Which miles should I continue to accumulate? UA, AS, or another airline?
 

Hello FT,

I need help deciding whose miles to continue stockpiling.

About me:
Home base is SFO.
Late 20s, will not be under 5/24 for a long time. I can hit nearly any minimum spend. Exceptions would be 100k Amex Plat biz, etc. I generally find it a waste to not be working towards a minimum spend bonus.
Currently working on AS biz (1k spend), SPG biz (8k spend)
Am going to pick up the Schwab Plat after these are completed, then no new cards for the rest of the year.

Have:
2x Amex Plat (getting canceled in a few months)
CSR (will keep forever)
3x Chase freedom (5x maxed out every quarter)
Chase IHG
Others that are irrelevant

In order of frequency, I travel in J/F to SE Asia, Asia, and Europe.
At most, I get to travel once a year to these destinations.
I have already booked my international travel to Europe for this year's big trip, using 127.5k UA miles, transferred from UR.

I am nearing my third Marriott travel package, and I need help deciding which airline miles to credit it to. I will hold off in ordering the package for as long as I can. This might mean I won't order it until the end of 2017 or later.

Currently I'm looking at either UA or AS. It's hard for me to choose UA due to the 20k bonus offered at the end of last year..Currently I would only get 132k instead of 152k.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Your advice should take into account future possible devaluations.

Balances:
Marriott: 238k (after meeting SPG biz min spend)
Chase UR: 185k
Amex: almost 0
AS: 195k + $1.5k remaining GCs (after meeting AS biz min spend)
AA: 175k
UA: 12.5k
WN: 120k+ CP til end of 2018

What are your objectives from a fffp?
AS has a limited restricted award chart.
AA has many Oneworld ff partners and non alliance partners like EY

You have a big overlap with AS & AA as they are frequent flyer partners. AS & AA ff miles from flying or frequent spending?
There is a difference between frequent flying and frequent spending (to get ff miles from credit cards).
Frequent spending (for ff miles) is not the same as frequent flying (and earning ff miles).

Frequent flyer miles are not equal to earn or burn between ffp’s. 10,000 frequent flyer miles in 1 ffp may get you a longer award flight than 15,000 frequent flyer miles in another ffp. And then can be surcharges.

The airline you fly most or an airline of the country you live is the best ffp for many people. Generally you are better earning on your primary airline due to greater recognition, better service when disruptions, ability to upgrade flights and possible operational upgrades.

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

The grass in not always greener on the other side

All my miles are from spending. I have 0 butt-in-seat miles.

Withe the amount your travel (BIS), it seems the answer is wherever you want to use the miles.

*A has the best coverage but AS has Emirates and AA has Etihad (that is if you like 1st class) plus less miles for award seats than *A in many areas.Most FTers have lots of BIS miles so most threads not applicable.

Your thought and then your decision will follow.

I would never fly Emirates or Etihad, due to the large amount of miles required.
I'd only fly *A, CX, JL J/F. Possibly others that I'm not a expert in such as KE, KLM, etc.

So I think either AS or UA is my best option. Will hold out as long as possible before deciding.

The AA miles to fly an award on EY Etihad are no different to any other AA partner. Note AA has saver and anytime awards
The AS miles to fly an award on EK Emirates rose ~65%-75% overnight some time ago.
If premium awards are your objective you need to have a good look at the UA, AS & AA awards charts and the rules that go with them

Awards assistance tools
Use at your own risk. These may not be up to date. (These are not recommendations)
These links give a guide of ff miles needed. Availability is from the airline ffp web sites/phone.
Award flights are never guaranteed. You need to be flexible with date and route.
Frequent flyer miles/points are not equal to or burn. They are not 1 to 1
If a multi segment award check the rules/cost carefully. With some ffp’s it can be 2 or more awards or cost more ff miles/points than a direct flight.
If the award is on partner airline it may cost more miles/points than an award on the ffp airline.
Some awards/airlines/routes can have cash surcharges, in addition to real taxes.
Real taxes/regulatory fees are the same for all airlines on the same route/class. Some carrier imposed surcharges can trigger additional real taxes
-AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds --> http://www.awardace.com/ Has surcharge indication
-Economical Excursionist's Tools to compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions --> http://www.flyermiler.com/
-http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ast-miles.html --> http://www.awardhacker.com/

Thanks for the links.

Yeah I was referring to using AS miles on Emirates. The miles required is not worth it in my opinion.

I don't have any experience with using AA miles on Etihad.

I will most likely wait for another Marriott transfer bonus. UA bonus again would be nice. I would probably choose UA in that case.