TimMuc

Hi all!

I am new around here so please bare with me while I get to grips with FT and let me know if I make any mistakes

In a couple of weeks I will be moving to LIM and after thinking about it and doing some research I opted to fly LATAM this year, since their route network and partner offering is suited towards my travel patterns better than other airlines. A majority of my 2020 business trips are already scheduled and based on my calculations I should be able to reach Black by August/September. Most of my trips are to Western Europe, followed by MIA and MEX as well as a couple of flights within South America, all of which are in J.

After accounting all of my trips this year, I would obtain ~130,000 QPs on LA operated (or marketed on OW) flights, so even considering possible last minute trips, the idea of obtaining Black Signature seems to be unlikely. Additionally, the difference in benefits between both status levels seems to be very marginal, am I missing something (whether it's explicitly stated on the benefit list or not)?

Given all of the above these are the three different strategies I have considered so far, once having reached Black:

1- Credit the remaining flights to AS. They offer fairly generous base earning rates on I and D (my most frequent travel buckets) and after doing some reading they seem to have some pretty unique partners and decent redemption rates. However, one issue I still have is understanding which flights are LA and which are LP (LATAM Peru). For instance, I have a LIM-MAD-MUC itinerary, with the TATL leg having a LA flight number (hence marketed by LA?), but appears as 'operated by LATAM Airlines Peru'. When I try to insert the FF#, AS doesn't appear as an option (but for instance, the long-defunct Air Berlin does so...), could I credit the LIM-MAD flight to AS?

2-Try to obtain an extra low/mid tier status with another airline (e.g. AV). Although it might be a bit more inefficient and time consuming, two status are better than one Plus LM miles frequently have sales going on and their redemption opportunities seem to be very adequate.

3- Credit the remaining flights to LA and try to reach Signature. Unlikely to achieve the latter, but maybe I shouldn't be over diversifying?


Other suggestions or feedback as for how I could improve my travel strategy this year would be much appreciated

Safe travels to you all this 2020!

Carolinas

It looks you'll be traveling mostly internationally. Therefore just keep in mind that LATAM is leaving Oneworld later this year:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/lata...-leave-ow.html

I would be very cautious crediting most of your trips to LATAM since we still don't know what will happen to benefits of the elites. There are also no signs (at least at this point) of LATAM joining any other alliance anytime soon.

behuman

Being able to earn Miles & Less miles (Lufthansa group) including executive bonus and status miles MIGHT be a sign.......

sdsearch

It's Delta (a major member of SkyTeam) that bought the big stake in LATAM. It's because of the Delta purchase that LATAM is leaving oneworld. Why do you think they would join another alliance that has a big Delta competitor (United) as a major member?

I would think that given this Delta purchase being the cause of all this, there are only two alliance options for LATAM: SkyTeam, or no alliance.

But what makes that complicated is that LATAM's SA competitor Aerolineas Argentinas is already a member of SkyTeam.