Hello, thanks in advance for your time and for sharing your expertise.
My brother recently moved from USA to Scotland for a planned 5-year stay, and I of course intend to visit him sometime within the next couple of years.
I'm also buying a car in the near-future and it occurred to me to run that purchase through a CC with some generous bonus points awarded for the first ~$4000 spent within the first few months of having the account. After this, I intend to run my bills (insurance, utilities, etc, excluding rent), gas, and groceries through the CC account on a regular basis, without running an outstanding balance on the account. My income, expenses, and lifestyle are fairly modest.

I glanced over the top entries at Nerdwallet:
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-c...t-card-offers/
and am considering the Citi Thank You Premier card to serve this purpose. I do not intend to sign up for multiple cards for a more intricate churning process, and as of yet, my only real goal is a cheap or discounted plane ticket to Scotland sometime in the next year or two. Contrary opinions are welcome!


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.
.....
Ease of use / interpretation; stability of program terms / points value over the next few years


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.
.....
I don't travel often and haven't flown in a few years.


3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
.....
Economy / no preference


4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
.....
I do not travel for work. Although I don't travel much, I have no reason why I couldn't choose airline / class.


5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
.....
None / not currently applicable


6. What is your home airport?
.....
SEA (Seattle - Tacoma)


7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
.....
No / not currently applicable


8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
.....
No preference / goal is for international travel

Hi

I am really new here and would like some help in picking out an FFP.. I live in Singapore and make monthly trips to Thailand for business. Currently i use Jetstar all the time as they have the best prices, but they do not have any FFP that i am aware of. So anyway, here goes.

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: Free flight redemptions. i don't mind flying in coach.

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: 20-25, mostly short distance flights around asia

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
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. Both, mostly work

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

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: Singapore (SIN)

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply:None. I fly Jetstar almost exclusively, and to my knowledge they do not have an FFP

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

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

UA 1k considering the AA challenge...
 

First post. Concerned that AA codeshares fares are so much more expensive than with 'native airlines' fares. Quick look at Amsterdam to Perth: $990 on Malaysian Airlines, $1500 for exactly the same AA codeshare flight. Normal?

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: Earning most miles for lowest fares. That is it.

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: 1K plus.

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

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply:I choose, but try for cheapest within FFP

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

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: Amsterdam or Brussels

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: UA 1K

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: United, but considering AA

Seeking advice/suggestions for swiching from UAL
 

Hi all,

My wife and i are FF on UAL for over 20 years.
i have flown over 3M and my wife about 2M.
We are both 1K on UAL.

Domestically we fly a lot JFK-LAX.
Overseas, i typically fly ~3-4 trips/yr to Europe and about the same
to Asia: China, Japan, India etc.

As you may know recently UAL announced its abandoning JFK and only
flying from EWR (Newark/NJ) for direct flights to LAX.
EWR is very inconvenient for us.

This is why we are very seriously thinking of switching to AAL or DAL.

I fly over 150K/yr and my wife about 100K.
Each of us also has united visa cards and we tend to use over 25K/yr on
each card.

I get upgraded to business on domestic coast to coast flights about 50%
and a lot of flights abroad are also upgraded; i do need to buy
upgradeable tickets for foreign travel (only)

We'll be very grateful for advice and suggestions:

Which program should we go for?
What is the best strategy to negotiate with AAL and or DAL?

Many thanks for your propmt response; we need to make a decision
within days

Going on 2 Long Trips soon, want to maximize mileage status
 

I will be flying the following itinerary:

PDX-TPA-SJU-TPA-PDX in August and PDX-LED RT in September.

The total miles flown will be close to 30,000 so I am deciding on what airline to use and how to best take advantage of these two long hauls.

I am leaning towards AA because they still give mileage based on miles flown but I am very open to learning, I have even been reading about founders card and also a challenge with AA maybe being possible.

for the first trip the cheapest coach fare I could find was $573.00 and the cheapest First Class fare I could find was $1396.00 (mixed cabin, one flight not first class).

Any all all suggestions are appreciated, I am looking forward to getting close to an elite status with an airline so I can hold my head up high like the rest of you veterans! hah.

