gloobnib

Hello! I live in Indianapolis (IND) and I’m looking for some advice on selecting an airline frequent flyer program to get the most “bang for my buck” out of business travel. I will be earning miles the old fashioned way – exclusively through air travel; due to personal circumstances credit card miles are not an option at this time.

Right now, I am finding the choices overwhelming and would really appreciate some feedback from others with a little more experience in the game before I basically commit a year of my travel life to a carrier.

I am currently Southwest A-list Preferred, but since Southwest dropped the daily flights from IND to Midway (and all of the connections available from there), Southwest’s routing now leaves much to be desired due to long layovers. I do not have status on any other airlines and have a smattering of miles on US, United, Delta, and American.

Background: In early August I started traveling extensively for my new job. I plan on averaging 1 to 2 round-trip two-night trips every week for all of 2013. My travel department will generally honor my wishes for airline/flight preferences as long as the lowest available fair is reasonably close to other carriers (say +/- 20%). I typically book a weekly trip 2 weeks in advance, with a last minute (1 to 2 day notice) trip about every 2-3 weeks.

My “Central US” territory currently includes the following cities, ranked in frequency of expected travel: Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Tulsa, Nashville, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Houston, and Austin. There is a distinct possibility that later this year I will be dropping all of Texas and picking up Louisville, Columbus, and Cincinnati, although the odds are I will probably drive the 2-3 hours to those cities unless there are direct flights available.

Here is what I want out of an airline partner, listed in order of preference:I used the search function, but the last thread I could find on this topic (IND and Airline partners) was from 2007 and is vastly outdated due to airline mergers and the fact that IND opened a new terminal.

Anyway, thanks for your consideration!

Gloob

NYBanker

Hmm. You're pretty much going to connect every trip...so there's not much difference between the three top majors for you.

If points-based credit cards are not available to you, you might consider the delta or AA points debit cards, and pick one of those carriers and the associated debit card to augment your flying earn. AA and DL will be strongest to San Juan, all three top majors will have decent options to Hawaii.

You'll probably hit top status with this much flying based on segments. A big benefit, IMHO, to AA's top status is their 8 annual system wide upgrades work on any paid fare class. UA and DL make you buy up to a mezzanine coach fare (or nearly full coach fare on DL for international upgrades) in order to use the SWUs.

If you think you might get some bang out of the swus, then AA might be your best option. Couple it with the Ufb direct debit card to earn more miles.

With debit cards, there are even "non-traditional" ways to earn even more miles.

Not much to tell you on weather. If ORD is socked in, it doesn't matter what carrier you are on.

Let us know what you decide.

Welcome to FT.

bowdenj

Welcome to FT - IND is a great airport.

Delta Sky Club @ IND

Yikes - you've got a ton of not non-stop airports!

Kansas City
St. Louis
Milwaukee
Tulsa
Dallas
Oklahoma City
Houston
Austin.

Non-stop:
Minneapolis

You'll drive:
Louisville
Columbus
Cincinnati
Nashville
Chicago

I'd say: AA, UA, DL.

mia

You could fly both AA and DL by crediting flights on both carriers to Alaska Airlines:

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...ePlan-partners

NYBanker

...but at the expense of most elite benefits. With 2 trips a week, that's probably 6 segments a week...easily top tier on AA or DL.

JPG3392

Of the major programs, UA and AA (to a lesser extent) have the reputation of being much easier to obtain award travel on than DL is. This may be an important consideration, especially if you are hoping to obtain 4 award tickets on the same flight.

Assuming that you have and use some type of credit card in restaurants, at least occasionally, you may be able to gain some additional miles by registering the card with the dining program of the airline you choose as your preferred carrier. The programs are free and carry no obligations, and you gain 1k miles for filling out a simple profile and additional miles if you dine at participating restaurants. You can register for more than one dining program, but to do so you would need more than one credit card.

UA767400

Do airlines still offer debit cards, or do you mean credit cards?

redtop43

There's no downside to the dining programs, but the number of restaurants that participate is small, and I find it's really not worth getting to a strange city and looking up the directory to see where I will get a few extra miles. If the list in your home city happens to include restaurants you like, it can be worthwhile to tilt a tiny bit in that direction. I think that a few years ago my favorite takeout pizza-and-sandwich place was on the list, and occasionally they'd have a promotion where if you spent say $100 in a month you'd get 1000 bonus points. But otherwise, I would sign up but not really worry about it.

redtop43

Give some thought to the Amex Platinum card, it is a steep fee ($450) but gives $200/year in airline fee credits and lounge access for AA and DL if you are flying on them, and US whether you are or not. If your employer will pay the fee, it might definitely be worthwhile, and even if they don't, if you would spend $200 on seat upgrade fees on your own dime it will be worth it. As noted though, once you pledge allegience you will probably become a segment elite and get preferred seats if not F upgrades quickly. Personally I like being able to have that second cup of coffee and a glass of juice after I get to the airport and before boarding, but that's of less value if you want to get on quickly and get your carryon upstairs.

You might also consider going for mid-tier on multiple airlines rather than top-tier on one, depending on what benefits you want.

As a segment flier you will probably make elite but maybe not earn a huge number of RDM's. If you want award flights, you could also consider getting into the credit card/bonus game. I picked up about 600K points last year without flying, although it was a reasonable amount of work. But 6 overseas biz class tickets earned is nothing to sneeze at.

gloobnib

Thanks for the warm welcome; I've been lurking for the last 4 months as I got my feet wet in this frequent traveler world.

