NYC based -- Which FF program is best?
 

Hi -- I'm going to be moving to NYC in the near future and was looking to evaluate FF programs.

I currently am Platinum w/AA (won't re-qualify this yr) and Gold w/USAir. I'll be living in the Park Slope area and thus will prefer JFK due to the subway ease of use.

Any recommendations on which program I should focus on moving forward? I always fly the cheapest available option within reason.

Priorities are:

- Upgrades
- Redemption value (I know the Skypeso's are rough in this category)
- Non-stop flights (prefer as many non-stops as possible)

I do a lot of LAX/SFO travel as well as TX. Thanks in advance for your help.

UA?

They have the PS flights from and to SFO/LAX from JFK. You can also earn miles from flights to and from IAH when flying on CO/UA.

where will you fly?....how often?...

I'm a Brooklyn based Delta PM and have had excellent success with upgrades on DL. I love the Transcon JFK-LAX/SFO in BusinessElite and while upgrades can be tough to come by, you can same day confirm for free, so if your travels are flexible you can usually get the upgrade as a Plat (or worst case scenario route JFK-SLC/DTW/ATL-LAX).

Skypesos are not the most valuable miles, but there are some "diamond in the rough" redemptions. Went to the Seychelles this summer for 120k and $200 in J with a stopover in Paris. Delta opens up lots of last minute award space, so if you are flexible, you can make the miles work for you. I find Air France availability to be pretty generous as well. Booking flights next summer, they have tons of availability ex-JFK in business.

Overall, they treat me pretty well. I get upgraded 6 days in advance usually and I find the flight attendants extarordinarily accomodating. I've been on many flights where the FAs gave out two pre-departure bevs and even snacks when delayed. I feel like they really do value FFers and have had the Platinum line bend the rules when I've been in a bind.

JFK terminals are not nice, but there are plans to improve. Overall, I'm impressed with the service and schedules, so I have no immediate plans to jump ship.

- I only travel domestically for work, some international travel but most of it is using miles.
- Travel about 50-60 segments per year
- I'd prefer to stay away from UA as I've already got the star alliance w/US Airways and would use that acct instead.

I'm leaning towards keeping with AA or matching status w/Delta. Is Delta as horrific as it sounds?

Upgrades - US Airways (all elite levels can get unlimited upgrades, whereas AA EXP only get unlimited comp upgrades)

Redemption Value - depends on what you want, I would say tie between AA and US Airways. AA is flexible with one way awards, but US Airways allows 1 stopover or open jaw and is flexible with routings.

Non-stop flights - AA (JFK is a hub and has direct LAX-SFO service on a 3 cabin aircraft, US Airways would most certainly have a stop)

Personally, I'd recommend AA as you can still get some upgrades with 500 mile sticker upgrades.

AA or DL out of JFK is a crapshoot. JFK's terminals, layout and OPS just annoys me. I avoid AA because of their planes and DL for their service. I live in Prospect Heights BK, the Northern part of Prospect Park and Fly mostly out of EWR even though it's not as convenient. Depending on where you're flying you might be able to use B6 which has great planes, service and an awesome new terminal at JFK.

Alternative to using the subway to JFK from our neighborhood is going to Atlantic Terminal (above Altantic-Pacific subway station) and getting on the LIRR to JFK. It's faster and way more reliable while only slightly more money. Status match to DL and give them a try. If you don't like them go back to AA since you obviously enjoyed them since you are Platinum now. Via a Platinum challenge or maybe a call saying you'd be willing to come back if they gave you Gold status might get you back to high status quickly.

P.S. Welcome to the neighborhood.

The horror stories about DL award redemption are generally all true.

Being Platinum or Diamon is fine with respect to upgrades, and reaccomodation during irrops. For many people, that's not enough to offset the ever-declining value of SkyPesos.

Thanks a lot armattheus. I too will be living just north of Prospect Park. I guess it technically would be Prospect Heights as well.

I'll certainly consider EWR. Having lived in DC for a while the non-stop issue was a large one, could barely fly anywhere west of TX going non-stop if I wasn't willing to go out to Dulles. I'm looking forward to doing non-stop's everywhere domestically now.

