I had a spelling error. Buy to but corrected
I would not recomend buying miles unless you have an immediate need for miles. But opinions on this vary

Frequent spending (for miles) is not the same as frequent flying and getting miles.

Looking for best alliance for me.
 

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.
Upgrades, good award redemption rates.

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.
about 8 roundtrips, most of them SAN-NYC

Planning on doing 7 roundtrips, 3 on them transatlantic, this year.

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

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


Pleasure, but hoping to land a job that travels a lot.

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

domestic USA (SAN-NYC)

6. What is your home airport?

"Home" - SAN
"School" - NYC

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

No status, but have 25k in AA, but only 7k toward first level status; 6k in United.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

JetBlue, but would prefer to be tied to an alliance that would let me redeem rewards for international travel. Currently have about 90k in Chase rewards and another 90k in AMEX rewards.

staunderson Welcome to FT

Forget about getting upgrades. Being realistic it won't happen. On USA domestic routes there will always be many others with high ff status much higher up the upgrade list. On international long haul cheap economy fares are now usually not eligible for upgrades by status (free) or with miles & cash.

Both AA & UA have international routes and more importantly international ff partner airlines. AA = OneWorld & UA = Star Alliance. Having several ffps' with low balance is never a good idea, as you often never get enough miles to be used before they expire.

Have you investigated which ffp the credit card points can be moved to?

Select your flights based on cost & schedule and treat ff miles, if any, as a bonus that may or may not be able to be used before they expire.

So both cards can be moved to Delta, chase can be moved to United, and both can redeem American.

OK.
When the time comes that you want to use the the miles the cc points can be moved.

Having several ffps' with low balance is never a good idea, as often you never get enough miles to be used before they expire. Better is concentrate on 1 ffp and not have miles in 3 ffp’s.

Freq flyer programms are meduim to long term.

So do you think that it would be best to continue on AA or switch over to Delta because I can transfer miles directly?

Wth 22K AA miles & 7K UA miles I would not consider starting a 3rd ffp.

Which airmile program for us..?
 

Hey guys!

So I am new to air miles and everytime I think I understand it, something else confuses me. SO hopefully I can keep this post relatively straight forward.

We're a young English couple but travel around/through america a fair bit. We were in the Caribbean when we learnt about airmiles so naturally we signed up as AAdvantage members and started collecting our miles.

We can't take full advantage of this, because there are plenty of miles to collect by shopping on certain american websites, or using american companies which we can't do being from England. So we can only collect miles via flights.

This is what led me to investigating and I found out about Oneworld and a few others. This i guess leads me to my first official questions...

1. With AA, when we book flights, I put in my AA number for the miles to get associated to me. How do I get my oneworld miles.. what site do I have to book flights from. I presume I couldnt book them from aa.com

2. Are we better off using another program like oneworld since we are English. Does oneworld have more integration with the British system.

I just would like to pledge my allegiance to one program soon being the start of the year and all so we can work towards elite status next year. Sooner rather than later as well as we are flying from California to London in a week or two.

Thanks

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

Welcome to FT!

There is no such thing as "oneworld miles"; oneworld is an alliance of several different airlines, including AA, BA, QANTAS, and others. Each oneworld airline has its own frequent-flyer program. When you fly AA, you can credit your miles to AAdvantage, or -- depending on the type of fare you paid -- to the FFP of a different oneworld airline. Similarly, you can redeem AAdvantage miles for travel on AAdvantage's oneworld (and non-oneworld) partners.

Each FFP has its own redemption rates, fees, and rules. So, for example, a one-way flight in Business Class from JFK to BDA on an AA nonstop will cost more AA miles than BA Avios. Conversely, an award from JFK to SFO on AA, connecting to SFO-HKG on Cathay will cost far more BA Avios than AAdvantage miles.

For intra-European travel, BA Avios will generally provide better value than AA miles. For long-haul travel, AA miles will usually provide better value than BA Avios -- especially if flying on a carrier other than BA.

Is there not a UK-issued credit card that earns AA miles?

Re: earning status. Check the requirements for status on both AA and BA. If you primarily fly Economy Class, it will probably be easier to earn status on AA, but you must also fly at least four AA flights per calendar year to earn any status on AA.

Good luck!

Oneworld is an airline alliance they don't have a Oneworld frequent flyer program. The airlines that make up OneWorld each have their own separate program. American is a OneWorld member. There are some benefits you can get when flying on oneworld carriers like miles that you can earn by flying other partners. If you get elite status there are some benefits when flying other oneworld carriers

Thanks for the clear up!

OK I understand, so I guess my question should be, which airlines Program should I join.

But of course, I understand this is going to be a case by case scenario, depending on the persons activities. We are British... but we do long haul flights a lot and especially in and around america we travel a fair bit, so AA really works for us while there.

If British Airways was as efficient in Europe, as AA is in America... then I think I'd join BA. But it is not - so I reckon I probably am with the right program already... AAdvantage.

It's only Feb and we have knocked up 3 out of the four required AA flights already so we will certainly qualify this year as long as we make up the miles.

I don't think there is anything in England that rewards you with AA miles. I might be wrong though.

If only BA would allie up with all the other companies like Easyjet for example (like Delta is to AA), then they would be much more tempting to join.

Thanks again for your help - unless anyone else has anything to pitch in, perhaps a British person in a similar scenario to me, then Im happy with what Ive learnt :-)

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

There's no reason why you can't open a BA Avios and/or avios.com account also, and earn Avios from a U.K. payment card, Tesco shopping, etc., if you ever expect to need award travel from the U.K. to elsewhere in Europe. Avios can also be useful for short- and medium-haul nonstops on AA and AS within the U.S. (including between the West Coast and Hawaii). Many of us have accounts in several different FFPs.

But it does sound like it makes sense for you to pursue status with AAdvantage.

theviewer1985 Welcome to FT

USA based airline ffp's tend to be more generous (status benefits/earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry) compared to non USA based airline ffp’s (even after the recently announced changes to some USA ffp’s). But does not always mean USA based ffp's is best for you. But as you in AA may as well stay. You can earn AA miles on eligible BA flights

The airline you fly most or an airline of the country you live is the best ffp for many people.
The airline you fly and the airline ffp you credit those flights to does not need to be the same.
Freq flyer miles are not equal to earn or burn.

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

Agreed, there are lots of ways to earn stacks of Avios in the UK.

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

And for an AAdvantage-earning payment card for U.K. residents, check to see if MBNA is still offering these products:

https://www.mbna.co.uk/compare-credi...ds/aadvantage/

Don't forget that AA miles can also be earned with certain hotel stays and car rentals. At aa.com, you can see a list of all miles-earning opportunities by clicking on the AAdvantage tab. ;)