Hi,

I would really appreciate help. I have been flying for forty years, and have very rarely gotten any benefits from it. I am finding it impossible to figure out the system of frequent flier programs, awards, etc. Please help!!!

My info:

I fly between New Delhi, India and Los Angeles, USA about four times a year round trip. Apart from this, I also fly domestically in the US at least once or twice a year, and sometimes between India and Europe or the US and Europe (once a year apart from the above trips).
These trips are for work but paid for through my own funds. I buy economy tickets, and usually the best deal at the time, although I sometimes have to stop in particular places on the way, so that dictates which airline I fly.
My main priorities are lounge access and getting upgraded to a higher and more comfortable travel class. I don't need extra baggage or things like that.

I have mileage cards from all the major airlines, but completely scattered miles and no clear idea of which I should continue with, how I should organize, etc. Should I stick with a global partner such as Miles and More, One World, or Sky Team (or Flying Blue)? Which of these? What is the best way to use them???

Thank you so much!!!

Generally speaking, the US-based FF programs are the best. United, AA, Alaska, even Delta. Other notables: Air Canada (Aeroplan), British Airways, ANA.

If you post your current FF mile balances, you'll get better advice.

Also, are you after status or just free flights?

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"I have mileage cards from all the major airlines, but completely scattered miles and no clear idea of which I should continue with, how I should organize, etc."

In order to maximize status, you need to credit as many of your flights as possible to the same frequent-flyer program. That means flying either on that program's airline or flying on one of that program's airline partners. Note, however, that some fares will only earn reduced mileage (or even none at all) in some programs. And some program's partners will only earn [I]redeemable[/b] miles, not status-earning miles, so that's another wrinkle to consider.

Which airline(s) do you tend to fly the most often?

My suggested course of action:

1 List all the flights you took last year, together with fare classes and mileages.
2 Consider which flights could equally well have been taken with a different airline for a similar or only slightly higher sum of money.
3 Look to see if one of Star Alliance, OneWorld or SkyTeam predominates in that list (plus replacements) and also which comes a strong second.
4 Then sit down with a piece of paper and figure out what you would have got in each program by focusing on an airline in that program. You will have to do this with each airline separately, using their website to guide you in each case. By this method you might determine that on one airline within Star, for example you might have qualified for lounge access and on another airline within OneWorld you might have earned a lot of miles.
5 Then consider what you want out of the miles and the status. How much is lounge access worth to you, how much are miles worth - there are plenty of bloggers who suggest c. per mile valuations, but they presume you redeem for Business Class tickets, which might not be what you want to do. Bear in mind that most airlines have a miniumum segment requirement on their own planes (usually four per year).

To give a shortcut, I'm guessing that you will end up with Air India or UA (as a non-resident you are exempt the minimum spend). SQ is an outsider within *A and should be researched. For economy tickets on OW, AA is far more likely than BA.

@dukerau : I don't want free flights in the same class; I much prefer bring upgraded to a higher class, and I would really like to have lounge access at the stopovers.

@guv1976 : In 2015, I flew, between the US and India, Asiana, Lufthansa, British once each and China Southern three times. In 2014, I flew KLM, British, Air India, and Cathay Pacific, one round-trip each.

-- I think I often split up my time almost equally between the three alliances (unintentionally).

@lhrsfo : what do you mean by "SQ is an outsider within *A and should be researched."?

-- All of these flights were chosen just because they were the cheapest that has the dates and times that most suited me.

How do I calculate how much mileage I should get and which would be the best combination to get the best mileage, how to get awards, etc? It just seems so complicated to me. I would rather choose one airline or set of three or four airlines, and just always choose those...

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Unless you are willing to perform the detailed, time-consuming analysis suggested by lhrsfo in paragraph 4 of his post, I would either concentrate on flying oneworld carriers and crediting the flights to AA, or concentrate on flying Star Alliance carriers and crediting the flights to UA.

Note that AA has some non-oneworld partners like Jet Airways and Etihad that can earn you redeemable miles but not status-earning miles (unless you book their flights under AA codeshare flight numbers, when available).

shakesarrow Welcome to FT

What ffps are you a member of?

If upgrades are your primary objectives, that limits your choices. And if you fly a range of airlines selected on price & schedule will not happen. You may be better to look for business class awards for some trips. Depending on the ffp upgrades can be good or poor value compared to straight out business class award

For upgrades the general rule is you can only upgrade a flight marketed (flight number) and operated (metal) by the airline of your frequent flyer programme (no codeshares) with your airlines upgrade instrument (e.g. SWU, miles) or complementary with status (if applicable). All subject to the t&c's of your FFP and your paid ticket. Low cost tickets are often not eligible for upgrades. However as is the way with FFP's there are some upgrade exceptions

For awards you go to your ffp web site. Depending on the ffp there will be a button for "award flight" on similar name. However , again depending on the ffp, some partner airline awards may not be on line: you need to phone.

Earning's depend on the fare booking class. That can be hard or impossible to find before a reservation is made.

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

http://www.wheretocredit.com/

For many people, it's best to focus on the FF program of the airline (not just alliance) you actually fly. This is especially true if you want upgrades. However, not all FF programs offer the possibility of upgrades and the terms under which they do so are very different, so you need to check the rules carefully.

It's good that you signed up for a bunch of FF programs when you started traveling. This makes it easy to be able always to have a FF program to which a given flight can be credited, but you shouldn't automatically just credit to the airline operating the flight. For instance, try to focus on one program to cover each alliance, but if you have a flight that will earn few or no miles in that program, try to find some partner that will give you more miles for the flight.