Hi everyone,

I am completely new to all this and want to get off on the right foot...

I have recently relocated to NYC and expect to be flying extensively both within the US and abroad. I do not have a significant amount of airmiles. (I do have about 100k Starwoods SPG points.)

[1] My goal is to get enough points to facilitate personal Business class travel for NYC to London return. The choices then are:

British Airways : Accumulating points on American Airlines (other oneWorld partners?)
Virgin Atlantic and BMI : Accumulating points on Continental / Virgin America / US Airways.

How should I decide between the two? (The Business class seats are comparable between BA & VA.)

[2] Which US bank accounts & credit cards schemes can maximize my mileage?

[3] Is joining mileagemanager.com a worthwhile investment?

Thanks for any advice or pointers.

BR/
Greg

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"My goal is to get enough points to facilitate personal Business class travel for NYC to London return. The choices then are:

British Airways : Accumulating points on American Airlines (other oneWorld partners?)
Virgin Atlantic and BMI : Accumulating points on Continental / Virgin America / US Airways."

You're starting from a faulty premise: BA and VS are not the only carriers that fly between NYC and LON. And, of course, you don't have to accumulate your frequent-flyer miles in the program of the airline you intend to fly. (AA miles can be redeemed on BA; AC miles can be redeemed on CO; etc.)

It would help to know what routes you expect to fly for business out of NYC; what class of service your business travel will be in; and whether you have a preference as to which of NYC's airports you would like to use for the bulk of your travels. Also, do you care about paying high fuel surcharges on your personal trips to LON? For example, if you use BA miles to fly AA or BA to LON, you'll pay the surcharges; if you use AA miles on BA, you'll also pay the surcharges; but if you use AA miles on AA to LON, there are (currently) no surcharges on such awards.

Hi Guv,

Thanks, this is exactly the type of info I'm looking for.

My travel within the US will be Economy. International travel will be Business. No preferred airports from NYC. I can select my own flights so have flexibility here.

Would prefer to avoid fuel surcharges all other factors being equal.

I do favour BA or VS as my Business class experience on other transatlantic carriers has been poor.

BR/
Greg

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Unfortunately, if you redeem on BA, you will be hit with hefty fuel surcharges, especially in the premium cabins, when you redeem AA or BA miles. You might want to look into some of BA's other partners (like LAN) to see if they also assess fuel surcharges on BA redemptions between the US and the UK.

If you are only willing to fly BA or VS, and if you cannot find a program that does not assess fuel surcharges on them, then you might want to look into whether the fares you will be paying for your work travel earn full credit in ANA's FFP. Because ANA's redemption rates are distance-based, rather than zone-based, you can get a J roundtrip between NYC and LON on partner carrier VS for only 63,000 ANA miles (plus fuel surcharges).

Check out ANA's website for more earnings and redemption info.

But frankly, you might want to give AA's Business Class to London a try. Many people prefer BA's J seat to AA's J seat, but some prefer AA's J food to BA's J food. And AA also offers F for 62,500 miles each way, compared to J for 50,000 miles each way. You might prefer to spend more miles to fly AA F, than fewer miles and a lot more cash to fly BA J.

Also, check the threads here on MilesBuzz! about credit-card deals with huge bonus-mile sign-up offers, especially the Citi/AA Visa and Amex cards, and the Chase Sapphire card, which earns points that can be converted to BAEC miles.
Good luck!

You seem to have identified the two best options given your situation. Which one is best depends on the amount of flying you end up doing and how focused it really is on NYC-LON.

AA EXP has the best elite status benefits, for flying in the US or on cheap international fares, of the major airline programs. However to get EXP from AA you would have to fly the equivalent of 10 roundtrips from NYC-LON in business on AA/BA in a calendar year.

VS Gold status has fewer benefits and is far less useful for domestic US travel, but VS would give you Gold on your 4th roundtrip NYC-LON.

If you go AA, then get a Citibank AA credit card with 60K bonus miles.

Or the ones with 75k bonus miles ...

do you have any detail on "flying a lot".....like cities or is it a scatter shoot?....good luck...

Go with AA, good frequent flyer program and a fair amount of availability.