eajusa

OK. Got it now.

cptsvi

At least 5 years and many miles because Korea is far from my US and european destinations.

I realize that the FFP and the airline I use need not be the same, but is it also beneficial?
I'd be grateful for specific advice regarding Korea.

Currently, I used star alliance and no skyteam airlines.

travelerthomas

What would you do in this case? I've got some pros and cons but would still appreciate other frequent flyer expert opinion.

intothevoid

Hi everyone, I'm hoping to get the input of more experienced FFs on my situation. Answers to the questionnaire are inline below, but the gist is that I've been loyal to UA for a while now, especially since it was a good choice connectivity-wise while in grad school on the west coast.

But, since moving to Boston and ramping up my travel considerably, I'm wondering whether this choice continues to make sense. In particular, my 2015 upgrade rate has been miserable compared to prior years (0% GPU, 0% RPU, ~10% CPU), which is pretty important since I'm barred from purchasing anything aside from economy. The loss of US Airways has made flying into DC (a frequent destination) pretty painful -- I either end up connecting through EWR to DCA, or fighting for seats on limited IAD options (especially on busy travel days). Maybe it's just bad luck, but I've had a string of delays and cancellations that seems worse than prior years and that I could do without, especially with UA's tendency to hide the truth about the extent of delays (e.g., reporting optimistic delayed departure times when they know the inbound will arrive later, contradicting their own information!).

And, in general the slow bleed of Mileage Plus just rubs me the wrong way. In particular, I'm wondering whether AA or DL might be better options at this point.

Your thoughts would be highly appreciated!

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

Upgrades, priority services, lounge access, in that order.

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

>100K/year, >75 flights/year.

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 fly for work, and am restricted to purchasing economy fares on US carriers.

5. Which routes do you fly most often

I mostly fly domestic US routes, biased towards the east coast with most of the rest to CA. But, I will reliably have 3-4 international trips a year to Asia and Europe, and being able to upgrade on those is important for me.

6. What is your home airport?

BOS

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

I've been UA 1K the past couple of years, and have ~350K lifetime miles. I usually spend award miles on friends or family, currently have ~80K.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

Only really have experience on UA, but have enjoyed the times I had to be rebooked with status matching on AA or DL.

tree838

Hi FlyerTalkers,
I am an international college student currently studying in United States.
This is my first year in America, I have taken Korean Air one way flight from HKG-DTW in Aug 2014, and round trip from DTW-HKG in Dec 2014 and I have put all those miles in Delta Skymiles.
Usually I flight back home once or twice a year(summer break and winter break). It depends on how long the winter break will be.

P.S. I will also have U.S. domestic trips during Thanksgiving break and Spring break, and mostly one intra-Asia trip with family in the summer break.

Soon I am going to join an Europe trip in mid-may.
So the schedule is like DTW-HKG (stay home few days) then HKG-LHR LHR-HAM HAM-STR and take bus to Italy then VCE-LGW and stay London for two more weeks then LHR-HKG and HKG-DTW in the late August.

There is the upcoming itineraries:
DTW<->HKG in All Nippon Airways (Round trip)
HKG<->LHR in Singapore Airlines (Round trip)
LHR ->HAM in British Airways (One way)
HAM->STR in Air Berlin (One way)
VCE->LGW in British Airways (One way)

All are economy classes and I haven't put these miles in any program.


Questionnaire
In order for FlyerTalkers to better assist you, please copy and paste the following questionnaire into your post and provide the requested information:

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:Free flights>Upgrades>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: <25000 miles and <25 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: Yes, I am able to choose my airlines and class of service, and I usually travel for study abroad and pleasure.

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

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

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: Yes, I currently have DELTA Skymiles (SkyMiles Member) and 26869 miles have banked in this FFP (15000miles are customer relations bonus).

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: Cathay Pacific, British Airways, ANA/JAL, EVA and Delta.

I really appreciate all your help!

ashbash

Hi all - thanks in advance for any advice. I currently live in Madison, WI (MSN) and have over the last two years been exclusively flying Delta and am pretty happy with the quality of service. I have gotten used to having to connect to get where I'm going (through MSP/DTW/ORD). I am DL Gold for 2015 and will hit Gold for 2016 by August (unlikely to hit Platinum). I have previously lived in Chicago (ORD) and flew UA - I despise UA. Most importantly, I am moving to Memphis (MEM) for work and am wondering what path to take:

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
Lounge, upgrades, priority services, baggage

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
~50-60k, may increase slightly

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?
Primarily travel for work - must buy Economy on a US carrier
Travel for family is to DCA/IAD/BWI
Travel for pleasure is typically Europe or Caribbean

