Hi All,

I have some questions for the experts of FlyerTalk!
@Mods
If I am in the wrong category please let me know.

So, I am trying to understand which airlines I should focus on. Let me explain my situation.

I am French but I live in SFO. I am going back to France once/twice a year but most of my travel during the year are within the US (LAS, LAX, NYC, SEA, etc...).

I currently have 48,000 miles on Flying Blue and my status is Ivory...
In the US, I have registered to the loyalty program of Virgin America, United & Delta.

I don't own any credit card yet and I have 50,000 miles from my French American Express that I need to "convert" to one airline/hotel program.

Last but not least I don't have any program for the hotels. If there are good synergies please don't hesitate to let me know!

Thank for you help

Nashtbg Welcome to FT

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

Thank you Mwenenzi!

I'll post in the other thread

FB is a natural program to use for trips to France (AF/KLM and DL), but DL doesn't have nearly as many flights from SFO as UA offers. DL has a connection (crossover) with SPG while UA does the same with Marriott. Taking UA and *A partners to France would probably mean connecting in FRA or MUC.

It's hard to see an argument for using/crediting to Virgin America.

Is Flying Blue revenue based like UA or mileage based like AA?

UA has flights to CDG from both Newark and Dulles.

Those are two big reasons to avoid UA.

There's a lot of overlap between AF Flying Blue and DL SkyMiles. Those two airlines are in the same alliance, so you can credit flights on either airline to either program. Each also has a few non-alliance partners that it doesn't share with the other, but those are minor. You might as well join both for this reason, since joining is free, but plan to credit most of your AF/DL flights to the same program, whichever it is. That will also help you reach elite status faster, with many attendant benefits.

I don't know enough about FB to recommend one over the other, but you can look at earning potential at the fare classes you expect to fly in, mileage requirements for awards (keeping in mind that awards at the lowest level can be hard to find on DL, unless you book very early or accept flight times that nobody likes), requirements for elite status, and the fact that some benefits (such as free upgrades) are reserved for an airline's own elite members regardless of what status they have with alliance partners.

Thanks a lot for your help guys!

I am not 100% sure but it seems that it would be best to focus my efforts on UA or Delta. There is no clear winner. I was hoping the decision to be easy...

At the moment, DL operations and IROPs handling runs circles around UA. You might want to think about the airline you want to fly rather than just comparing FF programs.