I suspect that the previous posters are correct in recommending Delta over American. Still, to be more sure, you might use a search engine such as Kayak or Google Flights to plug in some hypothetical dates and likely destinations you'll fly from Savannah in order to get a sense of cost and number/convenience of connections on DL, AA and possibly other airlines.

Your search for which airline to concentrate on will likely end with that comparison. Still, for what it's worth, American's frequent flyer program and the partner airlines on which you can use accumulated American miles for award tickets are significantly better than those of Delta (though all airline FF programs are going downhill, it's just that Delta's remains significantly worse than others). On the other hand, Delta is better in terms of day-to-day service, operational performance (such as avoiding or dealing with delays and cancellations), etc.

You'll find "AA vs DL" threads in each of those forum, but, as noted above, it really does come down to your personal travel patterns and what you value in an airline/ff program (note reference to "sky pesos" in DL). Also, some speculation (and really just that, speculation, with, AFAIK, limited or no fact) that CLT may be downsized at some point by AA when they start to optimize their routing/hub structure.

Flying Experience
 

It is hard to believe that I have not flown since 1996. This is because of my terrible experiences that I have had as a child and a teenager. I can remember one experience where we took off and we were ascending into the air and all of the sudden we felt that we were being pulled down. It was really scary. It was just a lot of turbulence. That memory is something that I will never forget.

Delta's operational reliability is currently much better than AA's.

Delta offers 10 nonstops to ATL, 3 to LGA, 2 to JFK, and 1 to DTW.

AA offers 9 to CLT and 2 to DFW, plus weekend flights to DCA, and seasonal flights to PHL.


If you have regular towns where you make sales calls, you may also want to compare the amount of service by AA and DL into those towns, especially if any are smaller markets with limited service. You wouldn't want to commit to one airline and then discover you can't get to your biggest customer's headquarters on that airline.

So I'm getting into the traveling game next year as my situation will better allow for the flexibility, but I realize I'm a little too late since getting status UA or AA is pretty much requires EQD. Given the chance of upgrades are getting lower, it's either go all the way to the top tier status ($12k EQD) or don't bother about status at all and just aim for cheap flights to accumulate miles wherever I can.

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.
Good award redemption rates and availability. I want to have flexibility to use my miles to get business class award tickets for international flights without "wasting" miles.

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.
Less than 25000 miles so far. 1-2 domestic per year, 1-2 international. Expect to take at least one trip to Asia or Europe per year, depends entirely on where I can land a good deal with premium seats, if possible.

3. What fare class do you usually buy? First, business, premium economy, economy
Depends on the situation. I aim for J class with award tickets, but buy Economy when paying cash. If a really good deal for J comes along, might be willing to pay extra on a long haul flight.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
All travel is personally booked for leisure purpose.

5. Which routes do you fly most often? Transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
Will expect to fly SEA-ORD once or twice a year. No regular international routes.

6. What is your home airport?
Currently ORD, but will be SEA beginning next summer. Seems like the best way to get cheap international flights from SEA is to do a hop over to LAX/PDX/SFO/SJC and then go out from there.

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 a parent who is UA Plat Premier via business travel with roughly 400k miles. I've been mooching about 60K miles/year in award tickets for the last couple of years.
I have 160k with AA (50k actually flown, rest is credit card bonuses) and 130k Chase points (transferrable to UA if needed).

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Being at ORD for a long time, I'm partial to United. Good experiences overall with them and they have great Saver award rates/availability. But UA will no longer be the cheapest option at SEA and their coverage to Asia is lacking compared to AA/OneWorld. I'm open to trying AS, but they their miles don't offer the same reach as UA or AA through their respective alliances.

Help with miles goals for 2017
 

Hello everybody!
I am an absolute newbie when it comes to FFP, so forgive me if I am asking obvious questions.
In 2017 I will do some intercontinental flights due to work, so I’m thinking about strategies on how to maximize the rewards.

My situation:
• Silver status on Lufthansa Miles & More (expires Feb 2017)

In 2017:
• At least 3 return flights Europe-Singapore
• Some flights in South East Asia
• At least 1 return flight Europe-Dubai
• Possibly some flights in Middle East
• In Europe I fly from either Zurich or Milan

All flights should be in economy and are booked by my company, which selects the lowest fare from any major airline.

My objective is to achieve elite status with any alliance, to gain access to lounges and priority check-in. If the reward program is good, it is a good plus.
I am thinking to select one program from each alliance to maximize my probability of reaching elite status. So far, I have selected these programs:

Star Alliance: Asiana Club
Oneworld: British Airways Executive Club
Sky Team: Air France Flying Blue

Do you think that these programs are the most appropriate for my goal?
Would you recommend doing a status match with my silver status from LH with another carrier, to reap the tier bonus?

Thank you very much for your help!
Damiano

Welcome to FT, Damiano/bardd!

