Excuse my ignorance, I have lurked here for a few weeks and am completely overwhelmed. Help! We have points scattered everywhere & would like to merge them to one or two programs, if that is even possible. I have detailed below where are points are. Also, we are opening up a new credit card with the hopes of also acquiring more points and to put all our expenses on. We have excellent credit & seem to get most of the offers that are mentioned here, unless it requires high standing in a program. We intend on using the points towards travel expenses, and not say, like shopping or the like.

I'm not sure if this matters, but DH will start earning alot of 1st class international flight miles as well due to his job.

Priority Rewards: 18k
Skymiles: 9k expire in March
Southwest: 7 credits (4 expire in March)
Marriot: 10k
At&T Rewards: 7K

Any imput would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Gina

Welcome to FlyerTalk Gina2178! In order to better answer your questions we will need a bit more information.

1. What major airport is most convenient when traveling?
2. Which cc/airline/hotel programs would you prefer to retain?
3. To which (International) geographical area will DH be traveling?

questions 1 & 3 will help in identifying the airline programs better suited.

I realize it is late in the game but there is a gathering of FlyerTalker's (FTer's) in Ann Arbor July 24-25, 2010 (click on 'Ann Arbor'). This get together (referred to as a DO)is oriented towards maximizing mile, points, etc., from various sources. It is very educational and if you are unable to attend this year I am sure Bikeguy will be organizing another DO for next year.

Have fun and travel safe.

italy98 is right....more info will definitely help us help you....

Welcome to FT, Gina!

And pardon my LOL (laugh out loud) reaction to your question, but YES your DH's (dear husband's?) first class international flight miles do matter!!

In fact, your scatted miles and points are all pretty low, so the most important thing could well be those job-related flights and where your DH goes.

To get the best advice from the collected wisdom (?) here, you might want to:

1. Say where your DH will most likely be flying for work, and how often. (And is it really in first class? If so, nice job!) Does his job lock him into a particular airline? And any other destinations either of you might be going to that could build up miles?
2. And what kinds of hotels for these work trips? Modest? Luxury? Any particular hotel chain that he must or would like to stay in for these trips?
3. How you might most want to use the miles and points you'll collect? For free flights? And if so, in economy or business or first class?
4. Or for free hotel stays? And if so, what kind of destinations you see yourselves going to? International or domestic? Beaches? Cities? Europe? Asia?

As a first piece of advice, I'd suggest you consider the Starwood American Express card, which is the consensus choice for most purposes in terms of converting the points into miles or having access to the best vacation properties of the major chains. But even that could hinge on your specific travel patterns and preferences.

Thanks for your prompt reply! Italy98, what is the story behind your name? We are headed to Italy next spring!

1. Louisville is where we live and that would be most convienent. But, for example, we are traveling to Italy next May and we are also looking for fares out of Cincinnati knowing that the city is a Delta hub.

2. We have no favorite hotel chain. We usually stay at locally run places when we travel, unless there is no other choice. We do not want a Southwest program - DH is a UPS pilot & we get to fly standby free, so there is no reason to earn points to cash in on those flights.

3. DH will be flying to Germany, China, & Anchorage, AL most on the commercial airlines. (Not sure if Alaska is considered international points b/c not in lower 48 states.) I believe he is actually on a Luftansa flight tomorrow. His pilot contract guarentees first class, which is a nice job perk. Most of the time his points do not come through at the hotels because of how the rooms are booked - they are prepaid for by the time he checks in.

Does this info help? Thanks again!

LOL. DH is dear husband, I picked that up on another forum that is just as intense as this forum except it is centered on kids clothing brands. LOL.

DH will probably be doing a one leg flight every 4 weeks, maybe more. (He is a pilot & they often send him to where his trip will begin.) He bids for his schedule & intentionally bids for these trips so he can get miles.

He rarely gets to collect rewards for his hotels ... which is a bummer because he staying in a Sheraton or Marriot for 50 days for training. I think those are voided as the result of some contract between DH employer and the hotel. Not sure why.

As previously mentioned, I think the miles would be best put to use for travel - especially international. I'm fine flying economy to Europe if it is free! But, we have talked about using them for class upgrades too.

Oh, and in regards to hotels ... I am not a snob, but I am picky. I rely on Tripadvisor (some might argue against that) and the places have to have an excellent rating ... and unfortunately for our bank account, unless it is one of the high end hotels, they usually do not make the list.