Thank you in advance.

Thanks for the response, I was actually kidding about the pride part, guess I should have made that clear.

I was using a mileage calculator that was clearly wrong, thanks for the one you showed me, its awesome.

I went ahead and signed up for the FC because I got a really good deal $395 all in and I am confident I can meet the requirements of their Platinum Challenge deal they have going with AA.

I confirmed I was able to still get in on the current challenge they are doing and I will for sure get enough miles to qualify for Platinum through Feb 2017.

I am looking into Alaskan Airlines as well but when i went to book something to a city where they do not fly on their website they did not offer a way to get it done, possibly over the telephone?

I'm pretty new to this but I think I have found my preferred airline, AA.

Where do I save miles in the Netherlands?
 

Hey guys, first post. I'm taking a gap year this year, so I decided might as well earn some miles. I live in the Netherlands and am planning to go around the world this year. So I was thinking maybe save SkyMiles and redeem on KLM, because a lot of people say American FFPs are usually better. Then again, Delta changed the program and I usually buy cheap fares, so I don't know. What do you guys think?

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: Complementary upgrades & good award redemption rates
(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?)
Reply: I fly <25000 usually each year, but this year probably around 50000 miles. I fly economy and each year around 8 segments. ( this year more though )
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
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: Yes I can choose my airline, I have flown KLM the most. For pleasure.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Most of the times either within Europe, or from Europe to Asia or America.
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: AMS
(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)
Reply: I'll probably reach Silver status with Flying Blue this year, I've got about 7000 FB miles.
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: Maybe any in Skyteam, because I can then redeem on KLM, which is my national airline.

marctjoefat Welcome to FT

Low priced economy fares will not earn many miles in any ffp and you are unlikely to get status (with a new FFP).
If cost is a major factor select flights based on schedule & price and treat any ff miles/points as a bonus.
As you already have 7000 FB miles build on those where possible. (Watch expiry)
USA based ffp's tend to be more generous and better award cost (earn/burn and less copay $). So if you have a OneWorld Alliance or Star Alliance flight join another FFP.

As you have joined AA very little reason to join AS. AA & AS are frequent flyer partners

The airline you fly and the airline ffp you credit those flights do not need to be the same.
That is what partner airlines are all about, as blue link below. For those times that you plan to fly, you can earn Mileage Plan™ Miles by flying Alaska Airlines or one of our 15 airline partners

Hi All,

Could really use some help on this,

I have a range of points held with various Middle Eastern based reward programs that I need to either spend/consolidate into either an existing program I belong to or a new FFP based in Australia

Qatar Airways (Gold) 50 points off Platinum
Emirates (Burgundy)
Turkish Airlines (Pretty much useless)
Commercial Bank Qatar CBQ, Transferable to Qatar at 1:1.5)
Jumierah (Sirius) Transferable to Qatar at 2:1
AMEX UK (Business) card will close in September
Club Carlson
Starwood

From my own research, I would be best off Staying with Qatar at least until I hit Platinum. But then, do I either stick with them and earn points via oneworld carriers or look for a status transfer?

Has anyone had experience with a tier transfer within Oneworld carriers?

I can convert my UK AMEX, CBQ, and Sirius points to Qatar miles easily enough or I can get the AMEX and CBQ into SPG


(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: Upgrades, Free lounge access, keeping current status level
(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?)
Reply: Unknown with new carrier. Currently on 30-40 short haul flights per year, appx 30,000 Qmiles
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Economy. Business over 9 hours
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Can choose within reason
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Unknown, Assumption will be Australian domestic and Asia, One world carriers preferred
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: Unknown, most likely SYD or OOL
(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)
Reply: Qatar-Gold 95K points, Emirates-Silver 25K points, Turkish-Classic
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: Oneworld carriers/ willing to jump to a better deal if tier transfers within oneworld are not possible

FFP to Sign up to for me
 

I am new here and have been searching around for what is the best FFP for me in particular. It seems that there are multiple variables that impact this for each individual and it's extremely hard to wrap your head around which is the best. I thank you in advance for you assistance!

