Is there a 'best' FF program/airline?
 

I am in OC / SoCal: fly out of SNA / LAX - mostly to Europe, Hawaii, or Caribbean. I realize that my AA program is not the best since they offer all routes only with multiple stopovers (my life is short) and with many restrictions. Should I get United? other?

Hi Skywalker22,

I would guess that the answer is "yes" there is a best program for you. Based specifically on your priorities and situation. Figuring out what it is, is another question! ;)

I would guess that the experts here in the FlyerTalk Forums would be likely to proffer some advice if you shared a bit more about your situation. Are you hoping for award flights? Are you more interested in upgrades? How much do you fly?

Though I am not an expert myself, I did find a summary discription of some of the top programs that is going to be in the April issue of Conde Nast Traveler that was written by one of FT's experts gleff. I hope you find it useful (see link below.)

http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/502453

Epiflyer
 

Thank you for the response. My situation: I want to acquire miles but am probably not going to do 'mileage runs' if I understand them right: lots of extra travel without real destination - I don't have the time for that. I travel mostly just for vacation; so no paid travel for business. I am a newbie here and trying to figure out the system so I can afford more travel.
The concierge article is very informative. Thank you. Given the comparative (dis)advantages of each program though I still can't quite decide whether I should get an additional program, eg. Starwood; Capital One Venture (anybody have any experience with those?), or stick with AA.

I too am not an expert, but if your main goal is to accumulate miles, I would consider the head start you already have in your existing programs.

If there's not much there already, I agree with Skywalker - the link he provided has some great info.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8703e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Huh? AA flies nonstop from LAX to four different Hawaiian islands; nonstop from LAX to SJU and MIA, from which AA offers connections to numerous Caribbean destinations; and nonstop from LAX to LHR. AA's partner, Air Tahiti Nui, flies nonstop from LAX to Paris.

AA offers one-way awards for as low as 20,000 miles in coach to or from Europe, with a free stopover permitted -- if desired -- at a North American gateway city. So, for example, if you were to fly nonstop on an award ticket from London or Paris to LAX, you could stop over at LAX for a day or for several months, and then continue on to Hawaii for no additional mileage charge!

What do you find lacking in these offerings?

re best ff program
 

Are you planning on traveling in F,C, or economy? Also do you plan on becoming a million miler?

Since you want to acquire miles I would take a close look at the AA Platinum Challenge.

After 10K EQPs earned during a challenge you will get double miles on the rest of your flights. Sign up for AA Citibank credit cards, Shop at the AA online store, take surveys.

All airlines have the latter part of that advice, but only AA has a challenge.

One advice: try to pick a program and stick to it. Bonuses can rack up the miles, but if you spread your miles around, you often will not get the benefits of the bonuses, etc. So if you stick with AA, get an AA card, put AA on your car rentals, hotels, etc. Of course, there may come a time in the future when you need to change programs, but generally speaking better to stick to one.

Second is to look at the alliance that that airline belongs to. Where do you want to fly? What are the alliance members that fly to that destination?

I'm a member of AA, AAD, AA Dining, etc. but I haven't seen anything about the challenge. Can you direct me to that promo? Thanks.

DH and I also fly only for vacation and our goal is miles for award travel. A big consideration is the ease of redemption. We've had very good experiences with award travel on American, average experience with US Air/America West. We seldom fly Delta but the buzz on FT is that their redemption is poor.

guv:
 

guv: thank you for the good info; you are clearly more experienced than I am. The way you describe it sounds good; I just have not come across those offers yet. When I fly, it is often at short notice, less than one month ahead of travel date. Are the offers you describe more likely to occur with long term planning? Again, my goal is to learn more so I can afford more travel. How do I get a multiweek stopover? I actually just wanted to plan the following trip:
LAX-BOS (1-WAY) WITH 3-DAY STOP - THEN: BOS-FLR (10-DAY STOP); FLR-MUC (6-DAY STOP) AND BACK: MUC-LAX. While I can fly AA for pay on this route, it is not available for miles, and for pay it costs $3500. Any suggestions?

jpmmracing
 

I just want to acquire as many miles as possible to afford more frequent vacation travel. I don't have any paid business travel but my miles come mostly from ~$100K credit card charges. Thanks to an uptick in recent travel (due to a cancer diagnosis and some freed up time) I used up all my 900K miles with AA and now need to actually start paying for my flights which I can't well afford. I am fine traveling economy as long as I can travel at all.

These types of debates will be very ambiguous for you will get opinions from many people who will be at opposite ends of the spectrum. Educate yourself after some feedback here and report back what your thoughts are.

That's a good point and I have been doing just that for the past 10+ years but ideally would have a bit more flexibility than AA offers me (I have not been able to get the amazing non-stop connections guv talks about). I am wondering whether I should get an additional program, eg. Starwood; Capital One Venture; Schwab (anybody have any experience with those?), or stick with AA. How well do those other programs work? Do they effectively increase flexibility? Is it easy enough to redeem miles? I have read online a number of dreadful reviews of the Starwood program in terms of customer service but have also read that lots of people have it - not sure what to do.

Gladly!

It's right here.