New to Flyertalk. Please help.
 

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty new to this idea of maximizing miles earning potential but I must admit I find it very exciting. I have a general understanding of the principles and I have read numerous threads that involve new people. (I didn't want to repeat threads)

However, my situation is a little troublesome for this and I was hoping to get some advice. Sorry as my questions/ background are a little disjointed.

I currently live in HK and will continue to do so for the next few years. When I lived in the US, I was able to accrue about 350K miles on the AA MC Plat card. I have about 200K miles on Amex Plat card. I currently can continue adding to my AA account through Oneworld but Ideally I would like to simplify, consolidate, and maximize my mileage earning potential on Oneworld as a whole (or any way to gain benefits to all Oneworld carriers with my current situation). Any advice or strategies would be much appreciated.

Some general questions if people could help

1/ Can Asia miles be linked into this account?
2/ Recently setup a Marriot rewards account. I linked this directly to AA mileage. Good idea?
3/ What about transferring miles, if i was able to transfer miles to my AA advantage account from a family member, would they count towards upgraded status?
4/ Do any other alliances serve me well if I plan on spending the next few years in Asia.

Thank you so much in advance. Safe (& lucrative) Travels!

1. Into which account? AA? If it can you will take a huge hit
2. Sure, if you don't need the Marriot points
3. Status? No. Lifetime status yes. It costs money to transfer, and there is a limit of miles/year that can be transferred.
4. I am sure there are. The question here is what are your goals, what fares are you paying, what routes will you be flying the most?

If you already have large balances on AAdvantage you may want to think about crediting CX to that account. However, three years is a long time and CX often will match status, especially if you have just moved to Hong Kong. You might want to review the AsiaMiles threads here for a better perspective.

Transferring miles to AAdvantage one account to another costs a huge price, it's more like buying them than transferring them and is limited to 60k miles per year anyway.

Will you likely manage to concentrate on Marriott properties or should you maybe have accounts with one of the other chains. You would benefit from examining where you'll be traveling, what hotels will be most convenient, and choosing your hotel program on that basis rather than simple program optimization. You'll probably end out with lots of variety anyway if you'll be traveling frequently.

Noted only higher fares CX (reading "more expensive") tickets can be credited to AAdvantage. Depending on which cabins/fares the OP usually fly, it may work out better to maintain both CX and AA accounts.

At least I know flying CX is more comfortable in Asia. Better services/food as well. ;)

Unlike other FFPs, AA Lifetime status counts miles from all sources, not just BIS miles.

Keep in mind, mile transfers between accounts are NOT free and can be costly. Usually it's not the best cost-efficient route to build mile balance. It may make more sense to redeem for award tickets from a say family member's FFP, if s/he has enough miles available.

Not sure how many miles you are flying annually or what destinations you need to go. If you will be based in HK for a few more years, consider to achieve elite status with CX, a smarter choice.

Do you have elite status with any airline at this point? What are your goals for collecting miles, free award tickets, upgrades, or what? I can't tell from your 1st post nor profile. If you had been accumulating most of your AA miles from credit card charges, instead of flying, you won't get close to any elite status with any other airline.

Most FFPs require enough EQM (Elite Qualifying Miles) to earn status. In the States, one can get tons of RDM (Redeemable miles) from credit cards (via promo, signup bonuses,...etc). Once moving your base out of the States, well, you don't see as many golden opportunities through cc charges no more.

Welcome to FT!

Thanks!
 

Hi everyone,

thank you for your replies and insights

1/ If i redeem a family member's reward miles for tickets and fly them under my name, even though the ticket is of redeemed miles, do I still earn mileage toward my own account? AA program
Seems like transferring miles is a poor idea.

2/ CS is definitely one of the better airlines in terms of service in Asia although sometimes pricier

3/ No set amount of times I travel, but I'd say its easily 3x a year probably closer to 5-6x. I don't fly any particular routes repeatedly as my occupation and leisure usually take me to different places. My base hub would be HK.

4/ I don't have any elite status on any airlines although I definitely am striving for it! I figure i've got some time to earn and enjoy (i'm 23)

5/ My goals for flying would be in priority 1/ upgrades 2/ access to facilities and lounges 3/ misc perks 4/ Redeemable tickets

6/ I am open to staying in any properties, I believe i have some prior starwood affiliation. I'll have to get back to you about this. What hotel programs would be best to pursue?

Thanks again

1/ By definition, award ticket does not earn miles.

2/ I believe you mean CX - Cathay Pacific symbol is CX. Most of its discounted fares even are higher than its regional competitors, DONT earn AA miles. You need to read the program rules to understand the details.

3/ You may be better off to keep both AsiaMiles and AAdvantage accounts.

4/ Again, study program rules - elite status of most all airlines are from ACTUAL flying, and one has to re-qualify EACH YEAR - meaning Each Year you start from ground 0 in terms of earning the elite status. Only AA uses miles from ALL sources to count for Lifetime elite status - which is an UNPUBLISHED benefit - 1 Million cumulated miles earns you Lifetime Gold (the lowest elite tier of AA), 2 Million earns you Lifetime Platinum (the mid tier). Executive Platinum must be earned via B(utt) I(n) S(eat) miles and re-qualify each year.

5/ Regarding hotel programs - keep in mind, most hotel chains only credit stays and thus let you earn hotel points when bookings are made directly with the hotel chain itself. That often translates to a much higher rate than when you book thru discounted, 3rd party bookings.

Again, you would be much better off to study program details to see if you can meet the rules of programs then to make an educated decision.