5. Which routes do you fly most often
US domestic, primarily to major cities; 2-3 international trips/year (Europe/Asia), prefer to upgrade on international routes when possible

6. What is your home airport?
MEM

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?
Delta Gold Medallion (~200k miles), Southwest (~100k miles)

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Delta >> UA, but open to options

Thanks!

flye

Hi all, I'd appreciate any input into my situation and how to best take advantage of it. I'm half way through a two month business trip and I've taken my wife and son with me along for the ride (hotel and room service covered by the business I just have to cover their airfare and shopping)

I've already taken three international flights and three domestic flights with three more international flights and three domestic flights to go. I found out about SPG halfway through my trip so I've signed up to that and I've already got 4 stays and 10 nights.

I can't get a credit card from the US/Canada with points/miles. I have a card that allows me to get Qmiles (Qatar Airway miles) at a rate of 1 mile for every $1.65USD spent. My monthly spending is approximately ~$3,000 but so far on this trip it's been approximately ~$12,000.

I have a Qatar Privilege membership, I just got it and I have about 3,000 points (not including my Qmiles from my credit card). I also have a Priority Pass so I get access to almost all lounges.

Most of my travel currently is within China and to Taiwan.

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, 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 miles and <25 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: I can choose my airlines and for class I stick to economy since I take my family with me on business trips. I travel for work with a little pleasure

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

Reply: intra-Asia with 1-2 flights a year to North America

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

Reply: DOH

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

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

Reply: Qatar Airways and now Emirates with SPG membership

Looking forward to see some replies regarding my situation because I have no idea how to take advantage of the flights we're taking. I just book my flights with Expedia and I have silver status which isn't worth anything really but their customer service has been great. At first I booked all of my hotels and flights through Expedia until I found out about SPG.

Thanks!

Mwenenzi

What airline's flight number and what operating airline are these future flights on?
Getting retro credit for flights taken before joining a ffp is problematic. For most ffp you need to be a member at the date of the flight. A few ffp's allow 30 or ?? days retro credit. Refer to post 2 of this thread.

flye

Thanks for your input. Regarding the flight numbers I don't have them as I don't book my tickets in advance since it really depends when I finish up wherever I am and go, I usually book a night or two before my flight.

The Airline within China and to Taiwan has all been China Southern with one flight (to Taipei) being operated by China Airlines. I don't know if I will stick to this airline but I don't see why not for all future flights within China and between China/Taipei.

My flight back to Doha I was going to use Qatar Airways but I'm thinking of setting up an Emirate FF membership since it's linked with SPG now and using Emirates for my flight to Doha/Dubai and for all other Doha/Dubai flights in the future (take about one flight every month or two).

I also will be going to Canada on Saudi Airlines but that ticket has already been booked a long time ago but the return to Doha will be a one-way ticket that I have yet to purchase. I was thinking either Emirates or QA for that.

Thing is at this point, for my international travel and travel within the Middle East do I just stick with either Emirates or QA or should I use both. The dilemma here being is I have SPG membership and get points when flying Emirates and the other is that I get Qmiles with my credit card.

Thanks for your insight and I appreciate your time. I'll take a look at Post #2 and honestly I'm not too concerned with getting points retroactively (do you reckon it's worth it?).

Gava71

IMO all programs are the sam, it is more a matter of which is the lesser evil. I am a Diamond Medallion since the inception of the program and I still have to see a standby request out of Atlanta being fulfilled. I live in Orlando and everytime I get early out of work, I have come to the realization that I need to wait for my original flight because it is impossible to get a standby seat. Today I thought it was the first time and surprise, surprise there were 6 inconvenienced travelers that bump me way back and the 6 available seats in that flight while I was number 2 in the list, became no seat for me in that flight. I have come to the realization that I will be spending 4 more hours in this airport and go to my original flight because it is very undignifying to go from gate to gate and hope to get on a plane and seeing others checking bags (which I dread) having to do that and then the final word of the agent saying that the fight is complete and all the standby will be moved to the next flight. I feel almost like a beggers asking for crums. I fly 125,000+ MQM's a year and spend 50K+ dollars in this airline and I need to beg for an early seat. Something is wrong with this.

Jay294

Hi All,

I am primarily a Delta flyer, I fluctuate between Platinum and Diamond status depending on the year.
I am hoping someone could help me make the decision between American Airlines, and Delta Airlines for my future loyalty.


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

Upgrades, priority services,.

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

approximately 100K-125K/year, over 150 flights/year.

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 my airline, but am limited to coach service, and travel almost exclusively for work.

