duniawala

Quick question:

Which is better in the long run. Delta FF or Flying Club. Starting my first flight on Virgin this Monday and I have a choice of one or the other. Since I have zero miles in either of them I would be starting fresh. Experienced ones, in your opinion which is better. Most of my future flights will be international, not domestic US. Some of them will be also between India and HKG and BKK. No plans yet to any European destination. Thanks for your in put.

dukerau

Delta. Here's an article detailing some good uses of VS miles that readily admits that VS miles have the worst value. Delta miles are also derided, but they're still good for use on partners when you can make them work.

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....-ways-can-use/

duniawala

Thanks. Nice article. However, with Delta miles pegged to the ticket price, mileage accumulation will take a whole lot more time and money. As a newcomer I only get 5 miles to $1. That takes away all the advantage of fuel surcharge plus some more.

I got DEL_JFK AND LAX-DEL for $1910 on premium economy and get actual miles (21558). Compare this with Delta and I will get only 9550 miles. So apart from the redemption, is this not a better value?

sdsearch

It's more complicated than that. Delta miles are pegged to the ticket price on only on tickets issued by Delta. There's based on actual miles flown (though you need to look up the percentage) when flying with partners when the flight is actually booked with the partner.

So it depends how much you'll be flying Delta vs its partners, and how you'll be booking. And if you fly a lot of short hops on Delta but longhaul on its partners, the short hops may work out better based on cost (even at a low tier) while the long flights on partners may work out better based on miles.

So if you booked the Virgin Atlantic flights through Virgin Atlantic, and you choose to earn Delta miles on that, you'll earn based on miles, not based on cost. But again, you'll have to look up the details (like whether it's 100% of miles flown or something else).

JDiver

Related issues include the number of partner airlines one can earn and spend on. Look at SkyTeam vs. Virgin Atlantic and its partners, where each grouping flys to in relation to your probable flying, status achievement and perquisites by each airline and their partners, accumulation via credit cards, shopping portals, etc.

Mwenenzi

What is your definition of "better"?
What do you want from a ffp?
With award flights earn to burn is what matters
Freq flyers miles are not equal (earn and/or burn)
Look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html