LDNConsultant

After 11 years abroad in London, I've decided to finally move back to US and will be based in NYC as of late January. As per my name I'm a Management Consultant and with domestic flights, I will be traveling to Korea once every 2 years or so.

I've been loyal BA but will probably have to start racking up points on an US based programme - any tips and pointers will be appreciated.


(1) What is most important to you in a FFP
- Upgrade on travel and priority services (e.g. boarding and luggage)

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
- Not sure but will probably average 75,000 - 100,000 miles a year

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
- For work usually will by economy and for personal will be a combination of economy/business

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
- Airline I am able to choose at my own will and for class usually economy for work and personal economy/business

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
- US Domestic (NYC - Bay Area preferably San Jose) and Korea (every 1-2 years)

(6) What is your home airport?
- NYC (JFK LGA and EWR)

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
- I'm BA Silver (250,000 avios) and KE Morning Calm (50,000 miles)

(8) Preferred Airlines
- N/A

SFORob

Hi All, I have a new job that will require travel about once every three weeks - not huge, but still making me think about whether or not I should try to focus on one airline. Thanks in advance for any advice (& I'm still learning the abbreviations!)

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
upgrades on travel, award trips, good award redemption rates, the best value

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
18 - 20 RTs/year

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Economy

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I am free to choose airlines but need to fly economy (or pay for difference myself) Mostly travel for work with about 3 leisure trips/year. This past year I have mostly flown AA, SW, & DL.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
US Domestic: SLC, DEN, RDU, DCA, IAD, BWI, MCO

(6) What is your home airport?
SFO or OAK

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
No status....yet

(8) Preferred Airlines
Virgin, SW, AA, DL

Mwenenzi

The chance of upgrade are low. Helps if you have high status, which you are unlikely to get with revenue based ffp's
Are you a member of any ffp now? (AA or DL or VX?)
Virgin America is being taken over by Alaska AS
AA & DL are (currently) both freq flyer partners of Alaska AS.
However for years on FT there have been posts about DL & AS going there separate ways (no longer ff partners)
Alaska AS has a good ffp, that suits many

SFORob

Thanks for the thoughts! I am currently a member of AA, DL, VX, & SW, spread out all over the place. Focusing on the new AS/VX partnership could make sense since they fly nonstop to all my business destinations except RDU. If upgrades are unlikely at a lower level of status, then perhaps I could also focus on SW which also flies nonstop to all destinations except RDU. Appreciate the response!

Mwenenzi

Ugh!!!
You may end with a AS freq flyer account via VX.
Having multiple ffp’s with low balances is never a good idea. You may never get enough ff miles/points to be of use before they expire. FFP’s are for the medium to long term. However at times it makes sense to have a ff membership with an airline in another alliance. (e.g. Oneworld & Star)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-t-expire.html

The airline you fly and the airline freq flyer program you credit those flights to does not need to be the same. That is what ff partners and alliances are about. You can earn ff miles in your ffp flying on other partner airlines.

Cross airline upgrades are not common, but DL & AS have some arrangement (Look in the AS forum)

SFORob

Thank again Mwenenzi! I forget that you can credit flights with partner airlines. Appreciate the insights. I think I'll just pick a strategy, mostly likely VX/AS and see how it goes.

serpens

Questionnaire

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: baggage allowance; lounge access; 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 25000 miles. I expect to have a maximum of six round trips to Europe in the next five years, with little travel in North America.

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

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 airline and class of service. My travel is 100% personal.

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

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: FAR Fargo; I could also use MSP Minneapolis-Saint Paul. (Fargo has service by American, Delta, and United, or their affiliates. And Allegiant, for what that's worth.)

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; I expect all banked miles will have expired. (I last flew in 2008, and I expect I would have fewer than 25,000 miles if they never expired.)

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: a slight preference for American for no good reason.

As an infrequent traveler, and since I expect to travel in business class, would joining a frequent flyer program really add something? Also, I expect to be able to obtain any appropriate credit card to help with perks.

I am posting this now because I expect to fly AA from YYZ to ORD next month, and I suppose I might as well sign up for someone's FFP before I fly.

Thanks for any help.

Mwenenzi

Well if you are going to fly AA sign up for AA or AS. (Its a crime on FT not to collect ff miles )
Living in USA better to sign up for USA based ffp. BA would be an long option.

The airline you fly most or an airline of the country you live is the best ffp for many people. Generally you are better earning on your primary airline due to greater recognition, better service when disruptions, ability to upgrade flights and possible operational upgrades. Earning miles from non flying activities is easier with an airline of your home country.

