Hello Everyone!
I have been reading through a lot of threads, and trying to find some answers to my questions, but still haven't been able to locate exactly what I'm looking for. Although I have learned a lot from everyone's post. Anyway, I'm new to this whole 'miles' thing, but I was reading a magazine article about earning miles and all the different ways you can use them, and I am extremely interested in starting to earn them. Currently, I'm 23 years old, have good credit, and am still in school. I travel multiple times a year, and I'm just looking for some guidance and tips to getting this started. Really basic stuff. How can I start earning miles for airline alliances, or hotel upgrades? I have one credit card, but I don't really get any great rewards from it. Should I get a credit card that will let me start earning miles? If so, which one? I'm hoping that if i start now, I can just keep saving as I get older. Anyway, any help would be great, and I have appreciated everyone's comments! Thanks

-BW

Hi and welcome to FlyerTalk. As I'm sure you realize, your question is wide,wide open and there is really no one answer. None of us know where you are from (affects which airlines and alliance you use), where you travel to, how you like to travel, how much you spend each year,etc.

That said, here are some thoughts:

1. Don't get an airline card. You might collect miles in only one airline but when you want to travel, frequent flyer seats might only be available on a different airline.

2. Most of us have had the best success with the Starwood (SPG) American Express card. It's very easy to get hotel rooms from Starwood, their redemption levels remain reasonable compared to the industry and they have an award called Cash and Points which allows people without a great stash of points to get rooms for a small amount of points and a small amount of cash. In addition, points can be transferred to almost any airline but transfers to Continental and United are at an unfavorable rate (that's why it matters where you live!). And those transfers come with a 25% bonus.

3. Think of the airlines you fly and the hotels that make the most sense. Go to those threads on FT and looks at the threads on the top of the page. They are called "Stickies" are are full of basic information that can acquaint you with the ins and outs of the programs.

4. Just sign on every day and browse around. I'm 62 and have been doing this stuff well for 8-9 years. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I started 39 years ago!

Good luck!

[Moderator enters ...]

I have moved this thread to Miles Buzz because it is too broad for any specific program section.

[...moderator heads for the airport]

bigred21,

Maybe you could post the airport(s) from which you typically depart, and the more common routes you might fly in a year. For some people here, the airline in their area and their travel pattern pretty much dictates the choice of airline alliance. In my case, coming out of MSP, DL is my only choice. People living in areas served by several major carriers, and flying lots of different places, may well choose to have several different alliances.

Unless you do an extreme amount of traveling, it generally works better to pick one airline alliance and concentrate your traveling with them. It of course doesn't hurt to be signed up for the others, just to pick up little dribble of miles. But you want to really understand things like which airlines are grouped together, and which fare codes get or don't get miles. If you post a little more about your travel, somebody familiar with that pattern will be able to help you more.

Take note of the Help menu above for decoding the abbreviations on this site. Both the airport code and the glossary.

Romelle

Good for you for getting started so young!

I guess I have a different perspective on sticking with one airline than an earlier post. I think there's a lot of benefit to moving up the ranks of the loyalty program, but it's important to pick an airline based on its routes in terms of your location and desired destinations, as well as the strength of its airline alliance.

Happy to share my tipsheet on getting started. You can find it at http://www.scribd.com/doc/17745143/F...Flier-Tipsheet.

If you have any questions, be in touch. Good luck!

there are quite a few threads like yours in this forum.....perhaps, if you haven't already, read thru the 1st 10 pages [or more] of this forum.....good luck....

As someone who is often asked, "how do you do it?!", I'm very impressed at what you have put together. I've saved it to my computer and will forward it to anyone who asks. Very well done.

I think this could be a Stickie on almost every thread in FT! Thanks.

First things first. This may be the most obvious. In order to start earning miles, you have to register with your chosen FFPs or hotel loyalty programs, and get your own account numbers (if you haven't done so ). Every single time you fly or check in to hotels, give them your FFPs/hotels account numbers.

Also pay attention to the expiration policy of miles/points. Most miles nowadays will expire in 18 months with no activity in accounts.

Upgrades generally are associated with elite status (or paid cash). Status is earned, either by flying enough or having enough paid nights at hotels. If you are a student with limited resources (i.e. less cash), you probably won't see upgrades any time soon.

You (& your needs) may appear to be different from another newbie FTer, but suggestions given in this thread are definitely useful for you.

Also see if you can benefit from the learning curve of another student newbie: new member, looking for some help/feedback/suggestions.

Welcome to FT!

You found the best resource available to answer your questions when you started to look at FlyerTalk. In my opinion, this is by far the best resource for all things related to flying and travel on the internet.

