Hello,

I'm trying to decide on a frequent flyer program I should focus my effort on. So far I have narrowed it down to AA and United based on flight availability from my home base, Boston and Chicago, and would like to know which program would be better for me.

I am interested in traveling to Europe and Asia and don't mind flying coach during offseason to maximize the number of trips I can make. I'm not interested in elite status. Seat availability, ease of using the award booking program (e.g., ability to book partner airlines online), flexibility (no hefty changing fees, etc.), etc. are some of the things I am looking for.

Thank you for your help!

how many paid mi do you expect to fly next year & the rest of 11?

whats wrong w/ elite status? it gets you more rdm & better seats & etc....

how many mi do you have in each program?

I don't fly very often (1-2 times internationally and 2-3 times domestically a year) although I'd like to travel more often, which is why I'd like to start earning miles.

I'd love to have elite status some day! But I assume you can't get it unless you fly very often and don't think I can achieve it now. I plan to earn my miles mostly via credit card bonus and spending.

I'm just starting out and have a small number of miles in various programs, e.g. 40K miles in Continental, 10K in AA, etc.

I'd personally recommend AA in this situation- unless you can hit 1K status on United you will earn less redeemable miles than American- also American has off-peak coach awards for 40K round trip which United/Continental does not offer.

AA.com is very good at searching own metal availability but does not search partner availability. United.com is good at nothing

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I second belfordrocks' recommendation of AA in your situation. In addition to AA's 20,000-mile one-way Coach awards between North America and Europe from mid-October to mid-May, AA also permits a free stopover at the North American "gateway" on such awards. So on a trip back from Europe, if you can get a nonstop from Europe to BOS or ORD, you can have a stopover at BOS or ORD, and continue on -- possibly months later -- to another North American destination (like Hawaii, Alaska, or the Caribbean) on the same award for no additional mileage.

You won't find this on AA. They do not have any way to search for partner awards via the AA site. You'd need to use some other sites (BA/QA/JAL) to see if you can find a partner award and then you'd call in to AA to get it booked. If this is a very high priority for you then you will be a bit disappointed in AA.

If you hadn't listed that desire to book partner awards online, I'd definitely recommend AA. Although, my impression (and this is not based on any facts other than general impressions from reading FT) is that UA/CO has more options on semi-direct routings to Europe. Many AA end locations will end up with a flight to MAD or LHR and then a IB or BA connection on to your end point. I just have a feeling that UA is a bit better about minimizing connections in Europe. Definitely read up on the UA forums to judge for yourself though.

Thank you all for great advice. I will probably go with AA. Since I don't have many miles, the ability to book an offseason award for only 40K miles with AA will be useful to me until I accumulate more miles (and hopefully fly J some day!) and their North American stopover option sounds like a great feature. AA doesn't let you search for partner availability online, but it's something I can live without.

The only thing is that the taxes/fees seem pretty high if I fly to Europe with a BA connecting flight. I've booked an award travel to Europe once on AA and paid a little over $200 in taxes/fees for a coach seat (BOS-VCE and then FCO-BOS return with a BA connecting flight in LHR). Is that charge considered pretty typical or high for an award? Is it similar with United? I have no reference point since it was my only award trip.

Have you thought of US Airways?

I don't have much experience with AA but my hub city used to be Boston. I had status on US Airways and my brother on United. While he got economy plus, I often had upgrades on my flights, even when I started as a silver. US Airways and United are on the same Star Alliance and I found that for domestic flights it tends to be cheaper than United. For international flights (ie to Asia), I often had to fly United, did not get economy plus, but I wasn't flying that often to Asia anyway.... It really depends on your flying patterns.

As far as award redemption, United has cheaper Asian awards (same redemption more or less because they are both Star Alliance), while US Airways had much cheaper European awards mid Jan-Feb. US Airways is slightly cheaper for African redemption.

http://blog.likebright.com

Yes, BA's high fuel surcharges are a known caveat of redeeming AA partner awards, but there are still quite a lot of options transatlantically- such as Finnair, Air Berlin, Kingfisher or Iberia.

US is also another good option- especially their shuttle product out of BOS.