Newb with questions on FF programs
 

Hi all! I started flying more often last year and will continue to do so in the future. It's all pleasure so everything comes out of my own pocket and would love to get into an ideal program where I can get a free domestic flight every now and then. Now, last year I went once to Europe and once to South America, plus I fly from NYC to Fort Lauderdale 2 to 3 times a year to visit family. I've got little miles on Continental, Delta and American (I'd say similar amounts of less/around 10k in each). Which program should I stick to? I am flying to Europe again this summer (Cologne-Germany and Barcelona). So yeah, my home airport could be either LGA (10 minutes from home) or JFK (20 minutes from home). Newark would be alright but not ideal. Any suggestions on which airline to stick to?
Thanks so much!!!:)

OK, is this a good summation of your situation:
Origination airport:
1. LGA
2. JFK
3. EWR (Distant third)

Goal:
1. Free domestic flights
2. No other goal identified. (i.e. various elite status benefits like upgrades, waived fees, priority access, mileage earning bonus etc)

Approximate annual flying:
1. 2-3 trips to FLL (8550 to 12775 miles/yr)
Will you consider MIA?
2. 1 trip to europe (lets call it a conservative 15000 mi/yr)
3. Other sporadic travel that might net you a coupe thousand miles.)

A reasonable assumption here is 25K miles per year, which will, by itself, get you close to a free domestic trip on many programs, and will qualify you in the first elite teir on those programs. Clearly, focusing your travel with one airline or alliance would be worth it with this pattern.

I will let other with more experience flying out of LGA and JFK address the specific airline recommendation.

But with yoru flight pattern, you should easily be able to meet your primary goal, and if leverage a few other things, like credit card promotions and miles for spending points, you can do better than you think.

Hey, thanks so much! Yeah basically I just don't want to waste away miles if I can get something out of any of the airline programs. I would enjoy a domestic ticket better than any other reward. Thanks so much! Hopefully someone will chip in so I can make my decision on who to buy my Europe tickets with this time around.

I'm in a similar situation. I travel on Delta and American out of Boston and I just choose the cheaper option for each trip. Most of my travel is for pleasure, so I only end up flying a few times per year with each airline. However, I put most of my spending on my Starwood Preferred Guest AMEX, so I generate thousands of additional miles every year. You can transfer SPG points at 1:1.25 for both American and Delta if you transfer 20,000 points at a time. Or you can just transfer a smaller amount if you want to "top off" either of your rewards accounts. If you're traveling mostly for pleasure (like me), you're probably not flying as much as a lot of the people on this forum, so I would just choose the cheaper flight for each trip and periodically use credit card points to top off your accounts so that you can get an award flight.

Note: If the prices are similar, I would choose American or Continental over Delta. Redeeming Delta miles for award flights has become an absolute nightmare. Continental and American have been great.

With <25k per year, it is not obvious to me that trying to stick to one airline is your best bet. At least, I wouldn't pay a big premium (no more than 10-15%) for flying with "your" airline. You can also look at who has the best promotions going on.

I had your travel pattern for years. After a while you start getting that free trip every now and then even without being loyal. After all you accumulate miles at the same rate.

If you think you may be able to reach a status level then it makes sense to be a bit "more loyal".

I was in much the same situation as you are a few years ago. I flew, at most 25K miles per year and had no single airline that I concentrated my flying on. I was able to build up fairly sizable balances on Northwest, Delta and United. My Northwest and Delta accounts were merged after the takeover, so I now have more miles with Delta than with my current preferred airline, United.

Given that you may barely qualify for the lowest level of elite status with one airline if you concentrated on one airline, you might be tempted to stick with only one airline. If you usually travel "heavy" with more than carry-on baggage this can save you checked luggage fees which can be substantial. This would probably be your primary benefit flying out of NYC because as the lowest level elite, your chances of an upgrade out of NYC can be very slim given the high number of high status flyers in the Big Apple. For example, I am a 1P with United which is mid range status, and I don't rate at all out of NYC.

If you must have nonstop flights out of NYC to FLL then your best bet is probably Delta, unless you can fly out of Newark, then Continental would work for you. Also if you fly to Germany a lot then you would probably want to be hooked up with *A (Star Alliance) because of their tie in with Lufthansa which has lots of flights to Frankfurt and easy connections to the rest of Europe.

Basically, you probably would want to concentrate your flying with one "alliance" and try to get and maintain at least the lowest level of status with that airline/alliance. If you can handle Newark every once in a while, then stick with Star Alliance and choose Continental (for your nonstop FLL flights) as your FF program of choice. You can credit flights on all Star Alliance carriers to your Continental FF number, including United (some transcons to SFO ad LAX if you ever go that way), US Air (LGA mostly) and Lufthansa (good flight schedule to Europe). That should cover most of your flying needs. Just be sure to credit all of your flights to one program.