I'm leaning towards AA due to the Skypeso's issues. I always like to have 2 airlines in the fold as the pricing on one typically is just too expensive to rationalize.

In terms of atlantic terminal, I'll just take the subway a stop or two and transfer to LIRR there. How long is it from there to JFK? I assume I get off at Jamaica and switch to Airtrain?

Any idea of what cabs cost from JFK to your place? Is flying LGA a horrendous idea? Thanks in advance for all your help.

From Atlantic to the switch to the AirTrain at Jamaice it's a 20 minute ride. so about 30-35 minutes total to the Terminal. Cabs from the airport would run about $20-$25 and Car Service is about $25 depending on which you use. I use Arecibo 718 783 6465 or Monaco 718 230 0202. Sometimes they try to rip you off so just make sure to get the quote when you call and haggle with them saying you last time paid "....". LGA would be my 3rd choice. Personally I just don't like the airport and cost to get to it will be about the same as EWR. If you were to take the subway/bus to get there you're talking a good hour+ to get there. The cheap/easy way for me to get to EWR is either Subway to Port Authority where there is a bus that runs every 15-20 minutes for $25 return or subway to PATH (to Newark) to a City Bus. The last route is the cheapest but also requires 4 segments vs 2.

Great -- thank you very much, very helpful information. Sounds like I'll focus on JFK and use EWR as needed. In rush hr I assume the subway will be faster than cab so I'll probably just base my decisions on that.

How about arrival time at JFK/EWR for security, if I'm not checking bags is an hour early enough? If I am...how long is needed?

Thanks

Depending on if it's a "peak" time and such an hour at the door to the terminal can be fine. 90 minutes is safest because of security. I only do either extreme early flights or 4pm flights out of JFK so others will have give their expertise.
I arrive an hour before take off at EWR because there are several security lines at Terminal C for CO so getting through has never taken me more than 15-20 minutes.

Delta has a Medallion security line at T2 that is almost always open. Max I've waited is 15 mins, so I frequently get to the airport t-45. I've generally had longer waits at EWR- not sure how effective their priority security lines are. There are a ton more CO elites flying out of EWR than DL elites at JFK.

Cali and Texas? I think that makes you an AA man out of JFK...

I wouldn't write off UA though - especially if your Texas travel is more IAH than DFW. UA vs. US in terms of primary mileage account can go either way depending on how you plan to use miles and status. UA: one-way awards, decent SWU rules for 1K's, lower total taxes/fees on *A awards. US: a few odd "sweet spots" (lower redemption levels) in international regions, no Starnet blocking. Also, in general, I always like to have status native to the metal I'll be flying most.

But I think I'd still lean towards AA overall. It has the one-way awards and pretty good elite treatment. I generally have good success redeeming AA miles for awards I actually want to use. Probably on-par with United, with each program having different strengths and warts as far as availability goes.

Since you have adopted the term "Skypesos" without even being a regular DL flier, I assume you have been listening to the negative opinions that are willingly offered on this board regarding the difficulty redeeming SkyMiles.

The data on which you are basing your decision suffer from the Voluntary Response Bias, which is the overrepresentation of extreme opinions when the sampling method relies on people to "push" their opinions to the sample collector. And since it's unlikely that anyone other than total dorks will hold very strong positive opinions about a mileage redemption system (e.g., "Skymiles is AWESOME!"), your data are skewed toward the strongly negative opinions.

If you intend to redeem your miles only for TATL or TPAC flights in business class, then DL's program will be challenging for sure. However, I have no problem finding low-level, domestic, coach, award tickets that represent significant value compared to the available fares even just 2-3 days before departure. As a PM, I get upgraded on these fares 5-6 days out without fail. This is the part of "Skypesos" that people don't rant and rave about, precisely because it works so smoothly.

Personally, I'd rather buy my own international flights, as the cpm is much more favorable, and redeem awards domestically on DL-dominated routes that never see fare discounts. A couple of paid long-haul trips go a long way toward maintaining status and deposit a bunch of RDMs in the account for future award tickets.