earn/burn & status benefits). With non USA based airlines always expect to fly in the cabin you buy: upgrades are not given out like with USA based airlines.

relocation to Korea - advice would be highly appreciated
 

Greetings fellow flyers,

I would be highly appreciate your expert advice on FF etc.:
I will be relocating to Korea and in a few months and I am trying to figure out which FF would be the optimal one.
I am mostly interested in getting award tickets for my wife. I travel on average around 100k+ miles, 50% in business, the rest in coach.
I will be traveling mostly from Korea (say ICN) to US east (say EWR) and to Europe (CDG,GVA) and TLV.
My current home port is EWR, hence I have a UA gold and M&M senator. I used most of my miles on both programs. My experience with Korean Air is good, but do they have a good FF program? I am a bit lost, as I my experience in the US-Asia flight is rather limited. :confused:
I'd be most grateful for your advice.

Best,
cptsvi


Questionnaire
-------------------
1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
Reply: good award redemption rates, better award access, upgrades.
I mo

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: > 100k miles around 50 legs.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
Reply: 60% business 40% coach.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes, I am flexible. Most flights are paid by the company.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
Reply: transatlantic. It will become mostly Korea-US, Korea-Europe, Korea-TLV with some domestic in US and Europe.

6. What is your home airport?
Reply: Now EWR. Will become Korea (SEL, ICN)

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?
Reply: UA gold 80K miles, M&M gold 30k miles (used many miles)

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: Swiss, Korean, Singapore, but I have no strong preference. Any airline with good level of service will do.

PS - forgot to mention amex points
 

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I have about 350K amex reward points, if this is relevant.

[QUOTE=cptsvi;24705733]Greetings fellow flyers,

I would be highly appreciate your expert advice on FF etc.:
I will be relocating to Korea and in a few months and I am trying to figure out which FF would be the optimal one.
I am mostly interested in getting award tickets for my wife. I travel on average around 100k+ miles, 50% in business, the rest in coach.
I will be traveling mostly from Korea (say ICN) to US east (say EWR) and to Europe (CDG,GVA) and TLV.
My current home port is EWR, hence I have a UA gold and M&M senator. I used most of my miles on both programs. My experience with Korean Air is good, but do they have a good FF program? I am a bit lost, as I my experience in the US-Asia flight is rather limited. :confused:
I'd be most grateful for your advice.

Best,
cptsvi

/QUOTE]

The airline you fly and the airline ffp you credit those flights to do not need to be the same.
A surprising number of people do not realise this.

How long will you be living in Korea? Months/years/for ever?

What?

For example:-
Korean Air is a member of Skyteam http://www.skyteam.com/
Korean Air is a partner of Alaska http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...-overview.aspx
FF miles from KE flights can be credited to any Skyteam airline or AS, subject to the fare booking class being eligible for ff miles in that program.