crimson12

The only constant is change, right?

Way back when I used to principally fly United, but I didn't know much about miles back then and an economy r/t to Europe was about the height of what I redeemed.

Then I started traveling more for work, settled on Delta, hit Platinum status. Then the devaluations started coming. I spent my UA balance to zero or close to it. I have a few hundred thousand DL miles but will use those on VA to SYD and that too will be near zero.

Now I fly AA/US almost exclusively and have a healthy balance of miles with them. Those miles get me much of the kind of travel I like to spend miles on (international, premium cabin) But of course diversification is always a good idea.

That's why I have small balances with a few other airlines -- AS (25k); LH (55k); AV (45k). I'm now trying to figure out what my next step(s) should be. Should I try to build up balances in the "other" programs? AS has some interesting options/partners, but nothing other than a domestic economy r/t for 25k. Similarly with the others -- sure I could fly UA BusinessElite one-way for 17k miles using LH, but other than a few niche redemptions, I need more miles.

So should I start building up these other balances? (Buying 2x1 miles with Avianca?) Should I "circle back" and build up UA/DL, or leave them for good? AA/US have been treating me pretty well but I feel like I have all my eggs in one basket right now.

We have no "wish list" travel right now -- the trips we want to take (Ireland, Australia) are either booked or will be with existing miles. So I would be building up miles speculatively for now.

For what it's worth my wife has similar balances so the total miles we have are 2x the above. For our longer vacations we travel with the kids (two of them) so we probably need 4 seats on a given flight. Hard, but not impossible.

Thanks in advance!

Mwenenzi

FFP's of USA based airlines are in general better than non USA airline ffp's.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

Gardyloo

Well a big question is, how do you accumulate miles as it is? Just by flying? Or do you use affiliated credit cards or some other method? And is status a factor? If you're traveling a lot on AA/US, one would assume you have some sort of elite status that needs to be maintained every year - IF the benefits of elite status - upgrades, baggage allowances, lounge access... matter to you.

If you DO have to maintain AA status by flying BIS miles, then the question becomes HOW you'd "diversify."

Where's your home airport? One benefit of AS, of course, is their range of earn/burn partners - from AA and several Oneworld members to DL and several Skyteam ones, but also Emirates et al. But if you don't actually fly on AS metal, then elite status, lounge access, etc. - is a moot point.

If I were in your shoes, and - really - not knowing your flying patterns or other details - I'd probably get a Starwood credit card and go with SPG points. You'll get a nice signup bonus, and can accrue points in the typical way - HOWEVER - you have up to 30-something airline FFPs into which you can transfer points at 1:1 (and sometimes better) for redemptions, including several Oneworld, Skyteam, and Star Alliance members as well as several independents like Virgin Atlantic, Alaska, Emirates etc. A big one is Singapore Krisflyer, hard tickets to get from other partners' mileage plans.

That would allow you to have your cake and eat it, in a sense. Accumulate enough points to where you have some award clout, then transfer the SPG points to an airline FFP, and off you go. Note the transfers aren't instantaneous, so SOME degree of premeditation is needed, but the flexibility is certainly there. Good for hotel stays, too, by the way.

Hope this helps.

crimson12

Thanks Gardyloo. I'm based in NYC so I have access to most airlines from here. I tend to fly AA/US BIS for work enough to qualify for Platinum on AA and maybe more if things line up just right. More flexible on leisure trips; recently we've flown LH, AZ, have EI and VA coming up. Other than that I tend to accumulate miles from credit card signups. The three "miscellaneous" miles I have right now (AS, LH, AV) were from credit cards. I don't do much in the way of MS, maybe a couple thousand a month, if that, depending on what I have access to and when. I have thought more about AS (particularly given partnerships with both AA and DL). Right now the main benefit I get of AA status other than the extra RDMs is getting the 'economy plus' seating for free when I have to fly in the back; I've got a bunch of AA upgrade stickers that I have not really tried to use (just a couple of times on transcons where I didn't clear). I like early boarding but can live without it; I like priority lines for security but have Pre-Check so that takes care of that. I can get lounge access from some credit card or another, and status doesn't get lounge access on domestic itineraries anyway.

Gardyloo

All of which leads me to think that the SPG card might be effective for you. As for AS, well, based in Seattle it's my second program of choice (after AA) but I wouldn't take any bets on how long the marriage (or, actually shacking up) between AS and DL is going to last. DL is making a major, major move on AS turf - up and down the west coast, Alaska from SEA, etc. - and reports are rife that the sheets are soon to be split.

AS' redemption rates are pretty good (CX J and F are screaming bargains) and the $100 annual companion ticket with the B of A credit card is nice if you don't mind flying coach (it was fabulous when they allowed F) but in NYC that means very few routes (EWR-SEA-XXX) where you can use it.

So maybe AS is a good second program, at least until any divorce with DL occurs, but I'd definitely be on the lookout for third party cards like the SPG one, where you can shift points into discreet airline FFPs.

crimson12

Thanks - I think you're right about AS and the SPG card. I do have some points with Chase and Amex which give me some flexibility with transfer partners (I've done Amex to Avios a few times to redeem on short hauls on AA, as well as on EI to Ireland). I had SPG a while back and I think my wife and I each have a small balance there (~30k) but can't hurt to build up.

Is the BofA AS card still churnable in the true sense? I got one card early this year but maybe I'll cycle through those for a while to build up the AS balances.

howtofreetravel

SPG card is nice but racks the points quite slowly better to get chase sapphire or citi premier or amex everyday ( if you use supermarkets a lot ) . You could signup for all of these cards at once no prob.