Besides the most obvious answer to your question which is to read as much on this site as possible, you will get better responses to your question if you post where you usually fly from, where you usually fly to and if you have any idea where you will live after you get out of school. Some airports and regions of the country are much better suited to certain airlines than others. In addition, you can start on a quest for lifetime status early in your flying career with some airlines.

Post as much information about your projected travel that you feel comfortable posting. You will get great responses here if you provide enough information to get a response.

If you look at the space on the left under my screen name, you can see my home airports and programs, this makes it much easier for fellow FT members to help you out because they don't have to guess where you are located.

The final suggestion I would make is to make a pledge to yourself to find some kind of way to credit all future flights to at least one frequent flyer program. Once you get into this more, I would suggest you read up on the various airline alliances and take advantage of staying within the same alliance if possible. That way, you can likely credit all of your miles to one program and getting yourself ready for a dream trip in the future.

Good luck.

Wow! You guys have been great! I can't tell you how awesome it was to get the quick responses. I have spent a vast majority (probably too much time) here, reading thread after thread, and trying to get the basics down.

So currently I am living in St. Louis but will be moving to Kansas City this summer, and living there for the next 4 plus years. I mainly fly out of Lambert and sometimes KCI, and have always just done the whatever is cheapest route. I have a Southwest (HN?) rapid rewards card, and a continental one pass, but they are old and I only have them because my parents signed me and my siblings up. From a lot of the reading that I've done on FT, I am definitely leaning towards a AmEx SPG card, but I wondered if you guys had personal experiences with this, and could advise me.

Secondly, I have read a little about the Amtrak Mastercard, and I am thinking this could be a good investment for me. I can take the Amtrak a lot of places b/w STL and KC as well as Chicago, and I think that you can transfer miles into Delta (?). I also know this is a fee-free card, and this is something I am looking into because being a med-student for the next 4 years will keep me with some spending limits. Yet, I have heard mixed reviews on the Amtrak card, and again was interested in ya'll's thoughts.

Finally, I just have a few other questions maybe you could address?

-Flying out of STL/KCI do you have an recommendations for airlines, or alliances to become a FFP of? (or can i find a thread on here specific to location)
-Any other advice on a fee-free credit card, that i can start accumulating miles on?
-Is the Amtrak Mastercard still a good buy?

Thanks everyone for being so patient, as I am new to this, but doing my best to learn. I've been doing a lot of glossary studying too! I'm just trying to find a good way to become loyal to a hotel chain/airline alliance, in a way that will benefit me for the future?

Thanks so much!

-BW

Thanks for posting this. I've been playing the frequent flyer game for several years now - it never ceases to amaze me that I can keep learning new strategies. I picked up a very nice tip from your file that I just hadn't thought of before.

Three thoughts:

First, identify your redemption objectives. Do you want domestic economy class tickets for weekend trips, or do you want intercontinental business class tickets for a grand trip to Europe or Asia? Your accumulation stategy will be very different to achieve one versus the other.

Second, don't confuse number of miles or points with value. Beginners typically want to earn as many miles or points as possible without understanding that they are not all of comparable value. After you have identified your redemption objective it's straightforward to evaluate an earning opportunity by calculating the percentage it will move the needle toward that reward. A credit card that earns six points per dollar isn't better than one which earns one point per dollar if those points don't move you closer to your goal.

Flexibility adds value. Most airlines belong to one of three alliances: OneWorld, SkyTeam or Star. In general you need to belong to only one airline frequent flyer program per alliance because you can credit all of your flights within an alliance to one program, and you can redeem through one program for travel on any member of the same alliance. However, this does not mean that miles can be transferred from one alliance member's program to another. For credit card spending I would look at Starwood Preferred Guest or American Express Membership Rewards rather than a card tied to a single airline, but you need to verify that the card you choose can transfer to the airline program you choose. (Starwood, for example, does not transfer at a sensible rate to Continental or United Airlines, while Membership Rewards does not transfer to American Airlines.)

With your listed airports it looks like Southwest would be the airline that serves both cities with the most flights. Second choice looks to be Delta or American. I would suggest reading up on the Rapid Rewards threads on this forum and ask some questions there. Given your level of flying you might not be in a position to gain status with any one airline just yet unless you were prepared for a couple of mileage runs or if you take a long trip each year.

I do know that Rapid Rewards has some interesting earning rules and the expiration of credits can be a problem. I have not flown SWA for years, but I do remember losing out on a "free" flight with them because of their rules. The Southwest people on this site will know much more about this.

This forum and the affiliated blog hosting site BoardingArea.com has all the information you will ever need to maximize your miles. I personally write a blog on BoardingArea.com called unroadwarrior.com. I wrote a article series on the Economics of Airline Miles. I would of course, point you to that article as a starting point.

So let me get this straight: With an AmEx SPG card I can redeem my miles for hotel rooms, but it is also possible to transfer the points I earn on the SPG card into an FFP miles account?