Best Airline Mileage Program in My Situation?
 

Hi Everyone,

I am new and recently join this interesting miles collecting adventure.

Previous I had a thread on United vs Delta. Thanks everyone for replying to that thread.

Now, I am just wondering, among so many airline programs, which is the best one? I am thinking of focusing all my future travel on one airline, thereby maximizing my chances of racking up more miles in the shortest period of time.

Here are the ones I tried:
Delta: collected 35000 points
United: 2500 points
Korean Air: 13,000 points, this one is my favorite because of the A380.
Cathay: 11,000 points
Japan Airline: I will never sit this airline again, horrible customer service.
Air China: I will never sit this airline again too, horrible food.

Here is my situation:
1. I live in NYC. I don't mind using any of the airports here.
2. I fly frequently within the country (USA). I love to buy the cheapest ticket to save cost yet at the same time would love a complimentary upgrade. Using points to buy tickets isn't really my goal, rather I hope to achieve a million miles and get lifetime Elite status, so I can get upgraded easily with a cheaper ticket.
3. I fly to Singapore a few times per year. 2-3 times.

Which airline program do you think will best suit my situation? Are there any other airlines' program I should try?

In addition, what do you think is the best and fastest way to rack up miles?

Best Airline Mileage Program in My Situation?
 

Have you looked at the various alliances and see which one fits your travel needs the best?

Fastest way to rack up miles is to fly a lot!

You need to take a crash course in alliances -- there are 3 major ones (Star Alliance, Skyteam, and OneWorld).

Star Alliance currently includes United, Air Canada, and US Airways (for the time being)
Skyteam includes Delta and Air France/KLM (+Korean)
OneWorld includes American and British Airways (+Cathay)

In addition, Alaska Airlines is a "free agent" of sorts that partners individually with many airlines, most of which are in Skyteam/OneWorld (but Alaska isn't in either alliance, it partners individually with many of those alliances' airlines).

When flying airlines, you should be consolidating an alliance's flights to one partner program. Keep in mind that some partners don't always offer miles for certain fares on their partner airlines, so you have to make sure of that when you purchase tickets.

To where? How frequently is "frequently"?

You're not getting upgraded to Singapore very often just based on MM status (which, at 50,000 miles a year, would take you 20 years of flying). Longhaul flights like that are the ones that airlines an get the most money for, and consequently are the least likely to be given away. It is far more realistic in your situation to accumulate miles and then occasionally get a NYC-SIN flight in business or first class than to expect complimentary upgrades.

The complimentary upgrades would be more likely on shorter domestic flights. Sure, that's nice, but in a metro area like NYC, you're fighting with a lot of people: flying even 50,000 miles a year isn't very impressive (won't get you a lot of upgrades on the airlines based in NYC).

Honestly? Either Delta/DL (with some occasional Korean Air(KE) redemptions or American/AA (with occasional Cathay Pacific (CX) redemptions) could work for you. I suspect that you would find better luck redeeming on CX (KE has lots of award blackout dates).

The "2-3 times a year to SIN" part leads me straight to Star Alliance.

So then the question becomes: what are your U.S. destinations and how do you feel about taking most of your trips out of EWR?

Your compliementary domestic upgrades will come with elite status, which is based on BIS (butt-in-seat) miles credited to a single airline. As noted elsewhere, not all fares give full mileage credit, and some fares will give RDM (redeemable miles) at different rates than EQM's (elite qualifying miles).

Buying the cheapest ticket and getting elite status are somewhat inconsistent. You have to be "loyal" to the same airline. A million miles is a lot to fly - and remember, it's only actual miles flown, credit cards don't count (they did for AA for a number of years, but not anymore). Think about it, it's about 50 trips to Singapore, or 17-25 years at your current rate (considering SIN trips only). Also, you said you weren't looking for free trips, but you also said you wanted the "cheapest fare" and free is definitely "cheapest" (although in some cases, fuel scamcharges can actually make that not true). In flying a million EQM miles, you will surely accrue at least a million RDMs, and it would be kind of crazy not to use them.

One technique often used though, is people will use their miles to buy tickets for friends and family, paying cash for their own tickets to get the EQM's.

Even on airlines with UDU (unlimited domestic upgrades), your upgrade percentage will vary a lot with route and level. Silver on Delta on a dinnertime ATL-LAX flight will get you - discounted Economy Comfort. Not even free, and a lot of platinums don't get upgraded on those flights.

Your best plan is proably to try to figure out who has the best schedules and fares to the places you go most often, then pledge allegiance to that airline. Part of that decision should be the EQM's earned on partner overseas flights. But if you are really going for lifetime status, remember that it will take you a lot of years of being loyal to that airline and paying more for their tickets sometimes than a competitor.

Let me give you a personal example. Two weeks ago I booked a last-minute trip. I am Gold on USAir and non-status on Delta. I booked Delta to save $115. In return I got:

a) No upgrades of course. (I did get rather lucky and most of the flights were fairly empty, I got one exit row and never had someone next to me - but that was just fool luck.)
b) I didn't plan to check any bags, but I bought a suitcase on my trip, costing me $25 to check it on the way home.
c) By coincidence, DL had worse schedules, I could have gotten there two hours earlier and left an hour later on US.
d) No EQM's for the trip, making it more imperitive for me to juggle future trips to get my EQM's to requalify for gold.

It was the worst $115 (really $90) I've ever saved.

What are the most common domestic destinations from the NYC area?