best points program for me
 

hi all,

Its good to find this forum.

I travel about every 3 months for pleasure not for work within North America. My future trips might be to South and Central America, Carribean, and Europe as well. Considering my flyer status, what might be the best program for me.
I have so far had an Amex airmiles platinum but I've noticed that miles accumulate too slowly. I've since decided to switch to Aeroplan, is this the right decision?

I also want to know the best program for hotel points, and car rental (not as important as others).

Thanks!

are you in any ff programs?...if so, which ones w/# of award mi in each?

whats your home airport?

Are you in Canada or the US?

I am in Toronto, Canada. Local airport YYZ.

I am part of aeroplan, airmiles, and rbc visa rewards (which is useless i think).

on airmiles I got like 1700 and rbc rewards I have like 20,000 i dont think either one can be swapped for aeroplan?

Also what do you want from the airline and hotel programs? What's more valuable to you? Upgrade? Free nights/flights? Cabin comfort? How many miles you fly and nights you stay per year? What class of cabin do you normally travel in?

All these are some basic questions you need to answer before someone can tell you what's "the best program for you." The more specifics you are about your travel patterns and goals, the better advices and suggestions FTers can give you.

Welcome to FT!

ETA:
"ff" is "frequent flyer" and FFP is "Frequent Flyer Program", such as Aeroplan. Check out the glossary under our Help Dropdown Menu at the top of every page to get yourself familiar with the lingo on FT. :)

Hi lin821,

I don't care about where I stay as long as its at least 3-star.
I would say I'd stay 3-5 nights on each trip times 4 equals 15-20 per year.

I fly economy, if I have a chance to fly business obviously I'd take it but my preference is free flights over business class.

so yes in order of priority:
1. free flight
2. free or paid-less-for hotel at least 3 star
3. cabin comfort

What would you recommend?

Thank you for your help.

bump.. anyone?
should i just go with aeroplan?

One bad thing with AC is YQ (fuel surcharges) on AC metal. Consider US & UA, although you will have to factor in opportunities to earn miles will be more with AC.

With UA you can get one-ways at half the cost. I am not sure what their future policy will be on starnet blocking.

so there is no fuel surcharge with united airways and US airways? these are confusing names for some reason i thought they were the same airline lol
I'll have to find out which credit cards offer points for these? I am guessing they dont take the usual aeroplan miles.

I think you mean United Airlines (UA) and US Airways (US). They are different airlines.

So these ff for air canada, UA, US would also work for hotels?

Not sure about AC and US, but I think UA will allow if you are elite/have their credit card. Although in terms of value, I think redeeming airline miles for hotels is not a good use.

They work for you

AA, particularly as ExecPlat (100k eqm/eqps/or 100 segs). Extremely good miles redemption (availability and redemption amounts are superior to UA and Delta) for flights, miles usable for all kinds of stuff, basically guaranteed 100% upgrade on domestic flights (again, as EXP). Then again, if you're origins/destinations are not well-served by Oneworld, go elsewhere.

canadian credit cards
 

Take a look through these pages:

http://www.rewardscanada.ca/choosing...edit-card.html

http://www.rewardscanada.ca/choosing...low-chart.html

http://www.rewardscanada.ca/topcc2011/

The only (real) choices for Canada if you want CC spend to go to an airline program is Aeroplan, Delta or Alaska; Aeroplan is the best out of those. In that case, you're stuck with CIBC and Amex. Sure, you can go with WestJet but...no alliance.

Not true. BA, AA and CX all offer credit cards in Canada. (Off the top of my head) BA has the Avion and RBC BA card, AA has the TD AAdvantage card and CX has Avion, CIBC Petro Points and RBC CX card. I admit the BA and CX cards are pretty lame, but Avion is still largely a viable CC option despite the imminent BA devaluation. The Amex SPG card also lets you convert to a whole bunch of other airlines including US which is a great value.

AS is a very relevant option for people who live in BC/AB, particularly YVR. They are partnered with leading members of both OW (AA, CX, QF, BA, LA) and ST (DL, AF, KL, KE). The Canadian AS CC is pretty good as well with nice signup bonuses and low annual fee. Just because OP lives in YYZ doesn't mean it's completely irrelevant as if they fly both AA and DL but neither one enough to get decent status, AS could be a decent alternative programme especially if they plan any travel to the west coast US at all.

I think OP needs to actually learn a little about travelling in general before even looking for an FFP. I don't think he has any idea of what he really wants and is just asking people to help him without giving them anything to work with or putting in any effort himself. :td:

Well I was gonna go with aeroplan. it seemed the most viable as every time i have travelled it was air canada. in the past i used airmiles a couple of times but they accumulate very slow. so thanks everyone for your help. it seems i'll go with aeroplan.

that chart was pretty good too.