Hi guys, I am so glad that I found this website today. It is so cool to see so many people that have similar interests.

I have a general question, hope you guys can give me some ideas.

I am an student in Canada, who travel between Canada and China about once a year ( I am an chinese international student in Canada). I also travel a bit in my school breaks - for instance I flew with Alaska airline to Los angeles this year.

I am about to go back to China and come back to Canada again. This time I am wondering if I can take advantage of this long-distance flight and begin my accumulation of airmiles. Currently I am not a member of any flight program except for my airmiles card which I use when I do grocery in Safeway.

Obviously as a student I can only afford economy class ticket. Can you guys tell me whether I should capitalize my incoming asian-north american flight? Also as I mentioned I will be other trips during the year ( I am planning to go to Madrid after I come back to Canada) and I visit China every year.

All and all, does it worthwhile for me to become a member of any ff grogram, or since I don't fly a lot or I buy cheapest economy class tickets I should just not bother to enroll any ff program? If you guys think I should, any recommandations for a specific program.

Thank you very much, guys!

It doesn't cost anything to join a FF plan, so there's no real downside.

A few questions:

1. Do you always fly the same airline?
2. For all the other flying you do, does the same airline, or a partner fly there?
3. What other ways can you earn miles?

If you fly all on one airline, then definitely you're missing out on a lot of miles. Even if you only fly 20k miles a year, you'll have a free domestic award in a 14 or 16 months, and an international one in a few years.

You mentioned the supermarket card. That's a good way to do it. Also, there are some debit and other credit cards you can use and double or triple dip (get miles from the card, from the merchant and maybe the airline too).

It's important to see what partners your airline has. For example, it may be better to join AA or CO, rather than a Chinese airline, since they all have partners.

So EVA will get you CO miles, but EVA will not get you NW miles. So if you fly EVA, CO and NW, CO would probably be the best choice for you. (This is just a hypothetical example).

Remember that once you hit elite (usually 25k), you get extra bonus miles, upgrades on domestic routes, and lots of other fun stuff.

Welcome to the board. I have been banking my miles in Alaska for years. I know that a lot of people have recommended them as a good account for banking miles because of the variety of partners they have. The Alaska miles are also do not expire. You can fly these airlines:

Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Big Sky Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Era Aviation, Hawaiian Airlines, HeliJet, Horizon Air, KLM, LAN, Northwest Airlines, PenAir, Qantas

NW and Cathay will both get you to China and several of the others will get you to Spain. Alaska works well from Vancouver where you are based and I'm not sure if they have it in Canada, but at Safeways around here you can get Alaska miles with the store card.

The main thing is to try to find an airline that has partners that travel where you want to go.

Thank you, both of you. You guys' suggestions are very helpful!!!

I guess I should go for the one which has Cathay Pacific since my experience with it was good.

Here is my question: should I open an ff program with Alaska or with Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles for Cathay Pacific?) ? Is it true that I will get the same air miles if I travel one of them and I am enrolled in the ff program of one of them?

By the way, can I reclaim my "lost airmiles" which I had last year? I guess not, eh?

Thank you again!

When you fly you only get miles for one of the programs, whichever ff number you give for the ticket. Which program you join will depend on where you will be flying the most. CP has a lot of Asian partners as well as all of the Oneworld group. So if you are going fly mostly in Asia go with CP their partners and Oneworld give you great global options. Alaska might work better if you are going to fly in North America. They have several US airline partners. They also have several global partners, but not the entire oneworld group.

Look over the program details and see which fits best. I looked at the Asia Miles and they have some great award options.

As far as the lost airmiles, it is not likely, but I always ask. The worst they can do is say no and then you are in exactly the same place as you are now. If they say yes it is a great bonus.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, emmapangxu!

The Mileage Run forum is really intended for discussions of maximizing miles or points without regard necessarily for the itinerary itself. The general discussion of frequent flyer programs, especially in the context of your question, is really geared for the MilesBuzz forum. I'll go ahead and move this over there where you should be able to get quite a lot of input.

Thanks,

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

Another option would be to collect your miles on American Airlines, a partner of Cathay Pacific. To choose between American and Alaska, consider;

*Who has the flights you might want from Canada to wherever, using its metal of that of its partners.
*Will you be staying in Canada or the U.S. or Asia after you graduate? Many of your miles will be actually used then.
*Do not count on Alaska getting you a seat on Northwest or Continental. Those seats are very hard to get.
*Alaska does have a different inventory of award seats than that of its partners. For example, often Alaska can get you a seat on American metal when American can't.
*However, whatever award ticket you get from Alaska must be all on the same airlines. At American, they will combine airlines. For example, my ticket to Hawaii next week comes from American, flying on both Hawaiian Airlines and American Airlines metal. Alaska has both American and Hawaiian as partners, but could not book me on either, because neither could do the trip for me alone.
*For some partner airlines, the cost in miles for an Alaska award is very much higher than the cost for an American award.

Alaska and American are my two favorite programs. The choice depends on your specific needs.

Dave, I think you do a great job as a moderator, but I have a request for you. I am pretty sure that this is not the proper place for this, but I don't know where to post this if not here.

I have read many times a message similar to the above. Could you mention where you are moving the thread to? I would like sometimes to continue with the discussion, but I don't know where to find it.

Thanks for all your good work.

If you read his message, you'll see that he moved it to the MilesBuzz forum.

If you get your tickets to Asia through an air consolidator, the fare may not qualify for FF miles. Also, many student fares don't either.

Also think about where you'll be spending your time/living after you graduate. If you intend to remain in North America, American Airlines may be your best option. As for Alaska Air versus American Air, I would say American, as the your redemption options may be greater when you finally do recieve enough miles for an award ticket. If you intend to return to China, a Chinese airline may be the wisest decision.

I would consider which airline can get me to both China and Spain and choose a program with them or one of their partners. Air Canada or other Star alliance partner may be best for you living in Vancouver. Perhaps Singapore?

i'm not sure how nw/as prices ex-yvr, but if good, i suggest you go with as.

sq is a terrible option because connecting in sin en route to china isn't too cool.

i'd also be inclined to strike asiamiles (cx, mu, jl) for the same reason were it not for the fact that mu flies yvr-pvg daily. but, given your travel patterns, i'd advise you to steer clear of asiamilers anyway.