I actually have a Starwood Preferred Guest invite for AE with RSVP # expiring at the end of the month for 20,000 pts after spending $500 w/in 3 months - that would not be a prob. Is that a decent offer? We seem to get offers all.the.time. LOL.

Thanks again for your help!

If your husband is flying on the airline for whom he works, as part of his work contract, he will not accumulate any miles. Could you clarify if that is the case?

gina....i grew up in lulvul....great city....

y'all should look at the cities he will fly to most often, then the airlines that can get him there....make a list....then look at alliances 1world, skyteam, & the 1 i forgot [threads on all here in ft]....within an alliance, you can put mi's from all on to 1 ff account, w some exceptions...you should try to get all mi's in 1 ff acct...

did the dl/wn mi/credits come from dh's business flying?

my guess is that he's w/ ups, and that probably, as mentioned above, they have a reduced fare deal w/pax al's and there will be no ff mi's [i hope not]..

edit to add....reread your posts & my ups guess was right...i missed the info before..

ask him to check w his compatriots...good luck

Nope, he is not a commericial pilot - he works for UPS. The company buys actual first class tickets - he is not jumpseating or flying standby. We know he will get the miles, as other pilots we know also collect miles.

Love it here in da'Ville, even if I am way out in the eastside sticks. LOL. He's checked with other pilots, we are good. Actually, he saw the itinary price for his last ticket and I remember him making a comment about it being like 7Kish - they have a very unique system, unlike when he flew for NWA. But I know about the reduced points, our SPG has something like 20 nights or stays of whatever they call it and we only have 168 points. LOL.

I *think* the Delta are from us. We/I have been really bad up until recently making sure we get our points. I am actually sick about it.

A lot of this advice can be found elsewhere on the forum, but a few thoughts:

Step #1 - pick a program/alliance and stick to it as much as possible. There are 3 major alliances: Skyteam (Delta is the main US based member); Star Alliance (United, Continental, and US Airways are US based members); and OneWorld (American is US based member). All 3 alliances have a substantial number of partner airlines elsewhere in the world. You mentioned he flew on Lufthansa, which is part of Star Alliance; you also have obviously flown Delta before as you have some miles there.

Since it sounds like the majority of your flight points are accrued from your husband's intl business travel, a logical question would be does he get to choose which airline he flies? If he doesn't get to choose, does he regularly fly the same airline (or at least the same alliance)?

Each alliance has positives and negatives, but some key negatives to consider:
*If you go with Skyteam, Delta is widely considered by many on this board to be the most difficult airline on which to redeem saver flight awards. As in, orders of magnitude harder than the other programs.
*If you go with Star Alliance, be aware that United's program blocks availability of many partner airline flights based on the point flow between the partners and United (google "United Starnet blocking" for more info). If you are planning to redeem mainly/only on UA, this is not as much of an issue. Also, it can be avoided by selecting a different Star Alliance program other than UA's program
*All programs, to some extent, will limit mileage accrual to less than 100% of flown miles on international partner itineraries on cheap fares. AA earning on BA, and Delta earning on several partners, are notable examples, but they are out there in every program and every alliance.

You also mentioned that you like the convenience of flying out of CVG. Well I don't have to tell you that DL has cut flights from CVG substantially vs what they had there a few years ago...or that CVG's fares tend to be on the high side. But if, despite those factors, you like the CVG hub, that might tilt you towards Delta.

I can't tell you which program/alliance will be best for you. But I can tell you that no matter which one you choose, you'll fare best by picking one and sticking to that alliance and its partners as much as possible.

#2 - credit card - will be determined to some extent by which alliance you choose. If you are going with Delta, then I suggest either Delta Amex or Starwood Amex. With AA, Starwood Amex is probably best and the Citi AA cards as a backup (plus Citi always has nice bonus promos for joining). With UA/CO you are pretty much stuck getting their Chase cards as Starwood does not have a good exchange ratio for their points. Starwood can exchange 1:1 into US or into several non-US-based Star Alliance programs including Air Canada, ANA, Thai and Lufthansa.

#3 - hotels - sounds like a moot point for you as you normally stay mainly in independent hotels and your husband's business travel is non points earning. However, to the extent you may have any points earning stays, same advice applies - pick a program and stick with it as much as possible. For folks that don't have points earning stays frequently, one nice perk of Priority Club is that points never expire - the only major hotel program to offer this.

Hope this gives you some food for thought.

It definately does, I just cut and pasted your reply directly to him. I appreciate the time and effort it took into laying this out. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Now to reread again and think, think, think. Thank you!