This has not been my experience, nor have I ever heard of it. In my experience, hotel reservations made through travel booking sites such as Expedia, hotel booking sites such as hotels.com, and the few human travel agents who still do that sort of thing, count for full credit: hotel points and/or airline miles as applicable, plus stay credit toward status. Bookings made on opaque sites such as Priceline, where you don't pay a published rate, don't earn credit (though you may occasionally get it by mistake).

Hi Happy and Efrem

Thank you for your replies.

1/ Noted with thanks
2/ Regarding CX (not CS), I've had mileage from CX be accredited to my AA account before along with Dragon Air (CX owned) although it does have a significant time lag.
3/ I will likely keep AsiaMiles and AA. This leads me to the next question of what frequent flyer programs would help to cover the majority of the routes throughout the world. Since most of these programs accrue balances over lifetime I figure it would be best to start early
4/ Is there any way to permanently qualify for programs? and if the threshold for a program is exceeded, do those miles ever role over? EX: program requires 100K, flyer earns 200K. 100K rollover to next year's qualification?
5/ Thanks for the hotel info. I'll definitely keep that in mind and do some cost benefit analysis per booking.

One additional question

Can someone point me to the appropriate thread for OneWorld versus AAdvantage? I understand one is alliance and one is individual carrier but can my AA status contribute to OW?

Thank you

Also keep in mind that many of the discounted tickets earn NOTHING, time lag or not.

Since you don't fly that much (3-6 times per year) I would suggest it's better to focus your attention on a couple of programs, when possible, rather than trying to spread yourself across a ton of programs. OW airlines cover the entire world and so there should be few instances where you absolutely cannot find a OW airline to fly a route if you want to take it. Perhaps pick one program from each major alliance?


Some programs do allow for "lifetime" elite status but AA is the only one I know that doesn't require at least 1 million Butt In Seat miles to achieve it. On AA, as mentioned, you need 1 million miles but credit cards, bonuses, etc. all count for the million.

There is no program that I know that allows excess EQM to be rolled forward. Either you qualify for a year or you qualify lifetime. BTW since you only fly 3-6 times per year I am not sure how you plan on earning 200K EQM anyway unless you fly around the entire world every time you go.


I am not sure what you mean by "contribute to OW". OW is not a program, it is an alliance of various airlines, each of which has its own program. But there is no centralized OW "program" you can join.

Perhaps you are asking whether your AA status can get you upgrades on other OW carriers? That would be a question for the carrier you are wondering about. The best place to find an answer is the carrier's website. You could also check and see if status on a different OW carrier (ie CX) would get you similar or better/worse benefits on other carriers.

I think it depends on how the reservation is handled. If it's just a reservation, without prepayment, then yes, you may earn points (though some programs do specify you must book on hotel's website to earn max points). However, if it's a prepaid, which is the MAJORITY of Expedia/Travelocity/etc hotel offers, (i.e. your credit card is charged by agent, not hotel), then in almost all cases I know you do NOT earn points. Just my experience.

Hi Crhptic,

Thanks for the prompt response.

Regarding the OW topic, how do OW sapphire/ Emerald relate to AA miles earned? Do OW status's need to be achieved annually?

Thanks

To the best of my knowledge, all airline status needs to be attain annually. By calendar year, if I am not mistaken. AA Lifetime is the only exception to this general rule that counts any source of miles for the Lifetime status.

Actually you are too new (& "inexperienced" young) to the miles/points/elite game that I don't think you fully understand what had been given in this thread so far. Most of your questions, IMHO, had been answered but you failed to understand the concepts. I would suggest you to read all the sticky threads in all the forums (such as AA, CX, OW...etc) that interest you and study the programs (FFPs) terms that you plan to take "aggressive" action in.

Your best bet is to pick the alliance that suits you most and credit all your miles/points activities to the chosen FFP within the alliance. However, HK being your current hub, having both CX and AA accounts active should be a better strategy for you.

Don't mean to sound harsh but FT is organized in a way that you can't do "one-stop shopping" to get all you need. When your interests and questions are specific to one program or destination, you need to go each designated forum and dig or ask the questions. On FT, there are airline forums, hotel forums, alliance forums, destination forums, just to name a few. Happy already gave you this advice but I am going to repeat it: study the program rules in depth. You have to educate yourself so any informed decision/understanding can be made. That's the only way to make yourself a savvy FTer. :)

ETA: link to so called OW tied status:

OW Sapphire/Emerald (and Ruby, below the others) reflect status levels on an individual oneWorld member airline. If you are AA Gold, you are also OW Ruby. If you are AA Platinum, you are also OW Sapphire. If you are AA Executive Platinum, you are also OW Emerald. The conversion from other airlines is similar in concept, though some don't have a level for all three OW levels. (For example, BA has no level that corresponds to OW Ruby.) There is no such thing as OW elite status independent of member airline elite status.

Each airline has its own rules for achieving status. On AA, it's earned on a calendar year basis, but they have a "soft landing" policy where you drop by at most one level each year even if you don't fly at all. (Someone earning EXP today will have at least some status until March 2014, over four years down the road.) Some airlines use the calendar year also, but do not have a "soft landing." Some do not have a fixed year, but base your year on when you signed up for their program or when you achieved a level of status. A few, Lufthansa's top level comes to mind, are based on a period longer than a year. And there's lifetime status, as mentioned - but not only on AA. Many airlines have some form of lifetime status, though AA is AFAIK the only one that bases it on total miles earned from all sources. The other ones with which I'm familiar base it on either actual miles flown (usually with a minimum per segment) or years holding earned status in the program.

No advice, just a belated Welcome to FT, cpoon1 ^

Great!

Thanks for all the help and advice. Already in the past few days, I feel my understanding of these topics have grown much deeper. I will continue to read the other threads and program rules. Thanks for all of the general (and specific) help and look forward to being a valuable member of this community.

Thanks again!