Comparisons for programs
 

i have been travelling increasingly and feel like i need to start picking a program(s) to maximize my points / miles. is there a comparison of different programs and awards? thank you for any information.

Hi ekarof,

Welcome to FT!

If you search the forums, you will find a number of threads on this topic. However, the variables depend on a number of factors:

- Where are you based?

- Does your company have any preferred suppliers which you have to limit yourself to?

- Do you fly mainly in Y, C or F?

If you give us some of those specifics, we may be able to steer you in the best direction.

For me, my memberships mainly stem from corporate policies over time (a job change typically leading to a new alliance).

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

Thank you for the response.

Based in Boston, MA
No corporate policies on specific airlines
I'm a coach flyer

Thank you again.

Another big topic is the places to which you travel. Going to Europe is different from going to San Francisco, which is different from Casper Wyoming. Boston is served by plenty of airlines, but you'll want to focus on one that has good connections to where you ordinarily travel.

Travel comfort matters a great deal, also. There are differences in award charts between airlines, but I don't think they're as big as the hours in the air. I wouldn't want to make weekly connections on small regional jets just to get 20% cheaper redemptions.

Availability also matters for hotels. For instance, the Starwood program is well liked, but it doesn't have much coverage in smaller cities and towns. I also think Starwood and Hyatt are a little pricier overall. Hilton and Marriott have greater US availability, but some places with lower quality.

I don't travel much now, just for conferences and holidays, so I look at memberships from a budget perspective. Up until this year, I only had travel within the States, so I went through Southwest. Rapid Rewards can be very efficient, but only if you want to go where Southwest goes. Now, I have international conferences to go to and Southwest isn't as helpful.

Other people here know a lot more about the programs, so providing the "travel-to" locations would help as well.

I would also ask what your objective is from a program. Are you primarily interested in "free" award flights, in upgrades to purchased economy tickets, in lounge access and the other privileges of status, or in something else (what)?

For example, as another Boston-based traveler, my bmi membership is great on the first and third of these but totally sucks on the second. For my needs that's fine. For other folks' it might not be.

thanks all for the insights.
i'm primarily interested in earning free trips for family use...
my travel is mostly within the us, occasionally to canada and mex.
thanks again for any insight.

What is your home city? What about your common business destinations and desired award destinations?

Approximately how many paid miles will you fly in a given year? Less than 25k, 25k to 50k, or over 50k?

The legacy or "big alliance" carriers like United, American, Delta, etc. make travel quite difficult for people who don't fly at least 25,000 miles in a year. A non-legacy, more standalone carrier like Southwest tends to be better for <25k travelers.

In your case, it also might depend on how often you fly to Canada and how deep into Canada you go. A Southwest flier can get to Vancouver or Toronto easily enough (and maybe a handful of other near-border places I'm not thinking of), but to get to more far-flung Canadian towns you'd probably want to align with UA, US, or CO for maximum options since Air Canada is a partner.

If Mexico is a leisure destination for you, someone like Frontier could work. If it's a frequent business destination, then I know AA is strong and I think CO is too. I'm a United guy but always end up on AA when I go to Mexico.