I appreciate everyone who replied so far, you've given me some great info to add to my deliberations. It raises a few more questions:

Award Travel - The awards truly are high up on my list; it is a huge fringe benefit that helps my family offset the drawbacks of my new jet-set job. We usually book our leisure trips 6-9 months in advance, does that help significantly with award availability? TBH, I am kind of leaning towards Delta, but if their award availability is significantly worse than the others, that may be a deciding factor. Is award availability "better" once I hit the higher elite tiers?

Hub airport - After using expedia to check out some theoretical trips in January, it looks like there are really only 3 airlines that have the sort of frequency out of IND that I am looking for (AA, United and Delta). That implies I have two choices for my main hub: ORD (AA, United) and DET (DL).Credit Cards - Without going into a lot of personal detail, I was laid off from a previous employer and the resulting unemployment almost wiped me out financially. I've never missed a payment, but my cc balance:credit-line ratio is too high to be approved for new cards just yet. The good news is that I am secure with my new employer and I should be able to retire that debt in the next year and I will revisit the CC miles game at that point.

Debit Cards - I will explore using a miles-earning Debit card for the short term. Honestly, I wasn't even aware that was an option. I am spending about $3k per month on expenses while I travel and my employer is good about paying those expenses promptly. Can you point me to debit cards that allow me to earn AA/UA/DL miles?

Credit cards again - Is there an issuer that is known for being more lenient than the big boys (AMEX/CapitalOne/Citi/Chase) that will allow me to earn some FF miles on that $3k/mo expense spend? I actually have a credit card from a local bank that I use for this purpose now (I carry a zero balance on it so I don't pay interest on employer's expenses), but it has no benefits tied to it. I would only need a $3k line on a new card and it would carry a zero balance each month.

Thanks again for the great info so far!

mia

Alaska Airlines and Delta do still offer mileage earning debit card. I believe the American Airlines debit card is discontinued.

The Alaska Airlines card is issued by Bank of America:

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...ners.aspx#bank

The Delta Airlines debit card is issued through SunTrust:

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...heck-card.html

mia

You can research this question here:

http://www.transtats.bts.gov/HomeDri...electYear=2012

Specify the carrier/airport combination and see the arrivals or departures delayed, cancelled or diverted.

Delta's on-time performance at DTW is in the 86-88% range this year.
American's on-time performance at ORD is 77-78%.
United's on-time performance at ORD is 69-76%.

However, I would also look at flight frequency to your destinations. If you mis-connect, how long before the next flight? If you mis-connect at ORD might you be accomodated on another airline?

gloobnib

Thanks again to everyone who contributed. I spent the last week going back and forth and back again between AA/UA/DL before settling on Delta.

In case anyone else finds themselves in the same boat in the near future (or in case my reasoning is faulty and others want to talk some sense into me), I've detailed below how I arrived at the decision.

I used all 3 airlines websites to spec out available flight options for hypothetical trips in late January between IND (home base) and each of my target cities. I included "all reasonable" flight options for my hypothetical trips:

1. No 6AM outbounds or outbounds after 4PM
2. No 2-stops
3. No total durations > 35 minutes above the best-possible duration
4. No returns that leave before Noon or get in later than 11PM

While compiling the flight lists I also gathered aircraft info (model and seat configuration) for each leg.

I ultimately settled on Delta because:

• There were generally more daily flight options each way
• Geographic diverse hubs (ATL, DTW, MSP) with 1-hop service that can get me to all the cities in my territory. I hope this will mitigate Irregular Ops concerns with a single hub.
• Delta seems to fly larger aircraft out of Indy than competitors. There was generally at least two "feasible" options for larger aircraft each way. AA and UA fly RJs almost exclusively on my routes.
• Delta has more two-class configuration aircraft on more legs of my trips, so once I achieve Diamond I should get a decent chance to sit up front more often.
• Delta club is the only club in Indy
• Delta's mid-to-top-tier elite mileage bonuses are better for the frequency of my planned trips.
• Merger talk and recent bankruptcy at AA has me a little spooked about betting on them. Yes I know that FF are generally taken care of in these situations, but I prefer to avoid uncertainty on the way to my first top-tier elite status.
• I can always status match to another airline late in 2013 or early 2014 if the grass is greener.

Some negatives to choosing Delta:

• If I misconnect in one of Delta's hubs, I'm at the mercy of one airline. Misconnecting in ORD would give me many more options.
• Delta does not offer a Platinum Challenge like AA, so I will be flying without status for a few months while I earn my wings.
• There is talk about some changes to the Delta FF program (The Points Guy) and those changes may/may-not make the program more/less attractive to me in the future.

So, am I missing anything?

michael_v

Additional points:

Con: Even without changes to DL's program, DL has the worst award availability of all US legacy carriers. You really need to know the tools and methods (you can't go to dl.com and type IND-SIN round-trip and be done, like you would with united.com) and be very flexible (no award trips to Europe for 4 people in business in the peak of summer).

Pro: DL really strives to provide a good record for on-time departures and arrivals.

Overall, I think you made a good choice.

AAmerikan AAir Guy

Yeah, I think you made a good choice w Delta. I, too, am IND based and have been Exec Plat on AA for the past three years (but earned this mostly while I was ORD based). Found myself on Delta quite a bit over the past 18 mos. They have done a very nice job. Don't miss ORD at all. While using AA I would often use DFW for my routing and connections.