hi

i'm pretty sure i will be using this forum a lot however i am not sure where to start. specifically at the moment i am going to do a lot of travelling from June 18 onward longhaul mainly. I have a few questions and a quick search didn't get me the answers one hundred percent.

how many frequent flyer programs are there?
what are the best ones for travelling long haul?
can i claim on flights i have already flew on recently?
Thanks

Paul

Welcome to the forum

Look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html
For most FFP's you need to be a member at the date of the flight to claim flight miles. But US Airways allows you to claim for flights taken 6 months before joining. You may need the physical boarding pass.

Thanks to a tip from FTer lin821 by way of the Alert Moderator button, this inquiry has been moved into its own thread in hopes that more people will see it.

Thanks!

~Moderator

There are dozens of different programs out there. Some have reciprocity with others, meaning you can use miles you earn on one to fly on another if they are partners or in the same alliance. Yes, you can claim miles for flights you have flown recently. Which one is best will depend on a few things.

Where are you based out of?
What are your most common destinations?
What type of fare do you travel under typically?

We can't answer that either until you tell us which exact flights those were (and preferably what fare code they were). It's all completely dependent on which airline you actually flew, which airline you bought the tickets through (in case that's different than the airline you actually flew), which airline's program you now want to credit, and in some cases it even matters what the fare code was (as to whether you could even earn anything, whether retroactively or not). There are no universal answers, as each program has very specific and different rules and what flights and what fare codes you can credit.

And the post above this one is correct in that you need to supply lots of other information too. FlyerTalk is a worldwide forum, and the right answers for some based in St George, Utah, United States who mainly flies to northern Norway is completely different from the the right answers for someone based in Hong Kong who mainly flies to Patagonia (Chile/Argentia southern region).

And welcome to FlyerTalk, gfguy.