Which FF Program?
 

Hi All,

Newbie here. I am based in Houston and will most likely be going on quite a few business trips to Seoul in the near future. Keeping that in mind, which FF program and/or airline do you think is best for me to sign up with? I know that IAH is a CO hub, but I don't know whether I should just stick with them or if there is something else that would work better.

I know you must get this kind of question a lot, but any help from the "veterans" would be very appreciated.

Thanks!

1) How often per year?
2) Flying in cheap coach, full-fare coach or business?
3) Do you prefer free flights or upgrades?

1) Not 100% sure but possibly looking at every 6-8 weeks for the next year and half or so.

2) Again, not 100% sure (this is a new job), but I would think business class.

3)Do you mean upgrades for myself when traveling for business or leisure? Is there a way to have both upgrades and free flights?

I think the most hassle-free option will probably be Asiana from LAX (with your IAH-LAX flights on UA/CO metal). They have both daytime and red-eye flights on the LAX-ICN route, plus the option to connect through ORD or other gateways, and that would give you a lot of scheduling flexibility, especially if you are good at sleeping on planes.

Another option would be to take UA IAH-NRT-ICN and vice versa, which would give you an international seat all the way. They only offer daytime flights on this route, so you would lose two days going to Korea and one day coming back, and of course their service is not nearly as good as either of the Korean airlines. If you have to fly coach, this is probably the better option since you can get into Economy Plus (more legroom) as a frequent flyer.

Either way UA is probably a good program for you, since you live in a UA hub and could take advantage of E+ and upgrades on any domestic personal flights you need to take, and would also have many convenient redemption options for international flights.

Delta and/or Korean Air would be the other realistic option, but the Delta and Korean Air programs are not nearly as generous as United's, and you would also have to go through DTW or ATL to get anywhere.

Yup.

Many airlines (all?) will give their top tier FF members a handful of Systemwide upgrades. I think AA has one of the most generous, 8 SWUs for EXPs and you can redeem them on almost all fare buckets, only on AA metal though.

Note that if you went with AA, you would have to connect at least twice between Houston and Seoul (through DFW or ORD, then through NRT) -- probably more hassle than it's worth if you are doing this run often.