I don't keep up to speed on airline credit cards as I primarily use hotel credit cards, so can't comment on where the best offers are when you compare airline to airline. We do have a credit card forum here which might be a good place to start.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...-programs-390/

Help choosing a new alliance.....
 

I would appreciate any guidance with this. I have just changed jobs and am prevented from flying with AA unless it is considerably cheaper than UA or Delta (by at least $100) and would like advice on the best one to go with for FF status. I currently have OW Sapphire and my company has a deal where Delta and UA will status match, I just need to chose which one.....I fly with work most weeks and also to the UK several times a year for pleasure reasons (using BA which is why I have been OW alliance until now).
O'Hare is my home airport.

Here are my responses to the standard Q's:

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

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year?
It has varied but will be around 20-25 flights a year

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
Economy when domestic, premium economy internationally

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Travel for work and have to use either United or Delta unless American is at least $100 cheaper. Economy if under 4 hours. (Pleasure and previous work I have used AA and BA)

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
Domestic (weekly) and transatlantic (4 ish times a year)

6. What is your home airport?
ORD

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
Silver with BAEC (One World Sapphire)

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
AA for domestic and BA for transatlantic, however I am restricted to UA and Delta with work.

Any advice would be very appreciated!

Thanks

UA and Delta are both revenue based. UA copied quite a bit from the Delta program including spending minimums that come along with elite tiers. If you're buying short-notice domestic tickets at higher prices, you might actually come out better with UA or DL in terms of mileage accumulation compared to AA.

Being ORD based, which is a UA hub with nonstop flights likely everywhere you would want to go, it's going to be hard to overlook them. The downside is that you will be in competition with a lot of elites and UA has a reputation of selling upgrades. They don't offer a premium economy product like you see on some international carriers. They do offer "economy plus" seating which offers some extra legroom, but nothing like footrests, less seats per row, or an enhanced meal service that you might be used to in a premium economy seat. If you fly at the 50K level those seats should be available, but if only at the 25K level I don't think you can request them until 24 hours out now unless you buy up to that seat. It's not sold as a separate class of service but rather as a seat enhancement to an economy ticket.

I don't know much about the DL experience and what kind of service they offer from there. Hopefully someone will be along to post some details about it. I can tell you from following posts on the UA forum, whenever DL is mentioned, that the DL flyers do seem very happy with the overall flight experience and their handling of flights when things go wrong.

Might be a little counter-intuitive but have a look at Alaska Airlines. For the time being you can credit both DL and AA flights to AS, redeem on many Skyteam and most Oneworld airlines, with reasonably good redemption rates. It won't help you with lounge access unfortunately and while AS and AA have some reciprocity with respect to elite benefits, AS' relationship with DL is pretty dicey (at war at SEA) so it might not be a long term solution, but something to consider.

Aeroplan, MileagePlus, or?
 

Hi All,

First off, I apologize--this is essentially the same post that I made over in the *A FFP advice thread a couple of weeks ago, but it didn't receive a response. Asking again here, with some updated info.

Due to a change at work, I find I'm travelling more than in previous years. I've been an Aeroplan member for decades, and have credited them with my travel miles out of habit. However, I just made Altitude P25 status for the first time, which got me thinking about whether Aeroplan is my best option.

Most of my work flying has been going to UA (~20 of 35 segments), and I barely made AC AQM/AQS requirements (12 segments). I've realized that having AC status won't be getting me much if I'm largely on UA.

So my questions are: (A) Should I switch to another program for next year(presumably, but not necessarily MileagePlus)? And if so, (B) where I should credit the couple of remaining flights this year?

1. [*]
2. [*]
3. [*]
4. [*]
5. [*]
6. [*]
7. [*]

As I said above, I've primarily flown AC and UA. I'm neither wowed nor offended by either, and would consider switching to another carrier or alliance that serves YVR well for (primarily) US destinations.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Advice: airline choice for long-term SFO-ORD commute
 

Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to FlyerTalk -- hope I'm posting this in the right place. Here's the situation:

I currently commute from LGA to ORD for work and have reached Platinum on Delta. However, starting in July 2016, I'll be commuting between ORD and SFO for 3 years (!). Not on a weekly basis, but 2 or 3 times per month for at least 9 months of the year. As you know, Delta doesn't have a non-stop from ORD to SF, so I need to switch.

My basic questions: which airline should I switch to and what can I do between now and July 2016 to attain the highest status possible (and thereafter)?

I think the choice is between United and AA, but I lean towards AA. My friends tell me that I'll never get upgraded on SFO-ORD because it's too competitive, and that the United terminals at both airports can be annoyingly busy. However, United has a matching program in place and AA just suspended theirs.

Anyway, I'll still be traveling between NYC and ORD until July and have some time to build up my status. Just the question of which airline and how best to do this. As for budget, I need to stick to economy, usually the basic fares.

Please let me know if I can provide any more details and thanks in advance!

brett123 Welcome to FT

What are your objectives from a ffp?
For your flights is cost and/or schedule a consideration? Or just the cheapest on the day?

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

Welcome to FT!

Though I don't know the specifics of your situation, I'd nevertheless recommend AA. Better operationally and a much better FF program. An additional, minor consideration is that its SFO terminal and lounge are nicer and less busy than UA's. And if you'll fly enough to get 100K miles per year, the value of that status is much better on AA than on UA, where it's kind of a second-class citizen.

