FFP advice please
 

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've travelled regularly, but the next couple of years are looking like it will start to increase and so any advice as to which FFP to join would be most appreciated!

Thank you.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> Reply:

Well upgrades naturally, but in reality the priority services (early seat booking) are most useful to me followed by lounge access and then award redemption.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply:

I don't know in miles, but call it 2-3 transatlantic returns plus ~6 domestic US trips.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply:

Economy mainly, economy+ on occasion.

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

Yes, can choose airline and class (budget dependent). Work travel.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply:

In the past BA or VA for transatlantic.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply:

New York based airports, can reach all, prefer JFK.
UK, London, LHR preference.

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply:

Recently used up air miles, so none of note in the bank.
Currently BA Bronze status, expires Nov, on a gentle decline from Silver last year.

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

No particular preference.

Delta is the largest carrier at JFK followed by Jet Blue and AA. Delta and AA have very different ways in awarding miles. If you hit 50,000 miles a year, which looks possible with the routings you listed, AA would award 50,000 flight miles, plus varying amounts of bonus miles the first year (25% after 25,000 miles, 100% after 50,000 miles). The trick is to hit that 50,000 and stay there year after year so you can continue to earn those 100% bonus miles. Fly 50,000 and earn 100,000, basically.

AA only offers free domestic upgrades to all elites on flights below 500 miles. After that, at the 25K and 50K level, you'd need to support your upgrades with either comped domestic upgrades (2,000 miles per 10,000 flown) or buy them. While BA is a partner and you will accrue full miles and elite bonus there, there are no free international upgrades on either carrier, though it will be easier on AA with cash and miles than BA where only full-fare coach can be upgraded with AA miles.

AA does offer free lounge access on international itineraries at the 50K level (Platinum). That would include partner lounges. There are fuel surcharges if you redeem on BA (hundreds of dollars across the Atlantic) and much smaller surcharges on Iberia. I've avoided both of them across the Atlantic and have stayed on AA or US in the past which have no fuel surcharges.

I'm not up on Delta other than UA has matched their program in awarding miles on the basis of fare paid (at UA you'd get 5 miles per dollar spent up to 25,000 flight miles, then 6 miles per dollar through 50K, then 8 miles per dollar after 50K which would be as high as you plan to go), so someone else will need to address their program and whether there's any differences between UA.

You'll need to get an idea of what your tickets cost to really compare AA and DL side by side. If they're expensive tickets, you might make out better on Delta, but then I've read mixed reports about their award program, and that's something you'd really need to research further.

I'd also add that AA has not announced any major program changes next year, though I've seen many posts thinking that changes might be ahead.

AS 9x daily non-stop

Looking through EOS $92 each way for restricted Y and $176/$186 each way for Restricted F

/thread

It's not unusual to have some service gaps/mishaps in airlines just as any other industry/business. What's sad about UA these days is the frequency of such occurrence and poor service recovery thereafter (and their Twitter team is known for lacking common sense). If you are dissatisfied and can easily change carrier, why not vote with your money?

Thank you all. I can't decide if it's weird or not to want to switch an airline based on harrassing phone calls that may or may not have anything to do with the carrier, but I wanted to check my options

Two suggestions:

1. Since you buy F outright and don't fly enough to make status hugely important to the equation, why not just try other airlines? Only a few fly SFO-SEA nonstop so it's reasonable to sample them all. Buy tickets on the basis of best price and schedule for a while. Figure out which airline offers the best service relative to your personal priorities.

2. While the behavior of UA's social media team seems abhorrent, the underlying problem of a person in need of assistance being left at the gate may not have been UA's fault. Such services are contracted out and may be managed by the airport, not the airline. Understanding the process involved here may change whom you're outraged at as well as better prepare you and your friends for dealing with similar problems that arise in the future.

Best wishes in your future travels! And if you do decide to "Try 'em all" be sure to write about your findings here!

I know the "helpers" at the airport are generally low paid contract workers who have nothing to do with the airline, I get that. What is in the airlines control is on board problems with getting help. Most of the time the service is great, but as with any service there are gaps and a few bad apples, I think my main thing is I'm not complaining about say not getting pretzels, I'm asking for my walker to be brought up from the cargo hold so I can walk off the dang plane. Things happen, could be many reasons why I have occasional issues. I quit flying coach because at least in first they helped me a bit quicker.
As for the harassment, I'm not sure how they got my contact info, surely it has to do with my IP number and my ISP, more then likely it had nothing to do with the airline itself.
I just wanted to hear options, so thank you all for your input. That's a pretty great idea to sample all the airlines, why that didn't occur to me is beyond me! That could be somewhat fun, though there aren't a ton of options.