5. Which routes do you fly most often

I live in south Florida, and fly all over the southern US, usually as far north as the Carolinas, to as far west as Texas, but I go where ever my boss sends me and sometimes it is as far as California, or as far north as Maine.

6. What is your home airport?
PBI (Palm Beach) or FLL (Ft. Lauderdale)

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

I'm currently platinum with Delta, and I just made the Platinum challenge on American. I have over 1M miles with Delta, and over 100K with American.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

I've been a loyal Delta flyer for about a 8 years, but lately they have been pissing me off with their lack of service and redemption of miles. I was wondering if people think I should make the jump to American, or is it the same garbage in a different packaging?

Mwenenzi

Jay294 Welcome to the forum

You seem to have the decision already.
On the routes you fly is AA or DL better:- schedule, cost, direct flights?
Upgrades can be hard to get if that is main ffp objective.

AS has both AA & DL as partners airlines http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...-overview.aspx

The grass is not always greener over the fence

tom911

Award travel on AA to Europe has taken a serious hit the last year, with the web site only offering BA flights most of the time. The downside here is that those flights incur BA's fuel surcharges which can run into the hundreds of dollars each way. If you can find AA or US, or Air Berlin for that matter, or call in for an Iberia routing (not all partners are on-line), you'll mostly avoid those fees (IB charges something like 30 euros but nothing like BA). I was just looking at some September dates for Austria and no matter what date I looked there was not a single AA, US or AB flight across the Atlantic, though BA flights were readily available in business with multiple routings.

No fuel surcharges on partners such as as Qantas or Cathay, but Qantas in business or first can be next-to-impossible to find. AA seems to be pushing towards Hawaiian which has lots of availability but no flat seats.

As a top tier flyer on AA you'd get 100% flight miles and 100% bonus miles. You may accrue more than you do at DL if your flights are in discounted economy. Add on 8 systemwides good on any fare and you might find some serious value just in those two areas.

If you were a UA 1K you'd be in great shape, but for some reason AA isn't courting Delta flyers and unless you have a corporate agent that can arrange something you may not get the same package 1K flyers get.

wilxam

Hi all,

I've been with SQ KrisFlyer for about 12 years and have been Silver for the last few years, which basically is a useless status to have. Always accrued miles on Y with them and redeemed on J. A good portion of my miles comes from credit card spending. Now as I'm growing older, I'm considering disloyalty to SQ mainly because I want to fly more in Y+ or J but SQ J fares are beyond my budget. I travel for pleasure about 3 or 4 times a year mainly to Europe and South East Asia. I've noticed that airlines (with decent premium product) like Cathay Pacific, Air France/ KLM, BA, LH or even ANA have more affordable premium fares.

What would you folks out here suggest? Should I stick to SQ or join another program? Which program in your opinion would be better to stay loyal to? Would be interested to hear the pros and cons from your experience. Been doing some research lately both here on FT and individual programs websites, but it has left me even more confused than ever. So please help me decide!

Appreciate your input, thanks heaps.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
Good redemption availability in J or F, upgrades, lounge access, in that order.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
25,000 to 38,000 a year

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
Economy and on rare occasions Business

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I fly for pleasure so free to choose any carrier and class.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
Japan to Europe and South East Asia/ India.

6. What is your home airport?
KIX / ITM / OSA

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in a FFP, if any?
Silver with SQ. Have about 60K in my KrisFlyer account and a bunch of AMEX points.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Any good airline with great service on ground and in the air.

bartlett6724

Hey guys... most of my traveling I do now I do by car... I'd like to be able to fly more often though, and am looking at Credit Card and Frequent Flyer programs. A friend directed me to this site, and I've been loving it so far! I'm trying to soak in all the information, but I figured I'd also post here in case anyone had good ideas/intuition about programs to join. So here's what I'm looking for.

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: Just plain miles, and the reward rate. Don't care if I'm first-class, etc. Just want to be able to fly!

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: Less than 25k, for sure. I would like to be taking 1 to 2 flights per year with 2 to 4 passengers.

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 usually choose economy and I travel for pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often
(e.g., U.S. domestic, transatlantic, intra-Asia)
Reply: U.S., but would like to do international to Mexico, China, Japan, Australia, and/or UK.

6. What is your home airport?
(e.g., SFO, LHR, HKG)
Reply: LNK, OMA, or DEN. (DEN is 8 hour drive, but I visit there often.)

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: Nope!

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Reply: I've always really liked Southwest, though I'm hesitant to get their credit card due to the $99 annual fee. I like Frontier because they are usually the best value for me, and I've also had decent experiences with Delta and American, but I've heard people give stories to the contrary.

Thanks for any advice that anyone can offer! I really appreciate it!