One caveat here is that AA's FF program could go downhill as the airline completes its integration of AA and US. Another is that it's possible UA will start to slowly bounce back now that the old CEO is gone. But I'd still go with AA.

Should I move away from United?
 

I am currently UA Platinum, but this year will only make Gold. My main question is if I should switch (status match/challenge) from UA to Delta. UA has been decent to me, but feel at the Gold level it isn't really that great (seating group 2, economy plus only 24 hours before I think, etc).

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: Economy Plus style setting (extra legroom), Upgrades, priority services, better award access

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:35k-45k miles over 40-60 segments (generally shorter flights)

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: economy (but I get economy plus at no charge on UA and would want to keep something like this at the very least). All my travel is business travel

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply:All my travel is business, and economy is only service I can purchase via my company

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: domestic, shorter routes most of the time (SAN-SFO/SJO, SAN-SLC, SAN-MCI)

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: SAN (San Diego - used to be Carlsbad, CA hence the history with UA, but ever since they pulled out of CLD I have to drive down to SAN)

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: Yes, UA Premium Platinum. However, in 2015 I'll make Gold so 2016 I'll only be Gold

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: UA has been good to me. However, Gold is no longer what it used to be after the Continental merger so feel my usual level of Gold won't mean as much any more. Looking to see if Delta might be a good option to do status match with.

Thanks for any thoughts.

I think the reason 1K on UA are seen as second-class citizens is due to the Continental/UA merger few years ago. They have so many 100k'ers now they are just not as special (which is why my platinum and soon to be gold status is all that great either). I would be very weary of the AA/US merger causing similar issues for the ffp for AA. Maybe not, but just a thought. Also, I never liked US when I flew them fairly often from SAN-PHX, more operational problems than any other airline I flew with.

Mwenenzi -- thanks for redirecting me to this thread.

Thunderhead -- thanks for those points as well. Very similar to what I'm heard from friends already in the SF area.

One point that weights in UA's favor is that they seem to have twice the number of flights between SFO and ORD on a daily basis, at very similar price points. Just having that flexibility could be nice. But people seem to say the terminal experience with UA at both SFO and ORD is terrible, and to the earlier points, it would be nice to get E+ or similar upgrades. Not that can happen on UA without really high status?

Another point: AA has suspended their status challenge program (not sure why). UA still has one.

Given that I have until July 2016 to build up points somewhere, I'm still wondering what to do.

Here's some more information about my situation:

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Upgrades on travel is probably most important. After that, priority services is nice.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Over 50K but probably less than 100K. Longer flights, not too many legs.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Economy/cheapest. Could be convinced to buy higher occasionally if it helped with points/status but otherwise not.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Yes, choice is mine. This is mostly for work (long-distance commute to work with my wife based in SF but my job in Chicago)

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
Now: LGA-ORD
July 2016: SFO-ORD

(6) What is your home airport?
Now: NYC (usually flying Delta Shuttle between LGA and ORD)... I *love* the Marine Air Terminal.
Effective July 2016: SFO/ORD

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Delta - Platinum with 400K miles in the bank.

Again, many thanks to everyone for whatever input you can offer. I've been happy with Delta on my LGA-ORD route for the last few years. It's nice and simple and with Platinum I usually get upgraded (except Monday AM and Thurs PM). The whole SFO-ORD route seems like a different level....

Well, I live in Chicago and my FT friends here seem overall to prefer AA to UA. By a lot.

AA has stated they'll have a new program in place after the first of the year.

[COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]
This forum has been a blessing. Recently found out I have a lot less time then was first estimated so.. Looking to see as much sunshine and beautiful places as possible. This year was my first trip ever! :):-::) I do have a somewhat flexible schedule wise, it's the finances that need more planning help then actual time.
Also please tell me the type of info that is most helpful from a newbie, to help give back to the thread with?

Opened the captial one venture card a few months back to get 50k bonus for travel. Been researching other options like that for more flight and hotel perks, like chase.


Questionnaire: Copy and paste into your post
Provide the requested information.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
>>> Reply:Best potential to earn and use reward points for flight and/or hotel, baggage allowance. I also have a wheelchair.

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: currently less then 25000. Flew to Fort Meyers and back this past winter (4 day trip) That was my first trip/vacation Going to Playa de Carmen (CUN) at the end of the month. (7 day trip) ::):-::)

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'm able to choose my own airline. Pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply:[COLOR="Red"] so far, Milwaukee to Florida (RCW) and Mexico.(CUN) /COLOR]

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

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply:None so far

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: Southwest seems to work well for many that I know but we are open. The one time I flew was thru Delta. Although I dislike Delta's baggage fees, they bumped us to a later flight and gave vouchers for it.
Thank you everyone for all you do here

Recommendations to maximize status for 2016
 

I'll be traveling from TX to Germany in December. I have silver medallion status on Delta and will not make Gold. Both Delta and American fly the route I need. Tickets are essentially the same price.

Question: is it wiser to fly Delta and capture the mileage bonus, or would I be smarter trying to do a status match on American and using this trip to fly a good chunk of the miles I'd need to keep that status?

All points of view appreciated!