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:

The most important thing for me is upgrades to business class. For myself, my family of 6 and for any business associates that I pay for their flights.

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:

3-4 long distance flights. 10-20 local flights.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
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 am able to choose which airline. I mainly travel for work but also for pleasure.

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

South Africa -> USA
South Africa -> Israel
South Africa -> Europe

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

Johannesburg, OR Tambo INTL.

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

No status in any FFP.

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

I don't have any preferred airline.

Something that is important to know...

I have researched the various frequent flyer programs and have a general understanding of the various dis/advantages of each of them. From my analyses it seems that the best program for me would be either OneWorld or StarAlliance. Although, I can't wrap my head exactly which one. Perhaps, this community might have some input...

Here is my situation:
* I live in South Africa.
* I travel to the USA, Israel, and Europe on business and personal travel.
* Over the next 18-24 months I will likely have to travel to Israel every 6-8 weeks for business.
* In South Africa we accumulate approximately 12-15,000 Discovery Miles (A South African Credit Card) which can be converted into either Avios miles at a 1:1 rate or into South African Airways miles at a 1:0.8 ratio.
* We currently have around 300,000 Discovery miles. (Equal to around 300,000 Avios Miles/ 250,000 South African Airways miles)[/li]
* My objective with miles and miles programs is NOT to be able to get free tickets. Rather, it is to be able to get free business class upgrades on a regular basis for myself. For my family when they travel with me. For business associates that I fly them places that I can arrange business class upgrades for them.

The most popular airlines that fly out of South Africa are South African Airlines and British Airways. SAA isn't the most comfortable of planes and I don't think their business class is anything to write home about. I also don't think their mileage program is very good. However, they are a member of Star Alliance which appears to have the ability to upgrade easier than with OneWorld.

British Airways, on the other hand, has comfortable planes. Flies wherever I need. However, the ability to get to a point where I am getting automatic business upgrades doesn't seem possible simply because they have this sort of voucher program but it doesn't look like they do automagic upgrades like the United Gold/Platinum does. Also - my Avios conversion rates are better with British Airways than with South African Airways.

Any input into which frequent flyer program would be better to sign up to in order to achieve my objective of being able to fly business class the mass majority of the time without having to actually pay for it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

swoopingbird Welcome to FT

Your objectives are totally unrealistic.
Upgrades are usually only available with ffp miles on the airline flights of your ffp.
Cross airline upgrade are uncommon and require expensive flights if available.
Upgrades (with ff miles, upgrade instruments or free due to status) on non USA based airlines are not common.
With non USA based airlines always expect to fly in the cabin you buy: upgrades are not given out like with USA based airlines.

Upgrades generally will not happen for you. Upgrades for 1 are hard. Upgrades for 6, even if on different days/flights have little to zero chance
Generally to have a chance of upgrade you need status.

Award flights are not free. All have taxes and many, especially non USA airline ffp, require cash co payments

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: God reward redemption rates, and close second upgrades

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: less than 25,000

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
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: pleasure, I am a student

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: I usually fly to Philippines and Miami. Want to do more domestic USA but looking for something to travel to Philippines too

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: ORD/MDW/MKE Chicago area

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

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: For domestic United, American, Delta, Jet blue, and maybe southwest?

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: upgrade to better class on flights to Europe, free checkin baggage

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: 10 000 inside USA, 20 000 USA - Europe

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
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 airline. Within USA work, USA - Europe pleasure

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

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

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: I am signed to United MileagePlus where I have lifetime flight miles 10,240, but Mileage balance 7,330 and I am in M&M with 6,232 miles.

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

I am using United for domestic USA flights and Lufthansa for USA - EUROPE. I welcome suggestions if it is even worth for this little mileage to bother with gathering miles. Higher classes than economy are out of question for me, I will not pay 7000 usd to get to Prague from Orlando if I can buy economy ticket for 1000. I just do not see how can the extra leg room and luggage outweigh the insane price but I would like to use miles to do this. Also I am puzzled by things whether I should be gathering miles only on one account and if so which one? Also then where should i buy the ticket, the airline i will be actually flying with or the airline I have the account with?

Thank you.