Ignoring for a moment class of service, your objectives come with status, and you may not get that.
In 2017 AA will no longer have the 4 segment rule for status. BA does have a 2/4 segment rule for status. AS :- no idea if they have a own segment rule for status.

AS is a good catchall ffp for infrequent flyers to collect miles. AS has AA, DL, BA, EK, KLM/AF and others as frequent flyer partners. https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...rline-partners And unlike the AA, UA & DL ffps Alaska is not (currently) a revenue based ffp. However you may not get useful benefits like lounge access, extra baggage on many non AS flights. The AS award chart is limited, but has many partners.

The airline you fly and the airline frequent flyer program you credit those flights to does not need to be the same. [So no need to fly AS or AA to get ff miles]

If you are flying international business class and or USA (Canada) domestic first class you will get most of the benefits due to class of service/ticket. Note AA status does not get USA domestic lounge access (the equivalent BA status will get you access: no idea about AS status/lounge).

But you will earn miles that could be used for premium cabin awards (if available) or upgrades (subject the ffp t&c's).

serpens

Thanks for response, Mwenenzi. My next questions will imply the depth of my ignorance.

What is the 4 segment rule? What is a 2/4 segment rule?

As I understand your comments (and I might be misinterpreting some of them), it sounds like Alaska would be the best because of the multiple partners, especially since I probably will not fly enough to achieve status on American. (There is no assurance that future flights will be on American, anyway.)

You say that BA is "a long option." Why is that? It might be tempting because BAEC is a partner with Chase UR.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that I have CSR and therefore PP, but the questionnaire did not ask. With that in mind, is there any credit card that would confer additional perks that would be worth the annual fee?

In summary, it sounds like the advantage of AS is multiple partners, the advantage of AA is possibly better treatment during disruptions, and the advantage of BA is UR exchange potential. What did I miss?

Thanks for your help—and the warning about breaking the FT law by not collecting points.

Mwenenzi

Is to meet status qualification requirements. You may meet the requirement of status by flying other airlines, but you will not get status unless you fly 2 or 4 own segments on the airline of your ffp. For example a person could have flown BA and met (most) of the qualifications for AA status, but until the person flew 4 AA flights would not get status. [AA will not have this rule from 2017].
Link http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-1-1-17-a.html

The airline you fly most or an airline of the country you live is the best ffp for many people.
BA is UK based and you are USA based. BA is good for short haul awards. But the BA avios(miles) for long haul tends to be high and can have large surcharges.

With the change of most USA based ffp's to revenue based for flights on their own airline, flying the airline with best fares and best schedule that matches your requirements now has merit. And then treating any ff miles as a bonus, which may or may not, be able to be used. Being loyal, just for ff miles, is not as good as it was a decade ago.

Does depend on how you will use the ff miles.

LDNConsultant

I wouldn't sign-up for BA if you are looking for upgrades. BA is very stingy with upgrades (only given for operational reasons).

smiller57

Hello,
I am a Southwest Rapid Rewards member with A–List Preferred Status. I love Southwest. However, my family and I recently relocated to Savannah, GA. Southwest does not fly into Savannah. They fly into Jacksonville which is 123 miles from my home or Charleston which is 112 miles from my home. The Savannah airport is 12 miles from my home. I am considering a move to either Delta or American to save on my commute. Does anyone have any thoughts on which airline (Delta or American) might be the better choice? I am loyal to Hilton and National and I cover North America with my sales job. Any thoughts?

MSPeconomist

DL has minimal ties to Hilton (compared to Starwood) and none to National, just Hertz.

However, AA/US merger seems to have gone badly and AA is still having severe operational problems.

My instinct in to suggest DL, but it would help to know more about your travel patterns.

smiller57

Thanks for the reply. I can't say as if I have any travel patterns. I make sales calls all over the US and Canada. Hearing your comment about the operational problems at AA makes me tend to agree that DL may be the way to go. A short flight from SAV to ATL and I can get basically anywhere. I am just really sad to be leaving SW. I really like most everything about them; except my new 123 commute to the airport of course.

FirstInFlight

I also suggest Delta for the simple reason that ATL is so close and it is the DL mother ship. If you choose AA then you would likely connect in CLT which, although a significant hub, is not the AA mother ship.

I'm in a similar situation and find that I have one short 30 minute flight to ATL and then a connecting flight to my destination (usually). If you are traveling to the southwest, unless you only frequent the larger cities, you might find that on AA it would involve three segments and both the CLT and DFW hubs.