Read up on the various alliances and see which one fits best for you. American Airlines is also a possibility if you can fly into Miami. I don't fly into Miami anymore unless I can't help it. FLL is too nice on an airport to pass up.

drtor brings up a good point, but I would disagree with his conclusion. It is true that focusing on one airline FFP is not going to help much unless you actually reach an elite level and the advantages of that elite status are actually useful to you. I estimated your travel at greater than 25K per year, which would qualify you initial elite status on many programs. Furthermore, the advantages of that status seem very useful to me, and I would think to the overwhelming majority of travellers. While chance of a seat upgrade might be low, you will get one eventually. Add in priority boarding, waived baggage fees, etc, and this is a worthwhile benefit. With some promotions, like AA's DEQM event that most of us are anxiously hoping they implement again for part of 2010, you could qualify elite even faster. Even without that program, some FFPs have "challenges" that might put you at elite earlier. So when would it NOT be worth it to aim for loyalty to an FFP?
1. You will be flying less than the minimum necessary for elite status
AND
2. There is a significant difference in price between the proposed FFP and a competitor
AND
3. There is no accelerated method to gain elite status.

Otherwise, you should do it. Start with this:
1. Decide on the acceptability of Newark for some of your trips
2. Decide on the acceptabiity of MIA for your South Florida trips
3. Determine if you will be making a trip to South America again this year or next
4. Narrow down where you might be going in Europe.

With all that, examine airline and alliance availability to your destinations.
If the answer to #1 (Newark) and #2 (MIA) is NO, then Delta might be the right choice.
If #1 is Yes but #2 is still No, then Continental might be the better option (their FFP program is much better respected here at FT, it seems).
If the answer to both #1 and #2 is Yes, then that would bring American into the equation, and if 3# is also yes, then that would move American up even further in the rankings.

So, I think its worth it, but I can't help you any further with the actual program selection.

This flow chart, IMO, nails it completely. The only thing I would add is under #4 above (Narrow down where you might be going to Europe.) is if this is Germany or more "exotic" European destination, you should check out the Lufthansa Route map and see if they get you where you want to go. If Newark is ok (for Continental) then you can fly Lufthansa out of JFK for your Europe trips and credit your miles to Continental. Read up on the Star Alliance on this site and see if that helps. If Miami works for you and/or if you plan to go to South America anytime soon then American really comes into play.

Good luck.

Wow! This is all great information, thanks so much! Since I only fly for pleasure or to visit family and it's not often, I don't mind schlepping to Newark every now and then or landing in Miami (which is a pain compared to FLL) but if it will all help get some more miles that can be eventually redeemed I'm good. Europe will be hopefully one trip a year to different destinations. This year is Germany and Spain on the same trip, next year I would love to go further east in Europe or even Russia, who knows. No further South America trips for a long time. Florida is a given. I'm thinking of then choosing between American and Continental (and their respective airline partners) for this year's trips then. If Delta is not the best company to try to get rewards from, why give them my money. I appreciate all your suggestions again! Cheers, Max

If Newark is ok for you that would really lean towards Continental in my book. Check out the Lufthansa website for the destinations they serve in Europe. They have one of the most, if not the most, extensive European route maps of any airline and they are Star Alliance, so you can use your Continental FF number with them and get miles on Continental. Also Continental has a pretty good route map nonstop out of Newark. I would also get a Credit Card affiliated with Continental. You will get the initial bonus miles and you can earn more miles with normal spending. American is also an option. I don't know much about their program, but they do have lots of flights out of NYC.

Good luck, and happy flying.

I am on my way to 1P (Gold Star Alliance Status) again this year and may hit 1K status (100,000 miles) if another double status miles period hits again this year. I have 12,700+ miles this year so far.

Alaska
 

Max86NY,

You might look into Alaska Airlines - they are partners with both American and Delta.

I have had good luck redeeming for free domestic flights. Additionally, they are partners with Air France / KLM. AF/KL/AA/DL all earn status, whereas another partner BA, only earns miles - but at least it counts.

The answer is Alaska Airlines. Reason: not so frequent a flyer that upgrades become an issue. With Alaska, you can fly Alaska to Seattle and also AA, DL, and some foreign airlines.

If you suddenly fly LGA-ORD weekly then maybe you should join AA or UA.

If you join AS, consider also joining either UA or CO so that your UA, CO, US flights will be covered.

To cover most of the other airlines, you'll also have to join Southwest and Jet Blue. There's also Air Tran.