Firstly, you can only credit a flight to one program, so to BA or IB for example.

I would suggest you focus on which airlines(s) you will travel on first, THEN choose where best to credit those flights. No point picking IB+ as your program if LH is going to be much cheaper.

If you have status already it may be worth continuing to credit there, especially if the move is temporary.

Thanks!

I kind of assume it is better to get status on BA than IB. Is that the general wisdom? Although maybe it is faster to get IB status.

Without knowing the airlines(s), class and frequency you'll travel it is hard to say. You may earn status much quicker crediting long haul IB discount economy flights to AAdvantage for example, rather than to BAEC or IB+. If you only fly LH there is no point deciding on whether IB+ is better for example.

Work out the airline(s) you'll use, which class and how often, then the program to credit the flights to.

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: Upgrades, award redemption

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: One or two long international (leisure) and 3-4 domestic (primarily NYC to Phoenix and Charleston)

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: Premium 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 can choose

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

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

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: No FFP, Chase Rewards Member

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: None

AA flies direct from PHL to LIS. You can credit those flights to BA or IB if you want. Non-stop would always be my first choice if possible.

You don't say if you are flying economy, business, etc., so hard to know which program would be best without that information.

I will be flying Economy.

I don't have status on any airline currently and don't have many miles anywhere. I have ~50K on AA.

My thinking was that I would try to fly mainly IB/BA/AA economy.

Given that I will be flying economy, which would it be easiest to get status on given that my main route will either be PHL-LIS or PHL-MAD-OPO most likely?

If I book flights on Iberia but put in my AA# will I get credit for those flights as AA EQS? Seems like EQS qualification for AA elite is probably my best bet if I can count cheap flights on IB around Iberia as AA segments.

Thanks again

freedavebrown Welcome to FT

How long will you living in Portugal for? A few years at most or for ever?
What are your objectives with a ffp?
Flying economy is hard to get benefits on all ffp's
I would stick with AA if only in Portugal for a few years.
Just buying each trip based on price-schedule and treating ff miles, if any, as bonus that may or may not be used works for many now.

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

Yeah I will be in Portugal for a few years. I realize that I won't be able to earn tons of miles flying economy but figured I might as well pick a partnership and stick with it and might as well try to make the most of it.

Thanks.

Stick with AA. 50,000 AA miles are valuable
Be careful with expiry if you do not stick with AA http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-t-expire.html

Hi FT!

Appreciate everyone's feedback and advice in advance.^

LA based FFP newbie here. I have consistently traveled about 10-20,000 mi/year for the past few years for business, but predominantly limited to short hop SFO/OAK/LAS/DEN flights on the West Coast (Southwest). I am now ramping up significant business travel in a new role that will take me across the West/MidWest and need some help finding which airline to align with in order to keep myself sane (and able to do productive work) on these longer flights.

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: Upgrades to preferred seating during work/personal travel

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: 25,000-35,000 miles/year, 35+ roundtrip 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: Yes, I’m able to choose. Most of my travel is for work, outside of 3-6 predominantly domestic short weekend/getaway vacations a year (one international flight a year usually included)

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: Domestic USA for business. Personal/leisure travel will take me anywhere from Asia/Pac (highest priority), to Europe or South America depending on the year.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: LAX/BUR

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: Southwest A List, about to status match/challenge AA Advantage Platinum through corporate challenge. No miles banked

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: Nothing really preferred – am looking for guidance. I mainly travel West Coast + MidWest for business. BUR is my preferred short flight airport (closer to home) but sometimes I’m forced to use LAX.


Other considerations/questions in securing quick status for the airline of my choice once I come to a decision:
- Am I able to leverage my AA Plat status against other airlines and have them match in kind?
- I have a close family member who I believe is Singapore Airlines Solitaire level at the very least (has been a multimillion mile business flyer of theirs for decades) – is he able to gift me status to kick start things?

Thanks,

J

Hi everyone, and thanks for the help. I wanted to add some extra info about my situation.

I will be starting a new job as a consultant for a large consulting company on Monday, which will have travel domestically in the USA. I never did anything like this, so I'm looking to start off on the right foot and taking advantage from the beginning. I'm not sure of the total amount just yet, but I'm estimating 2 round trips per month. I applied for and received a corporate American Express card where everything must be expensed and I keep the points. This card must be used for all expenses. The platinum is available for $395 at my own expense, is it worth it?

Aside from just picking an Airline and Hotel plan, I wanted to know the best way to book to maximize points, like does having an airline and hotel partner help, doing it online vs any other method, etc. (a link to a general guide on booking is probably what I need).

Also, would getting 100k points from Chase Sapphire Reserve make a big difference in terms of status and perks if I transferred them?

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 (something like AA/United where if a higher class is available they upgrade for free?), awards second

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.

20-25 trips per year, 40-50 flights

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

Probably economy but a budget is given for airfare per engagement, which I have not seen yet, but I would get a better seat if the budget allows for it.

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

I travel for business but would use the rewards for vacation. I can choose what airlines, class of service is yet to be determined.

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

Domestic USA

6. What is your home airport?

JFK

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

Currently 6,000 with Jetblue

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

Anything with possible upgrades as I'm tall.


Thanks again for the help, I truly appreciate it!!

Newbie seeking advice on frequent flyer program
 

Hi there,

I am new here and looking for some advice from the wealth of knowledge out here in this forum.

I just moved from Paris to San Francisco and want advice on which FF Program to use.

I currently a Platinum member on Flying Blue, I travel about 25 flights a year in business class predominantly to SHA and HKG. I will be travelling back from SFO to CDG 1 or 2 a year for leisure.

I am tempted to switch to Delta but am afraid they dont have direct flights from SFO to Asia and I find Flying Blue very hard to get upgrades on. Therefore I ma looking for advice on UA and AA FF programs as I might be tempted to switch. However, I've flow US carriers before and was pretty disapointed by the quality of the service.

Any feedback on their FF programs would be very welcome!

Cheers!

​​​​​​
Welcome to FT!

So you will be traveling in paid Business Class to Asia, but will be traveling on your own dime to Paris?

Your business travel to Asia might yield enough award miles to enable you to travel in Business Class to Europe on an award ticket.

If you want to fly nonstop to both HKG and PVG on the same airline, you're probably looking at UA. But whether you should credit your miles to UA or to one of UA's Star Alliance partners is a separate question.

If you'd rather fly CX to Asia, you could credit to CX or AA or any other oneworld carrier.

Will there be much -- or any -- domestic (U.S.) travel in your future? If so to which cities?

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I will indeed be travelling for Work in Asia and by my own means to France.

There will be minimal travelling inside the US.

For trans-Atlantic award availability from SFO, Star Alliance will likely be better than oneworld or Sky Team. I would probably fly to Asia on Star Alliance carriers, and credit the miles to UA, or possibly to Aeroplan. Check their respective redemption charts, but also be aware that Aeroplan imposes high cash surcharges on some partners, and no surcharges on others. UA does not assess surcharges on any award flights. But for premium-cabin award travel on partner carriers, UA charges more miles than for premium-cabin award travel on UA metal.