I don't have enough experience with various programs to comment in general, but I'd look at BA Executive Club carefully before choosing it in oneWorld. The problem is the combination of (a) economy class travel and (b) your goal of reaching elite status for its benefits. It takes forever to reach even Bronze with discount economy travel, and Bronze level (oneWorld Ruby) doesn't include lounge access. You need 300 tier points (separate from Avios, which are based on miles flown) for Bronze, 600 for Silver (oneWorld Sapphire) for lounge access and better benefits. A trans-Atlantic flight in economy earns 20 to 70 tier points, depending on the fare class. (If your company picks the lowest available fare, it's unlikely to earn more than 35; 70 is only for fare classes Y, B and H.) To Singapore, you'd most likely earn 20 or 40 tier points each way. BA can be a great way to earn status if you fly mostly in higher classes of service - one round trip to Singapore in business class will earn Bronze, a second will get you Silver - but with economy class travel, especially on discounted fares, it takes forever.

Alliance recommendation for frequent NYC, SFO and ICN travel.
 

I'm based in NYC and mainly traveled NYC-SFO rounds. I'm Platinum on Delta and almost exclusively fly them.

I will be traveling between NYC, SFO and ICN (Seoul) a lot. The long haul will often be between JFK and ICN, but sometimes SFO and ICN as well.

What airline and/or alliance would you all recommend for this? Delta and Korean Air would be perfect, but unfortunately you don't earn MQMs for Korean Air flights.

Do you think its worth going all in on Star Alliance (United and Star Alliance)? I'm not as familiar with their loyalty structure.

Advice would be greatly appreciated!

What are your objectives with a ffp?

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

bardd Welcome to FT

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

Many airline ffp's require you to fly 4 segments on own airline to qualify for status.
You also may end up flying a non alliance airline from the ME3 (Emirate or Eitihad)

Are you only interested in nonstop flights? If so, be aware that NYC-SFO on UA requires departing from EWR. UA no longer serves JFK; UA from LGA to SFO requires a stop -- and probably a connection.

If a one-stop between JFK and ICN is acceptable, you can probably get long-haul flights on DL, connecting to a short-haul on KE.

EWR-SFO frequency on UA beats AA & DL out of JFK

KE beats OZ out of JFK because of frequency & timing of flights (in my opinion) but losing the MQMs is a hard kick.

What are you goals with the FFP? If it's redepemption I'd switch to AS Mileageplan using AA & KE. If it's upgrades and lounge access going with a traditional alliance is smarter.

If I understand the OP, historically the travel has been NYC-SFP on DL and that has worked. The question is, now that there will be travel NYC-ICN and SFO-ICN does that travel warrant a switch.

KE, which would be a logical choice, is unacceptable because KE earns zero MQMs on DL.

The question posted above - how important is a nonstop and can you tolerate a connection is the right one. If a connection is acceptable, then DL is still a viable option. From NYC a connection in ATL or (more likely) DTW would get you to ICN. Another option would be MU or CZ (there are a few others) which would also offer a one connection journey from NYC with MQMs.

If a connection is unacceptable then I would guess that UA from SFO and EWR would be your best bet.

Family Program
 

Hi all

I am living in Bali, Indonesia, and my family flies often to here from Sydney or from Switzerland. I also fly domestic/around SEA around 1 time a month. We always fly the cheapest class. I am looking for a program which allows family accounts, gives good redeems at low classes, and fits to Indonesia. There also should be good promotions.

Right now I use Flying Blue because of Garuda Airlines and KLM, which both are very good for Indonesia. I also have a frequent flyer account at Air Asia. I can make a lot of flight segments via Garuda or any other Indonesia based airline, because of domestic flights.
My sister flies Jetstar or Garuda. My mother can fly anything, as Europe-Indonesia is a common route.

Can anyone help on the best Alliance, best program?

(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:good award redemption rater, free-discounted lounge acces, extra baggage
(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: below 25000, low class
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:cheapest
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:Garuda Airlines
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply:Australia to Indonesia, Europe to Indonesia, SEA
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply:Denpasar DPS
(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:
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply:Air Asia, Garuda, Jetstar, Qatar, Singapore Airlines

Moving from Boston to Shanghai - lots of travel planned - OVERWHELMED
 

My wife and I are moving from Boston to Shanghai, which is exciting and terrifying. We love to travel, but have never invested in a rewards program due to us just buying the cheapest flight on many different airlines. This move is going to allow us to travel a great deal more than we are used to, so we need to get serious about miles ( I think). 75% of our travel will be together and for leisure, paid for out of our pocket. 25% will be just me traveling for work, where I will have control to pick my airline. Thank you in advance for any advice!

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.
>>> I'm honestly not sure, being able to get free flights and/or upgrade my long haul flights when I go home sound important.

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'm new to this, so I'm not sure, I will be flying round trip from Shanghai to Boston at least twice a year, so that is at least 16,000 miles for both my wife and I. We will have a tremendous amount of time to travel while we are there, so at least 5 trips within Asia each year.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> I pay myself, so usually the cheapest. I could entertain business on long haul flights if it was reasonable.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Most of my travel is for pleasure, so I have total choice.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Round trip between Boston and Shanghai will be the most frequent, but all others would be from Boston to US/Canada, or Shanghai to Asian cities.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Shanghai/Boston

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> I have nothing - this world is new to me

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> The only direct flight between Boston and Shanghai right now is via Hanain, which would be great, but it does not look like they are a good pick for the travel in Asia (although I would love if I am wrong). If direct flights with Hanain are out of the picture then I'm not sure if a Delta/China Southern combo would best. I've read the Delta wants to expand their Shanghai presence and is considering direct flights to Boston. China Southern has a ton of flight from Shanghai to most of the other destinations I am considering.