Jilted United flyer in PDX looking to transfer to greener pastures
 

Recently I had My First Terrible Experience with United. Mind you, I've had some bad experiences: lost luggage, staying at the airport overnight because of bad weather, rerouted flight failures, but I've always been patient and relied on my branded credit card's travel insurance to cover my butt (I'm a big believer in branded credit cards--I'm very very brand loyal). But it's been made apparent that this relationship isn't going to work. It's time to move on.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Upgrades. I travel a lot for business, but rarely for pleasure and rarely with a companion. So I like priority service, a hot breakfast in a lounge, and the odd upgrade. Previously I would save all my miles with United for the odd business class upgrade on international flights. That's a big deal: those international flights are the hardest.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Around 50k a year, economy. Could go up or down in 2016.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Economy/cheapest. Because I'm always on someone else's budget, I buy the cheapest tickets. But I'm at a point now where I'm going to dig my heels in. The cheapest tickets are often with the worst airlines.

(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 airlines, but not my class. I've been loyal to United almost exclusively for the past 3 years. I travel for business almost exclusively, with only 1 out of every 12 flights for personal reasons, usually cashing in some miles to visit a friend last minute.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
United in the US, Lufthansa in Europe. Their alliance has been convenient and I love the Lufthansa lounges and premiere treatment I get in Europe. In the US, United Gold doesn't account for much more than a (sometimes) quiet lounge to hide in after 12+ hours in the air.

Most of my travel is international, specifically to Europe. Looking to head over to Asia more in 2016, but Europe will still be a big travel destination. KLM has a direct flight to Amsterdam out of PDX I've heard rave reviews about.

(6) What is your home airport?
PDX

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Unite Gold. I have about 25k miles to spend of close to 50k flown.

(8) Preferred Airlines
I'm in love with Alaska Airlines, Virgin in the USA. Overseas, I'm a Lufthansa fangirl, but I've been impressed with Austrian and Swiss.

If upgrades are the prime objective then stay with a USA based air line ffp and fly USA based airlines (like United)

With non USA based airlines always expect to fly in the cabin you buy: upgrades are not given out like with USA based airlines. It is only USA based airlines that give out upgrades like confetti for free (by status, or upgrade instruments) or easily with miles-cash co pay. There is an expectation by many USA frequent flyers they deserve a (free) upgrade. Upgrades are usually only available with the ffp miles of your airline on the flights of your airline. Cross airline upgrade are uncommon and require expensive flights if available.

Hi Myztic- Thanks for participating in the Mileage Run forum, but since this topic is better suited for the Information Desk, I had it moved to here.

-18sas
Moderator, Mileage Run forum

If these flights are for business is there any corporate policy's for the airline/price?
What airline/airlines are you likely to travel on?
What ffp's are you a member of and what status (if any)?

For upgrades with airlines based out of the USA always expect to fly in the class you buy. It is only USA based airlines that give out upgrades like confetti for free (by status or upgrade instruments), or with miles-cash co pay. There is an expectation by many USA frequent flyers they deserve a (free) upgrade.

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

Could you be a little more precise? Will you be paying for business and hoping for an upgrade to first? I think in terms of airline quality you have a lot of choice, including any number of European and ME carriers. You could also do the Delta or SAA flights from US to JNB, but quality will not be the same. Not to rain on your parade, but no airline is going to roll out the red carpet for a 4x per year traveller. You're not adding a great deal to the bottom line.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Of course, you don't have to credit flights taken on one airline to that airline's FFP. For example, LAX-HKG-JNB on CX, and LAX-DOH-JNB on QR (QR's LAX service begins 1/1/16) could be credited to any oneworld carrier's FFP, including AA's. ;)

Hi,

newbie here, I already love this forum, I feel I'll learn a lot here :)
I recently joined Aegean's Miles+bonus, but as I haven't credited any miles to it yet, I can still switch if another programme looks better.

(1) What is your home airport?
BUD

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Y class

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
Around 25,000

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
None

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounges would be nice, but what I'm aiming for are award flights or upgrades. I'm not interested in hotels, car rent, credit cards etc.

(6) Which routes do you fly most often?
Europe and Middle East. Planning to fly Far East, and probably Hawaii within a few years. Would be nice to have an award flight or upgrade on that transatlantic, but I'm afraid of surcharge and taxes.

(7) Preferred Airlines
None really.

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?

Holidays only.

I've been looking into EgyptAir's program, since allowing 2 years for accrual looks nice, and Egypt is a country I plan to visit at least once or twice a year, but some people on this forum have negative experiences with them...?

Any help would be appreciated.

Best FF program for Paris-Hanoi ?
 

Hi,
In the next years I will have to do 3 or 4 times/year Paris-Hanoi.

Wich is the best FF program to get "miles" and have a "free" (or so called ...) trip to USA ?

Thanks for your advises